sbm12

There are three that I see on the website:
Mandarin Oriental
Peninsula
Sukhothai

I'm going to be in Bangkok for a couple of days on my honeymoon and want to know which of the three is the best option for us to stay in. The big plus I can see on the peninsula is that the benefit is a massage, versus just a lunch at the others. I figure that is probably worth a little bit to us, but not enough to outweigh anything else if the other properties offer anything better in terms of location or other fun stuff.

Whadda y'all think??

Thanks,
S.

Raffles

Pen spa does not open until 2007 so your massage will be in a tiny room in the fitness centre. You can also get spa treatments in BKK for literally 10% of what the Pen charges.

However, I think the Pen is clearly the best hotel of the 3 and would recommend it anyway. MO is overrun with tourists and few rooms have river views. Sukhotai is a bit off the wall for me. But opinions vary strongly!

gleff

Plenty of discussion on these properties in the Luxury Hotels forum. I'd pick the Pen regardless of the FHR benefits at any of the participating properties.

NickW

Just to be contrary, I'd definitely stay at the Oriental.

Book a Deluxe River Wing room (which isn't even a particularly expensive category) and you're guaranteed a river view and the design of the rooms is lovely.

The Peninsula is right next to the Oriental across the river, so location doesn't mean very much between these two (well, OK, the Pen is the 'wrong' side of the river, so small advantage to the Oriental).

The spa at the Oriental is mind-blowing; the prices are a bargain by western standards (although an unbelievable rip-off by Thai ones).

As gleff says, do a search for Bangkok in the Luxury Hotels forum and you will find that this is one of the more debated questions!

Frankly, I think you'll be delighted whatever choice you make.

Tritgr

I too am not familiar with the Sukhothai, and I agree that you should search on the Luxury Hotels forum, but since you asked, I prefer the Oriental, and I agree with Nick W about the Deluxe River Wing rooms. I also vastly prefer being on that side of the river.

A couple of other points. I don't know what your Amex card status is, but from time to time the Oriental management gives a cocktail party in the Authors Lounge and if there's one while you're there, you might get an invitation (especially if you let them know it's your honeymoon).

Also, Thailand is the land of massages, so you have a lot of choices. There is a massage school located at Wat Pho (which is the Temple of the Reclining Buddha), and while the massages aren't as fancy as what you'd get at your hotel, they're probably as good as you can get.

I forgot to mention that on our last stay (in January), my wife and I had the most interesting and entertaining floor butler we've ever encountered. His name is Mr. Sumati, and on future visits we intend to ask for a room on his floor.