Starwood Preferred Guest - Alert on Sheraton Royal Orchid BKK

Just checked into this Hotel. Assistant booked
Executive Club floor room. Informed at
check-in Hotel under renovation and that
almost 50% of floors blocked including top floor
where Club was. Lounge is now on floor 1 with
of course no views. Having looked on the net
and called Starwood Plat. Concierge what is
one to do? How difficult is it for Starwood to let
us travellers know these things. Spoke with
Hotel reservation manager and she says
Starwood well aware of renovations. This is
kind of like the Prince Hotels leaving and no
info. for SPGs with confirmed reservations.

Try the Westin Banyan Tree.... Views from the lounge on the 59th floor are awesome. Search the threads, they have good rates and specials on their web site vs. the Starwood web site. Check it out at: http://www.westin-bangkok.com/

The Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit is quite nice as well! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I agree-they should have told you. It should even be on the web in their internet site-
I was thinking of staying there 5-9 May and decided to do one night at Hyatt-see if I got and upgrade to a suite as requested and I had Sheraton Sukhumvit booked from 6th in case. well i didnt get the upgrade so i moved to Sukhumvit-Wow what a difference-they really made me feel like they wanted me there. The full breakfast by the pool is great and all the restaurants were fabulous. the only thing lacking is a view and nibbles with the free drinks at night(Platinum amenity)I have always stayed at Hyatt in Bangkok but now the Grande is my choice.

Originally posted by RTWSTARALLIANCE:
Informed at check-in Hotel under renovation and that almost 50% of floors blocked including top floor where Club was.

Did they say how long the Royal Orchid would be under renovations?

I just booked there for a July stay and now am wondering if my high floor deluxe room might be surrounded by buzz saw and banging noises... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

-b-

RTWSTARALLIANCE, I apologize if you were not properly informed about the renovations taking place at the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers.

Despite what the property says, there is very little information available to central reservation sales associates (or anyone else). IMHO, in leaves more questions than answers so I have asked that it be clarified in the reservations system.

What is there is the following statement:

"Condition in effect April 4 - June 7, 2001. Tower floor will re-locate to the 15th floor. Tower lounge will re-locate to Captain Bush's. SPG floor will re-locate to 16th and 17th floors."

That's it; there's nothing to indicate what is causing the re-location, only that some floors and the Towers lounge are being temporarily located. The reservation system also no longer indicates any information about Captain Bush's. No one would be able to tell you that it is on the first floor unless you were at the hotel or knew it from firsthand knowledge.

The condition term dates suggest that the renovations that are taking place are relatively minor, but I would advise if you have a reservation close to June 7th, you may want to call the central reservations office to see if the conditions have been terminated or extended. In any case, I am certain that the hotel will try to make the work that is ongoing the least disruptive as possible.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

[This message has been edited by Starwood Lurker (edited 05-10-2001).]

Speaking of renovation, the Westin Banyan Tree in Bangkok, which will no longer be a Westin, is expected to undergo renovation 'to mark the departure' from SPG. I don't know when it will start but for thoese of you planning to stay later this year or maybe next year, it might be good to ask the hotel before booking a room.

According to staff, the new hotel, to be called Banyan Tree, will cater more to leisure clientel. It will have a larger swimming pool (now only a jacuzzi dubbed a pool) and some rooms and the reception area will also undergo renovation but it will not be closed.

The contract with the Westin is due to expire at the end of this year. The huge Westin logo on the side of the hotel building will be removed, they said. The current Westin caters more to business travelers.

The owner of this Banyan Tree is the same as the Sheraton Laguna and a few other hotels in Phuket, according to the staff. The Sheraton Grande in BKK and the Sheraton Laguna have a staff exchange program but they are not 'related' except that they fall under the same chain.

elnor Well I don't know about timing.
According to Lurker the top floors should be
under renovation for a couple more months.
I would assume they would then start on the
lower floors as I know they need renovation.
I started with a Tower high floor
reservation and ended up on fifteen with a
"upgrade" to a "suite". If Banyan Tree and
Westin in SIN is leaving SPG what is the
signal here? Lurker please advise.

RTWSTARALLIANCE, I'm not sure there is a signal. Hotels need renovation in order to provide the quality accommodation our guests expect. You say yourself that the lower floors need it at this hotel. It does not necessarily mean that they are leaving Starwood by any stretch of the imagination. If I see it on paper from on high, I will be glad to advise otherwise, but for now I know of no plans for the Royal Orchid to be anything but a Sheraton for the time being.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

[This message has been edited by Starwood Lurker (edited 05-11-2001).]

Originally posted by tinkybelle:
...i moved to Sukhumvit-Wow what a difference-they really made me feel like they wanted me there. The full breakfast by the pool is great and all the restaurants were fabulous. the only thing lacking is a view and nibbles with the free drinks at night(Platinum amenity)I have always stayed at Hyatt in Bangkok but now the Grande is my choice.

I second the Grande recommendation. Stayed there a few days ago. Beautiful property with excellent service. Paid less than $100/night (incl breakfast) through a Bangkok travel agent.

Although no free nibbles, food at the excellent Thai restaurant in the hotel is very inexpensive.

I stayed at the Grande last week (twice).

Great hotel...now with a great Canadian band in the club (Riva's) downstairs! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Dorian

Pertinent information regarding the Sheraton Royal Orchid and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide:

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010521/bkk83272.html

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Originally posted by Starwood Lurker:
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010521/bkk83272.html


Thanks for the URL.

Any updates on where the renovations stand? I have a reservation with arrival on 2-Jul-2001 and am wondering if I should re-consider(?)...

-b-

elnor, the Property Conditions page still reads that the Tower floor is being relocated to the 15th floor, the Tower lounge is being relocated to Captain Bush's, and the Starwood Preferred Guest floors are being relocated to the 16th and 17th floors. Still no reason given for the relocations, but it is apparently due to ongoing renovations. One thing has changed, however. The condition term has been extended to December 31, 2001. At this juncture it would seem that contacting the hotel directly is your best avenue of discovering how the work there will affect your stay. Their e-mail address is info@rosht.com.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Originally posted by Starwood Lurker:
The condition term has been extended to December 31, 2001. At this juncture it would seem that contacting the hotel directly is your best avenue of discovering how the work there will affect your stay. Their e-mail address is info@rosht.com.


Thank you, I am emailing them at the above address right now.

-b-

Originally posted by elnor:
Thank you, I am emailing them at the above address right now.

-b-




Let us know what they tell you.

Does the Banyan Tree upgrade SPG Plats to the Westin Executive Floor?

Originally posted by joergi:
Does the Banyan Tree upgrade SPG Plats to the Westin Executive Floor?

Perhaps you can ask them if you have been upgraded. But I get an impression that these days they only give Plat. members rooms on SPG floors.

But I don't think you will be losing much even if you don't get upgraded. This is an all-suite property and most of the rooms are more or less the same in design (except the Presidential Suite, which has two stories, and three rooms with conference rooms with a bit different bathroom design). Other rooms have minor variations.

The noticeable difference of the Executive Floor with other plain suites is Heavenly Bed, which you may not get in plain suites.

Originally posted by Globehopper:

Let us know what they tell you.



I emailed the hotel asking about the effect, if any, of the renovations on my stay. I am scheduled to arrive 2-Jul-2001 and depart 15-Jul-2001.

The hotel responded (paraphrased for clarity):

----begin response----
We are doing soft renovation in all guest rooms. This will be finished by July. This will be not affect your stay.
-----end response-----

The brevity was not overly reassuring. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
-b-

elnor I started this post during my stay at
the Royal Orchid in early May 2001. Nice to
see it still going. I do have a card and
contact name for the Reservations Manager.
If you contact me directly via e-mail I am
happy to provide. This was/is not a "soft"
renovation. If I can hear it you have to
believe it is a "hard" renovation.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by RTWSTARALLIANCE:
If I can hear it you have to
believe it is a "hard" renovation.</font>

Update: I decided to go ahead and stay at the Royal Orchid after contacting the Director of Guest Relations and being assured that the renovations were minor.

After my two week stay, I can say that I would not consider them "soft" renovations. My wife and I heard hammering as early as 8:30AM and other construction noises as late as 6PM or so on just about every day we were there. (We were on the 17th floor, btw.)

Given that we were on vacation and so were not in the room much during the day, the situation was bearable. But if I had been traveling on business and planning to work much in my room, I would certainly have wanted to avoid the renovation work.

I'd suggest to anyone considering the Royal Orchid that the alert is still in effect and that you should definitely think seriously about your noise tolerance if you are considering staying there.

-b-

elnor Thanks. I was just in BKK and stayed
at the Island Shangri-La. If you were on
17 that means the renovations are probably
going in the other direction. Was the room/
suite newly renovated? How was it? Was the
Club Lounge open or still on the second
floor? Thanks.

Hmm. I was there from June 29-July 4 staying on points and was upgraded to a huge 2 room and 2 bathroom suite. And I did not hear any noise. The service was really slow but other than that the location is great and my "free" room was terrific for a category 2 hotel.