Arena Massage & Spa Bangkok

Arena is a male massage shop, and the Google reviews say so plainly: reviewers name their masseurs, one calls it an older gay massage parlour, and several have been coming back for years. It sits on the third floor of Silom Plaza, four minutes from BTS Chong Nonsi.

It suits a regular who knows the house and agrees every charge before the door closes. Skip it if you dislike haggling over tips. The 3.5 rating from 119 reviews is low for a reason: several reviewers describe a base price followed by a room charge and a large tip they felt pressed to pay, and a few describe the dispute turning ugly. Others praise a manager who explains every charge upfront. Ask him to.

The listing places Arena at 491/23-24 on the 3rd floor of Silom Plaza, in Bang Rak, on the Silom side of the Sathorn district. It has a Facebook page but no website, so there is no published description of the rooms or services.

The reviews fill in some of the picture. Several reviewers name individual masseurs and praise their technique, and one long-time regular calls the setting clean and minimal. One reviewer chose a body scrub with an oil massage and was satisfied. Others describe the building as a little old, and one mentions a shower room that smelled. One review says there were only six masseurs to choose from on their visit; another says many of the staff are older men. Reviewers describe choosing a masseur on arrival.

Arena doesn't publish a price list. Reviewers report paying around ฿800 for a massage; that's a reviewer figure, with tips and extras left out, and not a menu price.

The extras are the story. One reviewer itemises ฿590 for the massage, ฿300 for the room, ฿1,000 for the tip and ฿500 more on top. Another says a ฿1,000 minimum tip was expected on an ฿800 massage. A third paid ฿1,200 and was asked for ฿300 more. Several describe the final bill as higher than the price quoted at the start, and a few say staff refused to let them leave until they paid.

On the other side, one reviewer says the manager explained all the charges, including the masseur's tip, before the session, and another found the price fair. The difference seems to be what gets agreed at the desk. Ask for the full total, room and tip included, and agree the length too: one reviewer says a 90-minute booking became 60.

No booking channels are listed beyond the Facebook page, so expect to walk in. If a written card matters, the cheap list collects shops that publish theirs.

BTS Chong Nonsi is 250 metres away, about a four-minute walk. BTS Saint Louis is about eight minutes on foot, and BTS Sala Daeng about 13.

The hours are early by this guide's standards: 12:00 to 21:30, every day. The Skytrain will still be running when you leave. For somewhere open after the trains stop, see the late-night list.

The pattern in the reviews is lopsided. Repeat visitors, some of them coming back for six years, tend to rate Arena highly and name a favourite masseur. First-time and short-stay visitors write most of the one-star reviews, and their complaints are about money rather than the massage.

If you go, go with a number in mind and have it confirmed before you start. If you'd rather not negotiate, the Top 20 covers shops with steadier ratings.

Arena holds a 3.5 Google rating from 119 reviews, and they divide cleanly.

The positive reviews come mostly from returning customers. Reviewers often name individual masseurs and praise their technique and friendliness, and a few say they've been coming for years. Some mention a clean, simple setting, and one praises a manager who explained every charge upfront.

The negative reviews are about money. Several reviewers describe extra charges for the room and a large expected tip on top of the quoted price, and several say the final bill was higher than what they'd been told. A few describe staff pressing for payment and not letting them leave, and one says a 90-minute session ran 60. Smaller complaints, each from one or two reviewers, mention an old building, a smelly shower and a small choice of staff.