Succo Gene Palace Boutique Hotel, Phnom Penh

The Succo Gene Palace Boutique Hotel is mid-price range hotel 1.1 km walking distance from the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. This is a hotel with two parts. The better rooms in the same building as the reception. On the opposite side of the road is another building with lower quality rooms and a swimming pool.

Succo Gene Palace Boutique Hotel

The rooms at the Succo Gene Palace Boutique hotel are large and come with in-room entertainment facilities and tea/coffee makers. This is a comfortable place to stay for a few days.

The second thing I liked about this hotel is that it is close to the National Museum, the Royal Palace, Orussey Market, the bus stop for services to Ho Chi Minh City, and the Thai Embassy. There are lots of places you can stay to the north near Central Market and Phnom Penh Railway Station, but if you are planning to see the Royal Palace and take an early morning bus to Ho Chi Minh City the next day, then the Succo Gene Palace Boutique Hotel is better place to stay.

I also liked the service at Succo Gene Palace Boutique Hotel. There were plenty of staff who were friendly even if at times they took a slightly laid back approach to their duties. The hotel is kept clean and they are quick to repair things when they break. I stayed one night in a Superior Room and another three nights in a Standard Room. The staff had to replace the TV and a few other things in the room I moved to because they weren’t working and they responded instantly to my request, completing the task of fitting replacements to my room within about 20 minutes of being notified.

Rooms at Succo Gene Palace Boutique Hotel

The Superior Rooms really are good. Great decorations, and good in room facilities. Best bathrooms I have seen in a hotel in Cambodia for sure.

Outside the Superior Rooms are open air landings fitted with sofas. You can sit here and smoke or just look at the view. The Superior Rooms are upstairs from the reception, which you go past to get to the room.

The Standard Rooms are in a building across the road. The entrance takes you past the pool. Staying in this part of the hotel is a different experience. Its more private and perhaps better if you plan to stay for more than just a couple of days. There appeared to be a few people staying in this part of the hotel longer term.

The Standard Rooms have the same in-room facilities as the Superior Rooms, the only difference (apart from being in a separate building) is that they are not so well decorated. The Standard Rooms don’t appear to have been renovated in quite a while which probably explains why the TV wasn’t working. This aside, the room was large and comfortable.

Standard Rooms has satellite TV, fridge, free WiFi, private bathroom, air-conditioning and access to shared balconies. They also came with mosquito nets although I didn’t see any insects in the room. I am slightly perplexed as to why they put a towel on the toilet seat after they clean the room but that isn’t a problem, just unusual.

Facilities at Succo Gene Palace Boutique Hotel

There is a small restaurant by the reception. I ate there a couple of times because the restaurants close by are really expensive. This is a high end part of the city. They charge $5 USD for a small bowl of egg-fried rice in the busy Chinese restaurant next door so be sure to check the menu before you order something which will be ridiculously overpriced. The food in the hotel restaurant, by comparison, is reasonably priced and quite good. They serve both Asian and Western food , and a few traditional Khmer dishes as well alcoholic drinks. The resident female chef is probably the most adept member of staff at this hotel.

The hotel’s main facility is the swimming pool which has a poolside bar. The swimming pool is OK and properly maintained. The poolide bar is staffed sporadically. You order food at the poolside bar (if there are any staff around) which will be brought over the kitchen in the building on the other side of the road. The one thing which did impress me is that they have installed a machine to make real coffee at the poolside, the use of which the young ladies staffing the bar had almost mastered. My coffee took a while coming but it was pretty good when it eventually arrived.

Location of Succo Gene Palace Boutique Hotel