Originally Posted by ajca

I spend a lot of time in Bangkok but checked in for my first stay at the Pen this afternoon.

Have always been a bit turned off by the design of the Pen's rooms given it's an older property and looked from the photos that it has been quite a while since the the rooms had a refurb.

I was pleasantly surprised on that front as the room is in very good shape and it doesn't look anywhere near as dated as I expected.

Service and food have been flawless so far.

I have never really understood the "wrong side of the river" / bad location thing (especially vis-a-vis the MO). I understand it even less so after taking the boat to the pier next to the Shangri-la today and back.

From a tourist perspective if you really cared about the location probably the St Regis would be most convenient and I can't see much of a difference between the MO vs the Pen. It's not like you can really walk to many of the tourist sites from either.

From a work perspective obviously it depends on where your office is but in the morning traffic I'm not sure it would take me much longer to get to Sathon from the Pen via 2 minute boat ride + Uber that it does from the hotels on Ratchadamri (St Regis, GH, what used to be the FS).

In either case I am sure it would be easy to have an Uber waiting for you at the Pen pier on the 'right side of the river'. I guess rain and heat would make the boat ride less fun although I think you could actually be undercover the whole way to your car waiting on the other side.

(I have not yet stayed at the MO so can't compare generally)