Pampered at the Golden Temple in Siem Reap

It’s always a little bit scary when booking hotels online in countries you’ve never been before. Not only do you have no idea if the neighborhood is going to be good, but you have no idea if you are getting a good deal for your money. Plus, sometimes places that come up as 4 or 5 star in Trip Advisor, really aren’t.

The Golden Temple Hotel and Spa in Siem Reap is not one of those places. It deserves its 5-star rating and beyond. We not only got our money’s worth, but we were pampered like celebrities. 

First of all they picked me up from the airport. After flying 18 hours and arriving exhausted in a super humid country, seeing a smiling guy holding my name up on an iPad was a great feeling. Instead of having to try to communicate with a taxi driver in a new language, I could veg out in an air-conditioned car and enjoy the sights. Yay!

And the place. Wow. Golden Temple is beautiful - from the lobby, to the spacious rooms, to the amazing pool. Everything there was exceptionally clean, tasteful and relaxing. They had colorful flower petals everywhere and the bathrooms were modern and chic. The place was so nice, you almost didn’t want to leave to check out the sights.

Then there were the perks of the place.


Every night they had Happy Hour from 7 pm to 8 pm. And their Happy Hour will make you really happy as it’s free drinks and free nibblies for an hour – whether your drink of choice is wine, tea or whiskey. In addition to the daily happy hour, we got one free dinner for two, a free massage, a free picnic lunch and free daily breakfast. Considering we were only there 3 nights, that was a lot of free stuff.

But the best part had to be the customer service. The team was always smiling and ready to help you hail a tuk tuk, arrange an outing or whatever else you wanted. We were there to run the Angkor Wat Half Marathon and had to be at the starting line at 5:30 am. They arranged a tuk tuk for us and the poor guy waited there while we ran the race to take us back to the hotel. They also arranged for a car to take us from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.

Anything we asked, they were able to do for us and their little touches such as bringing you shaved ice with fruit when by the pool were always unexpected and touching. They made my first visit to Cambodia worth coming back again.