Originally Posted by
ppnyc108
I will be traveling to BKK for the first time with my partner next spring(end of April to first week of May). After many hours of looking into hotels(and there are so many!), we came up with two hotels. First is Penninsula and second is Hansar. We are leaning towards Hansar since it is smaller boutique hotel. We are guessing that the whole experience will be more intimate.
I don't know why the Hansar would be more intimate. It's in a tall tower, where the hotel takes up only a portion of the building, and condos available for sale or rental take up the rest. The Hansar sits on a small piece of land down a soi from Rajadamri Road in the middle of a bunch of other tall condo towers and offices, shopping, and dining areas in one of the posher areas of Bangkok's city center. I'm not saying that's good or bad, just the way it is-- for some people, this is ideal. The Pen, like other riverside area hotels, sits on a larger piece of property fronting the river and is just a hotel, not a mixed-use property. Like the other riverside hotels, the Pen feels a bit like an urban resort, detached (but not that far) from the hustle-and-bustle of Bangkok. I'm not saying that's good or bad, just the way it is--for some people, this is ideal. While I could imagine a smallish hotel with the Hansar's physical plant possibly being more intimate, I would need to be convinced, because the physical plant and layout of the riverside hotels, particularly the smaller 5* ones (Pen, MO) in my mind lends itself more to intimate service.
FWIW, Mr. Megatop and I have always stayed at the Pen, for 10 years now. It's like a second home to us (maybe that kicks it up a few points on the 'intimate' scale in my mind). As others have written, the riverside hotels have a tranquility lent by the river that I find very relaxing. Breakfast at the riverside terrace at the Pen is pretty much my favorite place in the world to start my day.
If you're the type of New Yorker who favors the new, smallish, boutiquey type hotel, six or seven years ago that was The Metropolitan on Sathorn Rd., and now it probably is the Hansar. My best friend's partner (both are heart-of-Chelsea guys) is totally into that, and I could easily see him picking the Hansar. But if you favor top-notch service without feeling the compulsion to be in the "hip, new" place, I'd recommend the Pen. My best friend loves it as much as I do, and his NY friends who've followed our recommendation have yet to be disappointed.