Hi guys,
need some advice for a hotel in Pattaya. What's a decent (i.e. Clean and not too far away from the bars and not too expensive) hotel or place to stay?
I've heard pattaya is supposed to be cheap but as far as I know, that's aminly referring to the women and booze.

Can any experienced bros dish out some advice for this Pattaya newb?

Thanks in advance and reports to follow hopefully!

Hey Bro Yoneyama. Still living it up in Bangkok eh.

About Pattaya, i stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel when i was there. Alittle pricey i must say
but its location is fantastic...near the beach and not too far off from the agogo bar street
where most of the action occurs.

Your info is accurate...Pattaya is cheap for the WGs and the booze and little else.
The cheaper hotels can be abit of a nightmare i hear. I would advise on forking out alittle more on a nice place. The Hard Rock is great as is the Dusit Thani (about 5 minutes by tuk tuk to
the main bar area). If you go for a 3 star hotel, you are probably going to get below basic -
clean sheets and room may be lacking even.

One more thing, the main road where everything is located (beach, bars, girls, hotels) is
called Sukhumvit Road. Thats right, it extends from Bangkok all the way down into Pattaya
and beyond (it actually leads all the way to the Cambodian border i think ). There is
an interesting bar (can't recall the name but when you are at the bar street, you can't
miss it - it has western girls in an agogo setting!).

The quality of WGs as i am sure you have heard, isn't up to par as what you can get in
Bangkok. If its possible, you may want to hook up with a nice girl in Bangkok and take her
to Pattaya for a quick getaway and fun.

Yep still in Bangkok.
Thanks for the valuable info. I had pondered on whether to go a slightly pricier hotel in exchange for the security and surroundings, think you've sold me on that
Wow, didn't realise Sukhumvit stretches all the way to Cam borders.
As I'm off later today I don't think I'll take any girl from Bangkok. Like a friend would say, why would you bring your packed lunch to a buffet?

I stayed at the Dynasty Inn a few months back. The room was good (if a little dim) but there was no view. No joiner fee, but just a little too far from walking street to walk.. They did have a bus from their hotel in BKK which was handy. Worth a go if you don't mind a little walk. Free wifi. About $50 USD per night.
http://www.dynastyinn.com/beta_DynastyInnPattaya.htm

Going back several years, I stayed at the Welcome Plaza - nice place with good sized rooms, but charged $300baht joiner fee... Excellent location though...
http://www.welcome.co.th/wplaza.htm

Also stayed at Central Plaza Hotel a couple of times - nice place with big rooms and good views. First trip was great but second was terrible - bed bugs in the rooms... And I read some reviews that I was not the only one. Again that was a few years ago and things may have improved.
http://pattayacentrehotel.net/index.html

Also, a tip for a decent bar - Nui's Club A Gogo - I can't remember the address but it's on your right (sea side) as you walk down walking st - somewhere around teh middle... Friendly atmosphere and there is a little bubble bath, where one of the dancers gets naked and 'covers' herself up with the bubbles! Say hi to Mam if you see her - a great little spinner!!!

I managed to find a pic of Mam - hope you like!

I've now safely returned to HK.
Thanks for the reccos Lister and DD.
I actually ended staying at the Diana Inn at the end of Soi Diana (I think). It was listed in a tourist guide that my friend bought along. It was pretty clean and had a shared swimming pool with the other hotels attached/nearby.
As for location, it was pretty much in the middle of everything. We were parallel but one soi from the beach and about 10 miins walk to Walking Street. Not bad for just under 1000baht a night.

I'll be writing up my Pattaya experience soon when I fully recover and get used to this cold weather in HK!