Introduction Last time I stayed at 137 Pillars Bangkok was before covid and quite a bit has changed since then so I thought I would provide a quick update. Unfortunately service levels have been cut back, the breakfast which used to be the best in the city has been downgraded, and with the opening of several new luxury options in Bangkok such as Rosewood, Capella, and Four Seasons, the competition has increased. Some people will compare to Park Hyatt because of the SLH-Hyatt tie-up and I would note that PH has been improving service & breakfast, not to mention that the points redemption at 137P was scheduled to go up from 25k pts to 30k pts when it was put on ice due to covid so I would not be surprised if it gets done and becomes even more expensive relative to PH at 20k pts. Bottom line several changes are going in the wrong direction for 137P and while this hotel still has some great features, it is becoming a less attractive option than in the past. Room Given the cutbacks mentioned above, the hotel could upgrade more liberally than the strict 1-category upgrade rule to offset some of the negative changes, but unfortunately they did not. I booked the entry level suite (Sukhothai Suite) and received the same upgrade to the Ayutthaya Suite as in the past. The room types above are the Thonburi Suites and the Rattanakosin Suites; if they do not upgrade a returning guest to the higher room types in times of low occupancy when only three rooms are occupied in the entire hotel, it’s hard to imagine under which circumstances it would ever happen. The room was pretty much the same and nothing notable had changed. We had a couple of nice welcome surprises in the room which was definitely a nice touch. Dining Breakfast used to be absolutely fantastic at 137P but now the Baan Borneo Club is temporarily closed for renovations so we had the choice of having breakfast on the ground floor at the Bangkok Trading Post restaurant or as in-room dining. The menu no longer had luxury options such as steak & eggs, crab omelets, seafood salad, or sushi. The free-flow sparkling wine is also a thing of the past unfortunately. The current a la carte menu is not bad, but I can no longer claim that 137P is the best breakfast in Bangkok, in fact based on our stay at Park Hyatt a couple weeks ago that one clearly beats 137P, as do some others such as Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Capella, Sukhothai, Waldorf Astoria, etc.When 137P informed me about the closure of the Club and that happy hour would be served at the swimming pool on the 27th floor, I expressed my concern about the venue which is shared with guests of the residences, therefore not as private as what the Club used to be. As an alternative they suggested happy hour near the roof top pool on the 35th floor which is for guests of the suites only. It turned out to be a completely private happy hour in a great venue overlooking the city, a complete peace haven despite our stay overlapping the weekend when hotels tend to be busier at the moment. Our butler came by regularly for refills or we could just call using the phone near the pool because there was no other staff (or guests) on the roof. Pool The swimming pool is still open 24 hours per day and one of the strong points of the hotel. I went there on three different afternoons and twice I was all alone so it beats having a private plunge pool at Capella, Rosewood, or Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit. Service Service is very good at this hotel, that said I noticed some cutbacks. First off they no longer provide the mobile phone with internet and direct chat access with the butler which I personally do not need but I am sure it was useful for some guests. Also not having the Club open limited the interaction with the butler and our breakfast was served by different staff on different mornings which also reduced the personal aspect. On Saturday evening we came back to the hotel at 7:30pm and there was no door man - not a big deal, but I do not recall other ultra-luxury hotels in Bangkok having the front door unmanned and it never happened at 137P in the past. Also some of the breakfast orders were bungled for example salmon was supposed to come with rice but they forgot, and they also brought noodle soup without condiments which is normally not a miscue that hotels in Thailand make. All of these are admittedly minor issues but 137P’s competitors set the bar quite high so some missteps stand out. Overall I booked at 137P for a stay during the weekend specifically to avoid the large crowds at some other 5-star hotels which have staycation promotions and my objective was met with flying colors with the in-room breakfast, the fantastic private happy hour, and the pool which was almost entirely for my personal use only. However some cutbacks were a bit disappointing and with the increase in new hotel openings which will compete for travellers’ attention, I am not sure things are looking up for 137P.