JW Marriott Bangkok = Improved Hotel Since Renovations

100   Recommended
Executive King
March 18, 2021 by

 Map | 2 Reviews | 100% Recommended
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JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok
 Map | 2 Reviews | 100% Recommended

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Executive King

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
Executive King

I recently stayed at JW Marriott Bangkok for the first time since the renovations have been completed.  It is not my favorite hotel in the city but I was curious to see the result, plus the fact that rates are quite cheap at the moment.  JWM used to be priced in a similar range as St.Regis, Athenee, Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, and W which was too much in my opinion, but now that it’s the cheapest of the five Marriott luxury options and given that the new rooms are a significant improvement, I think it’s more competitive than before the renovations.

Room

I booked an entry level room at the last minute (one hour before check-in) using my wife’s Platinum account and received an upgrade to an executive room on the Club lounge floor.  When they found out at check-in that I was an Ambassador Elite guest they tried to move me to a suite but because it was a weekend with several staycationers and because many floors are currently closed, the suites were fully booked except for some smoking suites which I declined.  They were highly apologetic and they did their best regarding the upgrade but it’s clear they did not have any advance notice to plan room allocations.  Nonetheless this remains a property where it is usually far easier to get a suite upgrade than at SGS for example.  

The room looked much better than before particularly because the carpet is now gone.  The construction quality is a bit on the cheap side and not very different from lesser Marriott brand hotels in the city (Marriott Marquis, Marriott Surawongse) but it was a nice refresh.  Unlike some older hotels, the air conditioning was working very well, however a renovation can never be as good as a new construction, for example there is nothing that can be done about low ceilings, and for luxury hotel standards a room of 33 square meters is a bit on the small side if we don’t score a suite upgrade.

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Dining

The breakfast buffet had a very large selection and is one of the nicer ones in Bangkok including choices such as fried rice, nice pieces of baked fish, an Indian station, etc.  Breakfast at JWM probably remains a notch below Athenee but it is better than StR.  In my opinion the weakness was not about food, it was more about the lax covid precautions compared to other hotels.  At every other hotel where we have stayed recently, either the hotel (1) did not have a buffet, it was entirely a la carte, or (2) there was a buffet but it was served by staff, or (3) there was a self-serve buffet but guests were provided plastic gloves to avoid touching tongs with bare hands.  Based on my stays, JWM Bangkok is the only hotel which did not have any of those three features – people just picked food themselves and since it was a busy weekend it gave me the impression that they were lowering their guard a bit.  

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Athenee used to have the best lounge in Bangkok but due to recent cutbacks the lounge at JWM can be a decent alternative, at least based on food served.  The atmosphere and decor is not as posh and comfortable as Athenee especially not at the moment during weekends where the lounge was packed and not particularly pleasant.  During week days it would have an entirely different matter.

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Gym

One area which they did not renovate was the gym.  The equipment was still fairly old and I am not a fan of gyms with carpet.

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Wifi

Wifi worked great with speeds of 100 Mbps.

Overall

Overall JWM Bangkok has improved but I still prefer Athenee or St.Regis because of the rooms, or SGS because of the service and happy hour drinks.  However I will return to JWM once in a while for a change in scenery especially if prices remain below the competition.

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