Originally Posted by
Goldorak
I also asked him about this weird change of happy hour cocktail time at the lounge, and that I was not really buying the customer feedback thing, and that I was suspecting more a kind cost cutting measure. Indeed, if you are here for holidays, it €™s too early as you are still in town or you are at the pool enjoying the best time of the day (less hot, less direct sun), and if you are here on business you are simply out for work. And you come back when it €™s already over. So by changing it to an inconvenient time for most of the people, you decrease the number of persons and related drink consumption). He said that it was recently changed for a 3-month test period. He confirmed the customer feedback thing but I understood it has been a few customers having rooms on the lounge floor who complained about too many people traffic on this floor because of the lounge at a too late time (no comment about 7 pm being a too late time + sound proofing is very good at that time). But he admitted between the lines (without saying it explicitely of course), that operating costs and revenues were part of the equation. He mentioned that operating a lounge was costly (and that 2 Bangkok Sukhumvit area hotels, the Park Hyatt and the Sheraton, recently shut down their lounges to make an additional suite*) and that, with the 5 to 7 pm time, many people were not hungry anymore after the lounge visit, sot hey were not having dinner in the hotel restaurant and so it was a loss of revenue. *he said also that they have only 12 suites at the So and that was not enough as they are often fully booked and soi t can be a problem for the Platinum upgradesOf course, I can understand all this, but I tried to deliver clear messages to him, from my customer perspective :a lounge is a great competitive advantage (I can choose an hotel vs another one because of this) and that the decision of the 2 competitors was really very stupid, IMO, especially in Asiathe new 4 to 6 pm cocktail time is bad, and they should come back to 5-7.
Thanks for the detailed review @
Goldorak. I have never been to Sofitel So Bangkok before, so my opinion here should be taken with a grain of salt, but that said I have stayed in more than a dozen hotels in Bangkok so my opinion is not complete rubbish either. Some comments from your excellent review:
- Park Hyatt Bangkok does not have a lounge, never had a lounge, and in fact as a brand, Park Hyatt typically does not have lounges except for a handful of properties in the world (Melbourne comes to mind). If you were told that PH shut down their lounge for a suite, then he was giving you complete BS and is only making excuses to justify their own change. Last time I was at Park Hyatt was August 2017 so things might have changed since then. While they do not have a lounge, they had happy hour with drinks and snacks close to the area which they use for breakfast in the morning. Maybe happy hour has been discontinued since August 2017 which is possible in light of the comments from the Sofitel So manager, but for sure they did not close a lounge.
- Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit has been opened for much longer than Park Hyatt, but as far as I can remember it never had a lounge. So either it's complete BS to say that they closed the lounge for a suite, or he's talking about something that happened several years ago. Also, comparing happy hour at Sofitel So with Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit can be a slippery slope. The downside of not having a lounge at SGS is clear (= snacks are limited), however you can have drinks in 3 locations at SGS which is great if you have a multiple night stay. You can go to the Library, to the pool area outdoors, or to Bar Su. The latter is a great bar that many people who are not even guests of the hotel go to. And drink hours have been expanded at the Library and now it's 4pm to 8pm, which puts the 4pm-6pm hours at Sofitel So to shame.
- Other hotels have also increased their drink hours, notably 4 hours at Athenee and 3 hours at Royal Orchid Sheraton.
- If a Platinum guest needs to ask for a suite when they are available, I personally find it slightly irritating. That combined with the cut in happy hour times, it might be a sign of nickel & diming by the hotel, which does not make me feel warm and fuzzy about trying this hotel. There are several competitors from other hotel chains that give suites to Platinum guests without having to ask, SGS being one of them. I have had good success at Le Meridien as well. I am 0/4 on suite upgrades at Athenee but every time it was because suites were not available (I confirmed myself on spg.com). Platinum guests on FT confirmed that they got suites there without having to ask, same for Park Hyatt.
- I can see that several people here are very happy about Sofitel So despite some hiccups. So it's an indicator that the strong points of the hotel are very strong and you are willing to stomach it and still return. After all you vote with your feet and you guys make logical decisions. However it makes me a bit hesitant when I read about dirty spots and holes in bed sheets for a hotel which is supposed to be one of the best in Bangkok.
So overall I keep an open mind and it's very informative to hear feedback from the Accor forum because I am more familiar with Hilton, Starwood, and Hyatt (soon Marriott too). But what I see here are people happy with Sofitel So but with more issues which seem to pop up than I get at hotels which are generally 1-2k THB cheaper than Sofitel So. Bangkok is very competitive so any slippage and top customers will start looking elsewhere.