Originally Posted by flyboy60

My friend, who, BTW, is Asian, was basically accosted by someone from security as he walked in the front door. He did in fact state that he was meeting me for lunch at the hotel - at which point he was challenged to provide my name, which he did.

Originally Posted by flyboy60

The response was that he needed to leave the premises

Originally Posted by flyboy60

he insisted that I be called, which I was, and I met the security guard and my friend at the entry to the lobby. I pointed out to the security guard that there were others (presumably guests) in the lobby dressed similarly to my friend. He replied that guests were allowed to dress that way - and frankly, that set ME off. I immediately asked him for his supervisor, a request which he blew off.

Originally Posted by Kagehitokiri

Originally Posted by flyboy60

I then inquired at the front desk if this sort of treatment was their policy, and I was told that it was, and that their security guard had acted properly.

Originally Posted by MegatopLover

We had resy's at La Normandie, the French restaurant atop the O one night. Earlier that day, we ventured across the river to check out the menu before going shopping. It was August, and I happened to be wearing shorts (not short short tennies or something crass, but respectable length clean linen Bermudas) and a polo shirt. The O doorman refused to let us through the door--just kept holding up his hand. Wouldn't even address me in English, and kept talking with his colleagues in Thai throughout. After enough hand-wagging, finally he produced a brochure from beneath an ashtray stating that policy banned shorts in the lobby. We could see plenty of guests in backpacks and shorts hanging out in the lobby, so he was just trying to keep the riffraff gawkers out, or so he thought. I explained why we wanted to stop in briefly, to review the menu for our dinner reservations. He pretended not to understand and summoned someone else who had some command of English but not much (or so he let on). I told them they could do whatever they wanted with their policy but I instructed *them* to cancel our reservations on the spot. This guy was shocked and wanted us to speak to someone else or call the restaurant, then he tried to get a copy of the menu brought to us. I refused and told him that he'd have to explain what happened and why we cancelled. When we were done, Mr. Megatop lit into them in Thai (he's Thai) about being rude to foreign guests and that not being the Thai way and that he could tell they could speak English just fine and that they could take their attitude and shove it. (He's not normally like that, but when he gets irritated, watch out!)

Originally Posted by MegatopLover

IMr. Megatop and I had a confirmed booking for dinner at La Normandie and, earlier that day wanted to stop in to the concierge desk to have a peak at the menu before going out for shopping. As we came up to the entrance, the doorman physically stood in our way and refused to let us enter the hotel. He would not explain why. I asked several times, in English, what the problem was, and he just waved us away without explanation. I told him that we wanted to go to the concierge desk or front desk to see the menu for La Normandie because we had a reservation for dinner that night. The doorman refused to let us enter and never gave us an explanation of any sort, pretending he did not understand and giving the impression that he couldn't be bothered to deal with us. I asked to see a manager or someone who could explain what was going on. A gentlemen in a suit of some sort (more likely a security manager than a real hotel staff member) came and said that we were not permitted inside the lobby. I asked, again, why. He finally produced from a cabinet underneath an ashtray a laminated form of some sort stating policy that people wearing shorts were not permitted inside the hotel. As if this place were the Grand Palace. Meanwhile, streams of apparently hotel guests are coming out in shorts or milling around the lobby in shorts because, after all, it's August in Bangkok. I told him that now we wanted to cancel our reservation for dinner. He said he would have a hotel staff member come out to talk with us in order to accept the cancelation. I would have none of it and told him that he would have to report the cancelation and that the reason was how rudely he and the doorman had treated us. IIRC, at this point he may have even said we could go inside to the front desk and speak with someone there. I turned to leave. Tehn Mr. Megatop, who had let me endure all of this on my own, stepped forward and very calmly but firmly lit into the security man and the doorman in Thai, telling them that they should not treat foreigners like this and he knows very well they speak English and shouldn't pretend they don't just to get rid of us.

My beef here is not with the dresscode but rather with the staff's rude treatment of us given ostensibly in the interest of the dress code, most specifically the refusal to give an explanation and the feigned ignorance of English.