Service at both hotels is generally excellent.

Though I will say that I have experienced occasional lapses at the Oriental: The unsmiling staff at the breakfast buffet on the terrace and the very slow and uninformative e-mail responses from the Concierge.

But the moments of excellent service vastly outnumber those of mediocre/poor service.

Nevertheless, for my money, at least until September 2005, I would pick the Pen. Notice that rates at the Peninsula for the high season rise this October 2005 quite a bit, compared with the high seasons the year before. I think they feel that they can match the Oriental's prices.

One thing to note, if you are like me who likes to eat a lot in the morning: the breakfast buffet at the Pen is outstanding and is better than the Oriental's breakfast buffet. At the Pen, the fruit and pastry selection is excellent, and they have great hot Western and Oriental food selections in the cooking stations (try the tasty noodles and French toast). The breakfast buffet at the Oriental is fine.

Also, the health club at the Pen is much nicer than the Oriental's. Quite frankly, it seems that the Oriental's renovation completely bypassed their health club. The men's locker room is a disgrace for a hotel of this caliber. The men's locker room at the Pen is great: there are both sauna and steam rooms, cold dipping pool and jacuzzi and very nice shower stalls.

However, the Pen doesn't have a complete spa per se, but they do offer massage servcie. If you do stay at the Pen but want to go to a complete spa facility, the Oriental Spa is a five minute walk from the Pen on the same side of the river.

For lunch and dinner options, I think the food at the Oriental is much better. I loved the lunch buffet at Sala Rim Naam and Lord Jim at the Oriental.