Aurea Central Hotel

My husband and I just finished a 3-night stay at Aurea Central Hotel in Phnom Penh. It was a wonderful stay, and I would highly recommend it. The location was excellent: next to the Central Market and a few blocks away form the business district/French Quarter. The hotel seems like it is brand new, and I assume it is newly renovated because the gym was still under construction. The breakfast, which was included, was delicious. The menu included a few options of Asian-inspired fare. We tried several of the options and each were wonderful. It was easy to access the hotel and there were always plenty of tuk-tuks outside ready to take us anywhere in town. The beds were extremely comfortable, and the rooms had nice touches likes slippers and robes. They also greeted us with a "a happy anniversary" message on our bed as they knew were were in Phnom Penh to celebrate. The value for the quality of the hotel was exceptional, and we would return again

I loved the entire experience. A couple of improvements would include more reliable wifi and we had an electric kettle in our room but there was no tea or coffee provided (a very little suggestion)

Good

Good

This was our 2nd time staying in a transit through Phnom Penh. The hotel itself feels more like a business hotel and is clean & comfortable. We were upgraded and had a decent size room with good seating options like a small chaise lounge with coffee table, and desk + comfortable chair for remote working, ambient lighting & good Wi-Fi connection this time (didn’t stay on higher floors). We liked the bedside reading lamps & the AC worked well. The bed was very comfortable and linens were good quality. The staff were kind and helpful. The hot water shower had good pressure and worked well. The bathroom small but functional and clean. There was room clean on request, and daily water top up. We initially booked 2 nights and extended a 3rd due to transit changes, for the 3rd night we opted to try the breakfast which was better value than buying separately. The options were basic but did the job, catered to Chinese taste (congee , fried rice) but didn’t mind. It was worth it for the very good coffee, and the tropical fruit. There is a laundry room upstairs, and small gym. The roof terrace bar is also nice to sit and watch the skyline but it’s not regularly staffed. On our last night the hotel provided complimentary evening noodle soups which was delicious and a nice touch. Overall the hotel feels like a business hotel for Chinese men but the services and the quality of the room is good. It is also located near many amenities like ATMs and a small grocery store across the road selling things like mosquito repellents. Restaurants in the local area are mostly Chinese, and an Amazon cafe., reflecting more western prices.

Overall a good stay. Some things to note: Walking isn’t easy in the local area as it’s so busy with traffic and on main roads, without proper pedestrian pavements so whilst things are nearby it’s quite a mission to get from A to B. There are however many tuktuks or cabs available via grab or PassApp. The small fridge in the room is barely cold, without adjustable temperature, if you need to store things to keep cool.

Room: Room is beautiful, cosy, lovely bed. They do have one of the nicest looking room at this cost around the city. Location: It’s very central, making it easy for you to venture by tuktuk about 8-10 minutes from every key spots of interests you’d like.

Wifi: This is the most serious concern, their Wifi is NOT password-protected. This makes it too easy for all your devices to get hacked by malicious groups externally. I relied on my roaming service throughout 4 days of stay which is very costly. Simply for this reason, I would not stay here again until rectified. Water: Chilled water bottle must be paid (1.5 USD) but room temperature bottled water is free. Fridge: It doesn’t work. It’s not cold at all, you put anything in there and it’ll spoil. Food: Room service food is not good, had super hard rice. Noise: My room window faces a very busy road and I hear all the horns, cars, loud songs that are played. They’re not overly loud that it becomes disruptive to my sleep but just loud enough that I can hear them through the window and it’s annoying when I want to rest quietly in the mornings or afternoons. Somehow the city seems to sleep after 10pm and so I’ve never been awoken by the same horns during bedtime. Once it’s later in the night, I slept well.