UASPG

I do.

And certainly appreciate that they replaced the small square soap bar by a larger one.

I guess that all guests, even frequent ones, are not interested in the same things.

Central90210

If Starwood is your main hotel chain, I don't blame you. Toiletries offered by higher end and luxury hotels in the chain often leave much to be desired, especially when compared with other chains such as Hyatt. It is not unusual to find Aesop (once you tried Aesop's shampoo, you cannot go back), Le Labo, Ren or Jo Malone being offered at their higher end brands such as Park Hyatt, Andaz or even Grand Hyatt.

At Starwood's top brands such as W, LC and SR, you're often stuck with lackluster offerings such as Bliss and Remede. The only offering I enjoyed in the Starwood system is Thaan offered at SGS.

Just my two cents.

MSPeconomist

True for the W but I usually get good toiletries at LC and StR. For example, the Ivy (LC in Minneapolis) has its own spa brand which I like very much and the sizes are generous.

SHLTP

Plat benefits are now two pieces of clothes to be washed each night (no longer once per stay as wiki says). Confirmed to me that this will be reflagged as Luxury Collection. Have to say the renovated suites here are gorgeous - so nice that I might switch back and forth w SGS now.

EuropeanPete

This literally happened to me at the Park Hyatt Tokyo back before Aesop had gone anywhere else.

SHLTP

Stayed here twice in last month for 4-5 nights each time. I have to say I really like this hotel - it underperforms SGS on service but it is improving (hiring tons of people including some from SGS as they prepare to rebrand to luxury collection) and the hardware is great. I honestly couldn't tell that SGS recently renovated so hardware there looking a little tired. But PA''s hardware nice.

Pool area is nice and uncluttered. I like the look of SGS pool area more as it is more tropical but sometimes it is impossible to find a lounger and for families virtually impossible to sit together.

Club lounge is really nice with ample food and drink at both tea time and cocktail hour. Really nice spreads. Wish they had more fresh squeezed juice options, like SGS has, but overall quite good. They let you have cocktail hour at any of the food areas. Staff do not always know this so sometimes a call needs to be made to duty manager. But when it works it is quite nice.

Gym has good assortments of free weights and machines. Quite nice.

Breakfast is spectacular. Coconuts, fresh squeezed juice. All nice.

Suites are beautiful. They are some of my favorite rooms in the Starwood property list.

Location is good. A little quiet and not much around. But it is closer to the Arab quarter and Nana than SGS is. Some folks have said it is far away but I don't see that at all.

Overall this probably has become my favorite property in bangkok. Basically I'll stay here or SGS depending on rates. SGS has more plats too which can make upgrades harder to get sometimes. But you can't go wrong with either property.

UASPG

It should finally happen this October - quite a long process.

StatusChallenged

booking my first stay here for mid-october - looking fwd to it

Moomba

Interesting; do you get upgraded to suites at this hotel?

As a mere PLT I have never had anything other than a corner room as an upgrade. Yet I think my hit rate for suites at SGS is 100%.

remymartin

Most returning plats would say the opposite - ever since the SGS renovations started there have been pretty slim chances to get a suite over there. At the PA there are plenty of suites and plat treatment has been good (to me, and others).

UASPG

It has been a few years that I don't have any problem to get a suite at either place, but I avoided the SGS during the renovation.

Always Flyin

I stayed at the LM once when the protests were blocking the intersection in front of the hotel. No suite and the hotel was effectively empty.

I didn't go back.

Ever since the SGS started its [lackluster] renovations, and now that they are completed, I have yet to receive a suite upgrade in at least a dozen stays of differing lengths.

Agree on the former, but disagree on the latter, although my single stay was years ago.

There was no reason to avoid the SGS. The renovations didn't really affect the guestrooms for the most part.

It was just not much of a renovation, overall.

Prior to the renovations, I was ~95% for suite upgrades. I am now at zero.

Dr. HFH

I think of it as a redecoration more than a renovation, except for the mid-corridor suites (xx12, I think), which were renovated into real suites. Previously, they were more like two connecting rooms, with the bed replaced by living room furniture in the smaller one. I think that it has the same number of suites as it did before the renovation, -- what hurts suite upgrades here is the hotel's popularity and the large number of PLTs who are regulars. It's not unusual at this hotel to have more PLT guests on a particular night than there are suites in total, and presumably some people pay cash for the suites, too.

StatusChallenged

Any experiences with the spa package? Going solo and it seems like it's worth the $50 upcharge if i get one of the nicer treatments, plus I can get the points with plat as well as breakfast

UASPG

It's finally official:

http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news17...eBangkok.shtml