Iris Hotel

Pleasantly surprised

We had to book a hotel at the last minute due to a bad Air B&B booking. Some colleagues were already at the Iris, so it made sense to stay at the same property. We weren't expecting anything other than a bed, shower and AC. So the Iris had a low bar to clear. The room was clean. Bed was a bit too hard (typical for Asia). Breakfast was quite good. More Asian options than western. Staff were competent and spoke good English.

Hotels want to keep lodgers' passports. Ostensibly this is because they have to register with the local police. It's true that they have to do that, but it isn't true that they need the physical passports in order to register. A copy of the bio page and visa will give them the info that they need. The real reason they want to keep passports is as a security deposit in case lodgers incur charges at the restaurant or spa. We really had to fight to get our passports back. This is a minor annoyance and not merely directed at the Iris. But it did cause some grief.