Roi Et City Hotel — A Big Downtown Tower Within Easy Walking Distance of Bueng Phlan Chai
If you want a downtown base in Roi Et where you can walk to most things, Roi Et City Hotel is the name locals know best. It's the tall, curved, red-roofed tower on Phloen Chit Road that anyone driving through the city centre has seen. What guests mention again and again is rooms that are larger than the price suggests and a location five minutes on foot from Bueng Phlan Chai and the National Museum. To be straight with you, this is an older Grand-Hotel-style property that has seen a lot of years — not a fresh design hotel — but if you want plenty of space, easy parking and a genuinely central spot for a mid-hundreds-baht rate, it's still a place plenty of travellers come back to.
Roi Et City Hotel is a tall, curved, red-roofed tower on Phloen Chit Road in the Nai Muang sub-district — one of the larger hotels that has been part of the Roi Et skyline for years. A row of flagpoles and a small fountain front the building in the old grand-hotel manner, and the lobby is wide with a high ceiling that feels more like the province's conference-and-banquet hotel than a trendy tourist stay. The thing guests like from the moment they walk in is the sheer amount of space — the lobby, the corridors and the rooms themselves never feel cramped the way a small budget hotel can.
Rooms are large in the way older towers tend to be — soft beds, a work desk, a fridge, a TV and air conditioning as standard. Returning guests agree the rooms are clean and bigger than the rate would lead you to expect: you open the door and there's real room to spread out your luggage and move around. The furniture and bathrooms are of an earlier generation and not as crisp as a brand-new hotel, but they are kept in working order. This suits travellers who value space and cleanliness over newness and styling.
One guest summed it up as "a really big, clean room for the price — hard to find that downtown; the air-con is a little old but you sleep fine, and you can walk to Bueng Phlan Chai in the evening."
On breakfast — the hotel includes a buffet breakfast with many of its room packages: simple Thai and Isan dishes, rice soup, eggs, local sides, plus tea and coffee. It isn't the lavish spread of a big Bangkok hotel, but it fills you up before a day out and, just as usefully, saves the morning hunt for somewhere to eat. Booking a rate that already includes breakfast usually works out better value than paying for it separately.
Location is the real draw here. From the hotel it's a five-minute walk to Bueng Phlan Chai, the lake park at the heart of the city with its island in the middle — the spot where Roi Et locals walk, jog and feed the fish in the evening. The Roi Et National Museum is about 400 metres away, and Wat Bueng Phra Lan Chai is also within walking range. Around the hotel you'll find the city market, restaurants and coffee shops within easy reach on foot. If you're visiting Roi Et without your own vehicle, this location does a lot of the work for you.
For anyone driving in, the generous parking is a real plus that guests note — you can park on the hotel grounds without circling for a space the way you might at a small central hotel. If you're flying in, Roi Et Airport is about 12–14 km away, roughly a 20-minute drive.
Being honest about it — Roi Et City Hotel is an older property that hasn't been fully renovated tower-wide. Some reviews flag air conditioning that runs noisy and not as cold as a modern unit, and a slightly musty smell in rooms that have been shut up for a while. These are the trade-offs that come with an older hotel, and they won't suit everyone. If you're expecting the spotless feel of a new chain hotel, this may not be your pick — but if you can accept some age in exchange for space and location, it earns its keep.
Bottom line — Roi Et City Hotel works best for business travellers, families and visitors who want to stay right in the city centre, walk to Bueng Phlan Chai, and value a big room plus easy parking over newness, all for a mid-hundreds-baht rate. Prices start around ฿800/night (promotional rates with breakfast sometimes land near ฿889), which is good value for this much space and this central a spot. If a newer room matters more to you, compare it against the city's recently opened hotels first — but for square metres and a walk to the central park, this one delivers.
Summary from Booking & Agoda
- ✓ Very large rooms — easy to move around and store luggage
- ✓ Central location — walk to Bueng Phlan Chai and the market
- ✓ Generous parking, convenient for drivers
- ✓ Good value, with breakfast included in many packages
- ! Building and furniture are older, not fully renovated
- ! Air conditioning in some rooms is noisy and not very cold
- ! Long-closed rooms can smell a little musty
- ✓ Lots of space in both the lobby and the rooms
- ✓ Right in the city centre, walking distance to main sights
- ✓ Friendly, helpful staff
- ✓ Good for business travellers and families needing a big room
- ! Older hotel atmosphere, not modern
- ! Some bathrooms and fittings show their age
- ! Wi-Fi signal weak in parts of the tower
- 💡If you're sensitive to older rooms — the tower hasn't been fully renovated and the furniture and bathrooms are from an earlier era → if you want a crisp, new room, ask to see recent room photos or compare a newly opened city hotel before booking
- 💡If you worry about the air conditioning — some reviews flag older units that run noisy or not very cold → at check-in, ask for a recently cleaned room and tell staff straight away if the air-con isn't cooling well enough
- 💡If you're visiting without a car — the location is the strength: a 5-minute walk to Bueng Phlan Chai and 400 m to the museum → choose this and you can explore the city centre on foot and skip taxi fares