FlyerTalker7654

Staff told you they are running at 17%? Did you ask if it's just their property or Bangkok in general? Wonder if that is down to the situation in China.

escape4

Most likely a major contributor. Chinese tourists are by far the #1 nationality to visit Bangkok, not to mention Europeans and North Americans who would rather not go to Asia at this point in time.

EGW1

Not forgetting that many companies have implemented travel restrictions or bans to and within Asia, so business travel is down significantly also. All of that factored in, 17% doesn’t seem so surprising.

EuropeanPete

I've been doing a bit of a tour of Bangkok hotels in the last month and have been surprised that in my view the Waldorf Astoria does the best out of all the "chain luxury" hotels at the moment.

Pricing is currently a bit higher than the St Regis and the Park Hyatt and I am not that interested in Hilton points or loyalty, but nonetheless for the time being I will be returning most often to the WA. A few thoughts not to try to replicate the proper reviews others have made:
- The hard product at the hotel is one of the best I've seen anywhere globally. I was not expecting anything anywhere near as nice from the photos that I'd seen. Very impressive and a feeling of quality in common areas and rooms
- As a first time Diamond, I was upgraded to a Deluxe Suite. On the downside, it's not a Suite in any way, shape or form, it's just a large room. The positive is that it's actually a very nice room which is admittedly huge and has a particularly impressive bathroom. The shower is not just a shower and I've had superbowl parties in smaller and less well equipped environments than the bath
- The F&B was a step above that of the St Regis and the Park Hyatt (excluding the signature restaurants at the St Regis like Zuma). Breakfast even now is a buffet and is clearly the best of the three, as is the bar (Champagne Room was closed last week) which was beautiful and had an excellent team of bartenders
- That said, as a single person I only got 1/2 of the relatively ungenerous 1,000THB Diamond drinks benefit - in a city where a room at 1/3 of the cost will often give 2 hours of free flow champagne, that seems rather mean. On the counter side, weekdays there are now rates as low as 5.5K THB which come with 4K THB incidental credit, so I guess you have quite a lot to play with
- The hotel apparently decided to invest in retaining a lot of their staff throughout, and it shows. While there aren't quite people behind every bookcase like in the Mandarin Oriental, a couple of senior staff took the time to drop by (the breakfast team is particularly well polished) and you never need to look for help. It seemed to me that this strategy has been paying off, as the hotel felt quite lively at all times - from the conference rooms, restaurants and bars

3rdworldresident

great summary. I have the same thought too.

my most favorite in order
1st place: Waldorf Astoria (as Diamond member)
2nd place: Park Hyatt (as Globalist)
3rd place (from far behind): St. Regis (as Titanium and LT Platinum member)

i wonder why WA still doesn’t get 5-star award from Forbes travel guide yet.

khabah

EuropeanPete Where have you been staying in Bangkok that gives you free-flow Champagne? I’m, uh, asking for a friend.

khabah

escape4

I have similar rankings, but only if money is no object. StR is almost always cheaper than PH by a decent margin and I find the suites there significantly better than those at PH so generally speaking StR is better value for the money than PH based on my personal preferences. For WA I would pay a price premium over the other two because WA is superior in many aspects. The only issue is having a low floor room on the BTS track side.

I am assuming your 'friend' is looking for Champagne specifically, rather than alternatives such as Prosecco? I don't recall free-flow Champagne in Bangkok, not even at 137 Pillars where they have Cava.

escape4

That's good to hear because I met a significant number of staff recently at Kimpton and Sindhorn Kempinski who used to work at WA so they have clearly lost some good ones in the last few months.

Jimgotkp

Probably because they don't want to pay for that rating yet.

craig44485

Completely agree with your assessment, in my opinion the Bangkok WA is one of my favorite Hilton properties in all of SE Asia.

EuropeanPete

Perhaps I should have said free flow drinks (wine/ cocktails/ beer) - I don't drink much champagne nowadays and just assumed it was an option.

escape4

My last stay at Waldorf Astoria Bangkok was in early 2020 before covid hit. I wanted to return post March 2020 but the hotel was closed until we left Thailand in July; during those few months we had the opportunity to try new hotels. Ignoring the riverside hotels which are of a different style and not direct competitors, WA used to be my favorite in the city center, and based on my latest stay post covid and after trying a gazillion other ones in Bangkok, my main takeaway is that WA remains my favorite.

As Hilton Diamond guest I have never been upgraded to anything below a Deluxe Suite, sometimes all the way up to Astoria Suite. This time I received the more modest Deluxe Suite upgrade but it was a long(ish) stay overlapping public holidays with higher hotel occupancy, and my rate was rock bottom so not entirely surprising upgrade. Nevertheless the Deluxe suites are nice and comfortable in the quieter back portion of the hotel and spacious enough at 75 sqm. I did not notice changes from before except that bathroom amenities are now provided in the large dispenser bottles rather than small plastic bottles. Thankfully I could tell from the smell that it’s still the Salvatore Ferragamo products – they have not substituted with a cheaper alternative.

Some hotels have changed their breakfast offering, particularly 137 Pillars which used to be the only breakfast in Bangkok which I considered to be better than Waldorf. However 137P made several cutbacks (among other things, no more free-flow Cava) and now WA is clearly the superior choice, at least for me. Some people might prefer the breakfast at other hotels such as Park Hyatt because they have an extensive a la carte menu (which is very good by the way) whereas WA remains mostly buffet. Nonetheless I did not observe any kind of cutbacks at WA, they still have the daily rotation of curries, fried rice, noodles, nice pieces of fish, etc. and on some days they have upscale protein versions such as crab fried rice or squid. If anything WA’s breakfast got even better because they extended the timing; they now close at 11am during the week and 11:30am on weekends.

Service remains fantastic especially as returning guests, the little details are noticeable at every step of the way. For this stay they prepared a lovely entirely hand-made card with their well-wishes for our upcoming baby along with decorations in the room. In the restaurant for breakfast they always kept the same quiet table for us in the corner at the far end of the restaurant; I am assuming it was by design rather than just luck that other guests did not pick that table? Many staff in the hotel address us by name, even surprisingly some which we had not seen since 2019 because they happened to be away during our last stay in early 2020. In my opinion the level of service at this hotel is among the best in the city.

By now I have stayed at all international chain 5-star hotels in Bangkok except perhaps one. After looking if the grass was greener elsewhere, partly out of curiosity and partly because WA was closed, I can confirm that WA Bangkok is my favorite hotel in Bangkok city center.

David613

Waldorf is now a sha+ hotel (aka you can spend the quarantine till your negative test from arrival) this is the dm i got from them

"Hi Dave - thank you very much for your message. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you in December. Yes, we will have the service that includes transportation and Covid test, at additional charge from your current room rate, which our reservation team will directly reach out to you."


No word yet on how much that fee will be

Kacee

Ah yes, this would be Thailand's new "no quarantine" quarantine. A big money maker for Bangkok hotels. Just coincidence I'm sure.

David613