I’ve had dozens of stays at The Athenee hotel over the years. At one time it was my ‘go to’ hotel. But, over the last couple years I’ve still been lucky enough to stay here a few times, last year for 3 weeks. I was back again for almost 2 weeks. Currently in house, I check out in a few days.

The good news:
1) The Athenee rooms are truly great… when I say that, I mean every room. I’m currently relegated to their No upgrade on our cheapest rate policy (a policy that I don’t disagree with) However, the basic Athenee Room is plush, comfortable, even luxurious, if not a bit small. Unlike many hotels in Bangkok, EVERY ROOM is a winner.

2) The breakfast is really good. I’d go so far as to say top notch. Traditional breakfast food, eggs Benedict, Thai, Japanese breakfast offerings, pastries, meat/cheese, etc. They have a station that juices fruit to order non stop all morning, every morning. Their coffee sucks, but you can’t win ‘‘em all. The Athenee breakfast is a winner!

3) Cleanliness, appearance, ambiance, again this hotel is a winner. With grand spaces, marble everywhere, and a sheen of cleanliness, I’m very impressed with the hotel’s aesthetics. Luxurious!

The bad news:
1) A cold helpfulness
Staff that are busy, trying to be attentive to their guests needs, but almost out of fear of the consequences. This is very sad to see. The staff don’t care about their guests, their stories, their problems, their personalities. This hotel once know for its caring people is now just a shell of what it used to be. But it doesn’t end there…

2) The Guests and The Elite
There is a VIP mentality here, a victim of its own success, I guess. A few times, I’ve seen staff abandon normal guests and snap to attention for a VIP. To their credit, this hotel is one of several nearby hotels with an insane amount of meeting, wedding, event revenue. Their sales people are great and because of the Royal history of the grounds, the hotel is very auspicious and Thais love it here. At the Athenee you have to be somebody to be somebody. This wasn’t always the case.

3) An executive lounge, overloaded and undersupported
Unfortunately I see no solution for this overwhelmed lounge. That it is packed every night and understaffed are only symptoms. The lounge and it’s free food and alcohol have become too popular as the hotel caters and markets to guests who want to enjoy and re-qualify for platinum and higher Bonvoy status. No cocktail napkins. No stir sticks. And while they do have extra staff come in to help, I have regularly waited over 20 minutes for my drink to show up after ordering. Today during tea time, nobody came to take a drink order for almost 1/2 an hour. It’s tragic for such a beautiful lounge. I also feel for those who cannot get a seat because the place is full.

4) Massively discounted rooms, as low as ฿1,125/night for Thais, which create a two tiered pricing system.
When changing to Luxury Collection, rates at this wonderful hotel jumped thousands of Baht per night. Rates of ฿5,000 and up were common. I don’t mind this, set any price that the market will bear. Even today, if you visited the Marriott website you’d have a hard time finding rates much lower than this. However, on stays of 10 days, and using the rate code LTS, the rate for 10 nights is only ฿22,069 net, or appx ฿1,875/night based on 10 nights. Using the government subsidy that rate drops even further to ฿13,241 net, for 10 nights.

In itself a great rate code isn’t a problem. It sure brings in revenue. However, when it so terribly affects the guest experience of every other guest, I think customers have a right to question things.

5) Staff shortages and inexperienced workers. While obviously Covid related, and equally affecting all hotels, this is still a huge issue. It may not be the hotels fault entirely. But, I’m including it because it will be their failure if they can’t correct it. Service problems are a reality now. They get a hall pass today, but need to get their standards up.

I hope people can see I’m mixed, a hotel that I loved, one more beautiful than ever, but one that has fallen because of its people, still holds a special place for me. But, I mean nothing to them. And the theme seems to permeate from top to bottom. It’s just so sad to see.

if you ask me, it’s time for a new GM. AND STOP SELLING YOUR ROOMS CHEAPER THAN THE ALOFT!