Tattoo Guesthouse, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Address: Street 125

Website: none

We came across this guesthouse after one of the two kids that were hanging around a few guesthouses that we were checking out (which we didn't quite like) very persistently offered to take us there to have a look! We were in an area near the Psar O Russei which is quite residential as opposed to the more known backpacker area next to Boeng Kak Lake, and although was described by more than one travel website as being 'in the middle of nowhere', isn't quite true. As just mentioned, the place is about 5 minutes walk away from a market, as well as several Chinese restaurants and local eateries on the main road of Monivong.

Tattoo Guesthouse (sister guesthouse of Tat Guesthouse a few units away) has about four levels of rather large rooms which definitely need a lift as the stairs are a pain to walk up after a day of exploring in the sun and heat! We paid US$7 for our fan room on the third floor which came with cable tv, a dresser, an old fridge (which wasn't connected and didn't look very desirable anyway) and a window overlooking the city. The room was clean with cool tiled floors, and the hot shower bathroom was also quite clean. There is no free wi fi connection but there is free internet downstairs. We stayed for three nights and were going to stay one more night before leaving for Siem Reap however on the fourth morning when I went downstairs by chance, the staff informed me that we'd need to leave that morning as they'd booked a large group arriving that day and needed our room. This wasn't a nice surprise and hardly professional as they'd told us to just pay upon our departure and should have told us about this previous arrangement.
One other curious thing that happened on our second day was the reluctance of the staff to allow us to make a quick phone call to a nearby travel agent with whom we had booked a day tour for that day. As the tour would only go ahead with a minimum of 4 people, we were told to ring up on the morning and check that it was still on. The staff mentioned that the call would cost them more (the amount was hardly substantial) as the number had a different prefix to their own, or something like that. It wasn't really a big deal, as the call only took half a minute but this came as also a slight annoyance from the attitude of the staff.

Overall, a good value place to stay at to explore a less touristy part of Phnom Penh. The rooms are great for the cost but the staff would definitely benefit from a customer service and general hospitality management course!

Rating: 7/10