7/9-7/11 Stay
Starting day 2 of 3 day, night stay - here are a few comments. By way of background, I am a SPG Platinum, visit Bangkok 3 times a year. First and foremost this is a very nice hotel. In virtually any city in the world but Bangkok, it would be among the top 5 to 10 hotels in the city. In Bangkok however, the competition is quite a bit tougher than most cities. Therefore this note is just a head's up for things to consider.
1. Hotel looks great as always. Very attentive door staff and many people at the front desk waiting to help with no one in line.
2. As a Platinum member, did not receive a suite upgrade, but was placed on a club room floor. The room is very nice, and you can get a good idea of it by viewing the pictures in the post above. Not sure if the room is any different than a regular room, but unless your are Thurston Howell III, it should not really matter as it is a really nice room. The cable programming is a bit light, as it only carries CNN rather than both CNN and Fox News as many other hotels in do in Bangkok these days but if you do not watch Fox News it will not matter.
2. Room toiletries have changed - they are now some sort of LM branded product versus what were nicer herbal based products. I will stay at the LM Bangkok soon and will compare versus what is used there. Also, the standard bathroom setup has been scaled down. Just a pet peeve, but the bathroom only had 2 big towels, and given the heat and humidity in Bangers you need to take a couple of showers a day, so having 4 by default would be nice. Also the complimentary bottles of water were reduced in size - though it is a nice touch to have water in the room.
3. A great fruit plate welcomed me to the room. Mangostein and Rombutan are available and just a delight to snack on after a long walk - great touch.
4. The cocktail setup has been scaled back. Before it was possible to get cocktails in the Lobby bar (Glaze I think) or in the SPG Lounge. Now cocktails are only available in the Lounge. For me this is downgrade, had I known about this change, I probably would not have booked here but that again that is simply because Bangkok has so many choices. The lounge here is very nice, with great drink selection and nice appetizers at cocktail time but I enjoy having drinks in a bar setting. It is a pathetic sounding complaint, as the lounge area is where most hotels provide free drinks for frequent stayers, but again given the choices in Bangkok you get spoiled. More than anything I think it points to the importance of hotels providing a constant product. My expectation was that drinks would be in the bar, and losing that benefit was annoying.
5. Breakfast was outstanding. The selection was well balanced between East and West and all the dishes were well prepared. The morning "energy shots" are really nice and depending on which are available very spicy! The weak point here is the fruit selection which I think compares unfavorably to hotels that have a "live" fruit station. However, that is balanced out by an excellent "live" noodle bar and probably the best coffee in Bangkok (LM Bangkok shares in this award as well).
6. The hotel is running an amazing weekend promotion, where the rates are 50% and you get 50% off any food purchased on the property. This is a really promotion as the property has excellent restaurants. Smooth Curry, the Thai restaurant is excellent in presentation and taste. The French restaurant, Reflexions, has a great looking menu which I will try on this visit. So for you looking for a very nice hotel for the weekends, PA is a a great option.
Conclusion - This is a wonderful hotel. PA is a great property with an outstanding location and you will not go wrong staying here.
While for me eliminating the Glaz Bar SPG Plat cocktail option was a disappointment that had I known about would have led me to book elsewhere for the the 8 days I will stay here this month, that is more my own bias and will not likely affect most people's stay.