We had a recent one night stay here, thought I would drop some info and photos for those interested.
- We had originally been slated to arrive later in the evening so we just booked this property to try it out as we only needed one night in BKK before heading to Hua Hin the next morning. We arrived about 1.30PM and the room was ready. It was not the easiest place to pick out for the taxi driver and he of course was not familiar with it but we sorted it out easy enough. Just keep your eyes open. There will be no door person so be prepared to get your own bags in the front and while there is a ramp to the right of the entrance, there is a big flower pot blocking the path to the front door so you need to enter via the coffee/juice entrance and it can be a little tight if people are in line getting drinks etc, like there was when we entered.
- The check-in person was nice enough but this is a relatively cheap property so set your expectations accordingly. They did mention that we had been upgraded to a river view room and asked what time we wanted to check out. I assume late check out would not have been a problem. I asked about breakfast and was told it was in the restaurant, not what we asked but it was of course included as Globalist. The agent did escort us up to the room which was a nice touch for a property in this price range. We were also given two drink coupons but soft drinks / non - alcoholic only.
- Found the room to be what I would expect for a hotel in the 2500THB range. Nothing fancy but clean and comfortable. The river view gets lost a bit with the fact that they are completely rebuilding the pier in front of the hotel which serves the public boat traffic etc. Read that to mean it is not only not that great of a view but also a little loud, didnt bother us though. The boats are currently using a private pier in front of the property next door. The one issue I had was that the TV was useless. Not that I really watch much TV in a hotel these days but in Thailand the wife (she is originally from Thailand) does typically like to turn on and watch local stations. Well, it is apparently setup for streaming only with no satellite/cable tv stations. Honestly, not issue with that but it didnt work. It was just a spinning wheal of death on Youtube or AirPlay which were the only streaming options. Again, not a huge deal to us but might matter to some. To their credit, the internet was fast. It says when you connect you will be limited to 50Mb/s but I got 350Mb/s down and 250Mb/s up on a speedtest and low latency.
- There are a few F&B outlets. First, their is a coffee/juice shop at the entrance of the hotel, a bar on the rooftop by the pool and finally the main restaurant Bang which is right on the river with indoor and outdoor seating. We had dinner at the restaurant and of course breakfast the next morning. It was actually a notch above the hotel, the staff was pleasant and on point at the start of both dinner and breakfast but then were tough to find as the meal progressed. I liked the order from a menu buffet concept. I would think it would help with waste. We were told to just keep ordering until we were full. There are some salad, fruit and pastries put out as well. The coffee was very good. Honestly, this is a really good restaurant for a hotel in this category.
- This is an interesting area. It is not that far from Khao San Road, The Grand Palace, National Museum and of course it is on the river. There are some cute cafe and restaurants speckled about but you are kind of away from things here. We have never really been fans of being on the river so this property really isn't for us but if you want to be out of the way and on the river, it is a decent enough spot I guess. There are a couple of boat options to ICONSIAM and I want to say they took about 15-20 minutes. First is the hop on hop off boat and it is about 40baht. It is nice as it is a bigger boat which nice AC on the inside. It has fewer stops. The second is the orange flag boat that has more stops but is cheaper at something like 16baht. It is open and you might get splashed and could end up on the sunny side of the boat which can get hot. They both stop at the pier stop in front of the hotel. Not sure if either goes to the BTS stop though.
- Only issue we had was someone partying in the room next door. Which is surprising we could hear it as the walls were solid concrete. We just arrived from the US so went back to sleep easy enough, I think someone complained after a bit though and it was cut out. Only other annoying thing is that they do the whole "wait while we inspect the mini bar" before they will process your checkout. Haven't been to a place that still does that in a while. Twenty years ago I found that to be an interesting cultural quirk, but at this point I find it outdated and a waste of my time. On well, sure that is just me being too easily annoyed.
- Honestly, it is a good enough place. It is a cheap place to hang your hat, a nice restaurant and ok enough river spot. I doubt we would return though as we just dont have any purpose or desire to stay in this location.