Recently finished a brief but very nice 30-hour stay at the Surawongse. The hotel lived up to it's sterling reputation. Nice SNA upgrade to a great "M suite" (one bedroom/1.5 bathroom) with a good view. Wonderful service all around. Pleasant pool area with great service, a great view, a smallish but nicely warm infinity pool and, at least mid-afternoon on a week day, only about half of the bales and recliners were taken. Very pleasant spa and massage. Really nice lounge with three good-sized rooms, great views and free drinks (including bubbly) and snacks from I believe 5:30 to 7:30. About a 45 minute/$15 taxi ride from the airport.

Good internet connectivity. I conducted two skype tv interviews from my room without any problems.

Plus, as a Platinum, the hotel let my wife and me use the lounge from our 4 pm check-out, which the hotel guaranteed by email before we arrived, until we were ready to depart at 8 pm for our late flight out of Bangkok. However, for a good chunk of that time we went up to the rooftop bar for drinks and the light dinner offered there. What with the music and the ambiance, it's clearly designed to be a "scene", but the views are great and it wasn't at all crowded in the early evening when we were there. (Plenty of tables to sit at, in contrast with the Bangkok Sky Bar that's also knows for its rooftop scene.) Plus they were running a special (not sure whether this is a regular thing) that included a big seafood platter with a bottle of wine.

I can understand some folks' complaints about the breakfast spread in the lounge, compared to the really lavish spreads you can find in many SE Asian hotels. But in an absolute sense, and compared to many fine hotel restaurants in many other parts of the world it really was fine as far as we were concerned, with lots of options, including eggs made to order. loads of fruit, smoked salmon, fixings for salad, bacon, eggs, cereal choices, etc., etc.

The hotel was so nice, and we were at the end of a trip, so we didn't venture out from it at all except for my wife's brief foray to get a nearby manicure and pedicure at a place the concierge recommended. But contrary to some descriptions, it's not quite in the middle of nowhere. Riverside hotels and restaurants are fairly close, as is the Patpong night market.

I'd very highly recommend it and wouldn't hesitate to return.