TravellerFrequently

Yes I did. Very useful.

I am interested specifically in your views and experience of the suite, as I have booked one for later in the year.

Thank you.

BadgerBoi

I'll keep that in mind.

Transpacificflyer

I have not complained this time as my experience previously, is that hotel management is blasé. That's just how it is in Thailand. Mai pen rai. A while back, I had a serious problem with a room. As I was just sleeping overnight, I didn't notice until after I had gone to bed. After I checked out I did notify Novotel. The response was "sorry, we have a regular maintenance program in place,". Yea, ok, thanks Novotel.

In fairness to Novotel, there is not much it can do as it operates under a management contract. The hotel management has quite the "interesting"' history, and Accor gets blamed for many things, which are not its doing. The hotel was a government of Thailand creation and ownership was shared by several Thai government corporations. Novotel inherited some "special" design and construction features.

Initially the hotel management was a JV with Universal Hospitality Group. As I understand it, and how it was reported at the time in 2008, the AoT cancelled the contract because of the circumstances under which Universal obtained the contract. Apparently, Universal, described as ineligible to have the contract had not even been one of the companies who had submitted a bid at the original tender.

With yesterday's announcement that Thai Airways will be expected to sell its 30% stake in the hotel, things might change for the better.

Goldorak

I'm not surprised about what you say. I stayed only once in this hotel in december 2012. Nice hotel/rooms but very average to bad staff. Total lack of training on Le Club. I reported this stay here :
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19909141-post129.html

But the location of this hotel is totally unbeatable if you just overnight between 2 flights.

TravellerFrequently

Some mixed reviews. Any recent experience?

Will post my comments after my stay in a few weeks.

Edited to add: also, how much does it cost to use the Internet during a 24 hour stay? Thanks.

TravellerFrequently

Also, any experience of Platinum recognition?

tartempion

I spent one night at the airport Novotel early 2014, zero plat recognition.

I did very much like their international buffet at 999 Baht net, the best value buffet ever in Thailand.

kay sedia

I stayed Feb 1 2015, upgraded to a rather large suite, drinks voucher for the bar, club floor check-in/out, missed cocktail hours, had a decent breaky. All in all, good for an airport, but expensive for Bangkok.

jm96822

I've stayed at this hotel since 2011 when transiting BKK to other SEA destinations. I wasn't very impressed in 2011; lackluster room, slow and unfriendly staff, and expensive.

Fast forward to 2015: I'm much more impressed than in years past. The big difference here is their 24 hours max flex program. This is a life saver when coming in off a 6-hour delay, and connecting flights puts you into BKK at 5 am instead of 11 pm, and you gotta take another flight soon.

If your an Accor LeClub member, even classic level gets Internet free.

The staff was very friendly and helpful; the shuttle counter agent barely had to see me catch her eye and she jumped up from behind the counter and whisked me to the shuttle, getting my name as we walked. I've also used the underground walkway to the hotel but had a bad sprain so the shuttle was also a life saver.

Check in at the biz center, which is now 24 hours, was fast and friendly. The rooms are slightly above average but very clean now.

The bar was pretty good this time; they had live music and I tried one of their three whiskey flights for 599 THB, very nice. I also had a caprese salad which was okay, nothing great.

Breakfast now starts at 3 am and runs to 10 am. Quality is average, service is friendly but a bit slow.

I haven't yet had time to try the gym and pool, but I noticed you can rent workout clothes and shoes from them, which could be a benefit if you only have a carry on with work clothes and a few casual items.

My one pet peeve is that this hotel doesn't put irons and boards in rooms as a standard. Hotels in Laos and Cambodia also do not. However, an iron and board were brought to my room very fast and with a smile.

Otherwise, the water controls in the shower are oddly placed, jutting out into the shower so that the small of your back can bump into it, resulting in a surge of cold or hot. I do enjoy their soaps, and take the unused portions with me as the bottles travel well and most hotels in SEA don't have as nice.

TravellerFrequently

kay sedia and jm96822 - thanks for your comments.

I have two stays coming up soon, so will provide my feedback.

onemoretrip

I enjoy my stays at this hotel - especially compared to the limited range of facilities offered by Novotels in the UK. As a platinum member who has stayed a few times over the years since 2009 I've always received club benefits. The staff normally give you a little card with all the (platinum, not sure about other levels) benefits available on check-in. I can't remember them all, but free breakfast and grazing later in the day in the business centre, room upgrade, free water bottles, drink in the bar, a couple of clothing items pressed and a few others. When I was there in January a sign at reception said that the hotel is trying to offer free wifi to all customers, but there are contractual issues with the airport holding this up. However, I received a code for free wifi nonetheless. The gym is good and I enjoyed a spa treatment, but as others have mentioned, it's more expensive than the massage 'hut' in the underground walkway to the airport. On a nice day sitting by the pool is a rare treat for a European. And, of course, the ability to check-in at any time and use the room for 24 hours is very handy and forward-thinking.

The interior is slightly tired but after a long flight this is not my greatest concern.

Happy to answer any questions, unless there is someone else more qualified than me...

BadgerBoi

Update on free wifi: I stayed there on Saturday and was given free wifi (I have no status). A card in the room gave instructions to use your surname and room number as log in and password. Worked well in the room, but kept dropping out in other parts of the hotel such as the restaurant.

onemoretrip

I've found the list of benefits on the hotel's website:


Synchronizing work and travel, the Executive Lounge is open 24 hours for guests staying in the Executive Deluxe rooms, Deluxe Suites, or Executive suites. State-of-the-art facilities cater to all kinds of business requirements, complemented by the hotel’s professional guest relations team who tailor secretarial and personalized business services as needed.

Executive Lounge Service

Photocopying & facsimile
Personalized business service
Secretarial service
Wi-Fi Internet access


Executive Lounge Benefits

VIP 24-hour check-in & check-out
Club breakfast, served daily at 6am – 10:30am
One-hour use of the private meeting room for 4 people
25% discount at Vous Spa
Shoes shine service (2 items)
Pressing service (2 items)
Happy Hour – complimentary refreshments from 5pm – 7pm (coffee, tea, juices, soft drinks, and alcoholic drinks)
In-room amentities:
- LCD TV
- Fruit basket
- Feathered pillow, duvet and over-mattress
- Extra bathroom amenities

Goldorak

This was my 2nd stay in this hotel. For the 1st one, I had an average experience due to bad staff. This 2nd stay was much better but still annoying issues I will described hereafter. As we know, this hotel is super expensive for Bangkok, but is so convenient when you need to overnight between 2 flights. In my case I was landing in BKK around 23:00 and was leaving the hotel around 7:00 am the following morning.

Platinum recognition was close to inexistant during my 1 stay in december 2012, but this time, it was full implementation with even some unexpected benefits ^. Indeed, 2 days before arrival, I received an e-mail enquiring if I was arriving by air before checking-in and, if yes, to inform me that I would be awaited airside at the baggage claim of my flight for luggage pick-up and transfer to the hotel. Very nice attention which worked very well .
This hotel has a very large and nice lobby and the rooms are way above what you have in « regular » Novotels.





Despite the late time, regular check-in desks were still quite busy and I’ve been straight to the club lounge/business center for check-in. I had booked a superior room and was upgraded to Executive king. I was given a drink voucher but was unable to use it as the bar was already closed. When checking-in, I asked to pay my bill immediately to save some time the following morning as I needed to leave early. I wanted to pay partly with Le Club vouchers. Overall it was no pb (while it was a nightmare in 2012), but it took forever (overall, my check-in/out took close to 20 min…) typing and typing on the computer keyboard, making tens of photocopies of everything (le club card, passport, vouchers, various forms, etc), making you sign all those papers…bureaucracy at its best…
My balance after vouchers deduction was 3671 THB. I have the invoice and the CC receipt indicating this amount. I have activated on my CC an alert texting : I receive a SMS for every charge done on my CC above a certain threshold. While I was in the lift going to my room, I received a SMS for a charge of 3971 THB. I thought this was just a mistake in the text and I was tired and so didn’t bother. But back home, 2 days after checking my CC statement, I saw that I was billed indeed 3971, so 300 THB more than expected. I’m not making a fuss for 300 THB, i.e. around 8 Euros, but for the principle, I don’t like this. I sent an e-mail to the hotel 4 days ago but nobody cared to answer yet. I’m going to try to write to the GM if nobody answer early next week (if somebody has his address, please PM me). I really wonder how it can happen to have a CC receipt indicating an amount and being charged another amount

For the purpose of making a detailed review of this short stay, here are pictures of my room. There was a plate of fruits and macarons.



















View from the room on the inner courtyard/pool :



Overall, they made a lot of improvements on status recognition/benefits but they are still very bad for their check-in/out process which takes forever and with annoying practices .

RoninTech

Are the mosquitoes still bad in the lobby?