I stayed at Waldorf Astoria Bangkok a couple of times in May and both times I stayed in a deluxe suite.  This time I got to enjoy the Astoria suite so I thought it was worth providing a review of that room type.  

Previously I booked the entry level room which normally sells for 7-9k THB and I was upgraded as Diamond to the deluxe suite which is about 10.5k-12.5k THB -> the value of the upgrade was roughly 3.5k THB per night.  The deluxe suite at WA is more like a junior suite; other hotels have suites priced about double the entry level room (or more) so an upgrade can be quite valuable; it is less so at WA. 

This time I booked the corner suite which only costs 0.5k THB more than the deluxe suite.  I receive a one category upgrade = the Astoria suite which sells for almost 10k THB more than the corner suite so I was very happy to receive a considerably valuable upgrade.  In addition I got a notice at 6am on the app informing me that our room was ready – talk about early check-in!  I was eager to move to Waldorf so we skipped breakfast at Marriott Surawongse and changed hotels earlier than we had planned to and we could settle in our new room at Waldorf at 8am.

Room

The Astoria suite is an extra-size suite for a whopping 140 square meters.  On one side of the entrance, there is a massive living room with dining area and fantastic views of the golf course with floor to ceiling curved windows on two walls. The room was designed to make guests want to spend time in this room and it’s the strength of the Astoria suite. Not only the views are great, but also it’s bright and airy, not cramped, the sofas are very comfortable, the TV has Bose sound system, etc.  In-room dining is preferable in the Astoria suite than in the deluxe suite because the latter has a coffee table not entirely suitable to eat a meal.  Since WA is a newer hotel than StR, the room is in better condition than suites at StR where I often see stains on upholstery or carpets, or some nicks here and there on the furniture.  Off the Astoria living room is a half bathroom with the same tech features for the Toto toilet as in the main bathroom.  

On the other side of the entrance is a large walk-in closet and the bedroom which also has views of the golf course.  Since the deluxe suite is just one big room, the bedroom of the Astoria suite is smaller than in the deluxe suite.  

On the side of the bedroom is a small office with a long desk and a small window.  I thought that space was a bit odd but it can also be used as a make-up area which is better than in the deluxe suite where the make-up area is located in the closet instead, with less natural light.  

The main bathroom is somewhat small considering the total space of the Astoria suite so for that aspect I prefer the StR and Park Hyatt bathroom in their suites.  The shower is more closed in the Astoria suite than in the deluxe suite so less risk of flooding the bathroom.  The bathtub is in front of the window (with blinds) and is a standard shape rather than the round shape in the deluxe suite.  

In my opinion, the closest equivalent room at St.Regis would be the Caroline Astor suite.  The view from the CA suite is better because StR is located straight in front of the golf course whereas WA is at an angle which means for some view points at WA particularly from the bedroom, you see not only the golf course but also the not so nice roof top of the adjacent building.  Contributing to the issue is that rooms at WA are on lower floors than StR so that roof can be more prevalent if you are on single digit floors at WA.  View from the bedroom:

Fortunately the Astoria suites are on floors 8-14 so not as low as the corner suites which are on floors 6-7.  I would also note that some Astoria suites are on the city side (xx18) rather than golf course side (xx16) so views are not as good over there in my opinion and I was glad I could be upgraded to a xx16 suite on the golf side, high floor to boot.  While the CA suite at StR probably beats the Astoria suite in terms of views, for hardware then WA being a newer hotel I think it makes the Astoria suite tough to beat, and in addition the Astoria suite is much bigger than the CA suite (140 sq m versus 90-115 sq m for CA suite).  All things considered, pricing reflects that.  The CA suite is often in the neighborhood of 20k THB per night while the Astoria suite is perhaps 10-15% more expensive on average.  The overall construction quality of StR might be better than WA for some aspects and perhaps in 2029 WA will be in worse shape than StR is in 2019, in other words, I would not be surprised if StR will withstand the test of time better in the long run.  But for the foreseeable future WA will most likely offer the better hardware due to age difference and tech features.

From the 12th floor I did not find noise from the street particularly loud or disturbing, despite being a bit noisier than the quiet deluxe suites in the back of the hotel.  I would note that the bedroom is a bit further away from the street than the living room is, which helps.  For what it’s worth, I could hear street noise noticeably more from my room on the 24th floor at Park Hyatt than my room on the 12th floor of Waldorf, so depending on the room each individual stays in, generally speaking I believe noise comparisons to Park Hyatt are not entirely appropriate.

For people who want to maximize the dollar value of upgrades, I believe the sweet spot at many hotels is to book the basic room and get a several category upgrade to a standard suite.  At WA my conclusion is different.  The best value is to book the corner suite and you could get the far more expensive Astoria suite and the wow factor that comes along with it, if your stay is not too long which in that case they might be more hesitant to upgrade a long stay.

Champagne Bar

For this stay we also tried the Champagne bar on the 57th floor.  As of now, Waldorf is advertising locally The Loft (56th floor) so it gets some outside customers, but they have not started advertising the Champagne bar yet so they call it the “secret bar”.  We were all alone with staff in there so very quiet.  The entry way to the bar is physically secret as well. First you need to take the elevator to the 56th floor and from there you need to take stairs one floor higher. It would seem like this is a dead end but push on a large knob on the wall and 1-2 meters to the left a small door opens up leading you to a narrow hallway and finally into the bar.  The décor inside is very posh and one of the nicest roof top bars (if not the nicest) I have seen in Bangkok.  Some hotels have great outdoor roof top bars such as the Moon Bar in Banyan Tree and the feeling is different being outdoors but if you want indoor then Waldorf is hard to beat.  As per the name of the bar, the drink menu is heavy on champagne options including champagne mixed drinks, although you can have a good selection of wine or other cocktails as well.  In terms of drinking venues this is head and shoulders anything St.Regis has to offer, and a notch above Park Hyatt which also has a nice roof top bar. The only problem of WA is that it is the stingiest of the three hotels in terms of elite benefits for happy hour since you only get 1k THB credit for a couple per stay, compared to one drink per person per day at St.Regis and one hour of free flow drinks at Park Hyatt. So Waldorf offers the best product of the three, but you just need to pay for it!

Service

Service was great as usual during our stay.  It is noticeable that they repeatedly know who the guests are and what they are up to so they put themselves in position to seek feedback in an effective fashion.  For example, the morning after we went to the Champagne Bar, staff in the restaurant during breakfast asked us if we enjoyed the drinking venue the night before. Clearly staff had communicated between themselves and knew we went up there and intended to ask if we had a good time.  

Overall

Overall we had another great stay at WA and I can say the Astoria suite is one of the best rooms we have had in Bangkok, if not the best. Some Marriott Ambassador guests which are regulars at StR reported sometimes receiving upgrades to the CA suite even when booking the entry level room; this probably won’t happen at WA so the value at StR for these folks would be hard to beat.  However if you have the budget and are willing to spend 10-13k THB for the corner suite at WA then your odds of an upgrade as Diamond to the Astoria suite are decent, and you will arguably get a nicer room than what you would get at StR; the only problem is that it will come at a price: 10k+ THB in Bangkok is nothing to sneeze at and in that price range it starts approaching luxury options such as The Siam hotel for example.  My personal experience at StR is that because I spread my stays around different hotels too much, I am not a top regular at StR as some others are, so upgrades to the CA suite are not achievable for me unless I book a Metropolitan suite or Grand Met suite for example, but not by booking the entry level room.  WA being a new hotel it does not have many years of history for top guests so it’s easier for me to be considered a “regular” at WA than at StR and for my purposes WA remains my favorite, I get better and more personal service, plus the hardware is better.  This is not to say that regulars at StR would suddenly get better treatment at WA after just one stay if they moved their business to the neighboring WA, but I would suggest that for many guests the experience at WA will be worth the price premium of WA over StR.  Park Hyatt might be the hotel which is a better comparison to WA because prices are more similar and both are newer hotels.  Often the entry level room at PH is 9k THB or so and while I got a nice suite upgrade recently at PH as well, the room was not nearly as fantastic as the Astoria suite and paying 9k THB for PH would not be large savings relative to paying 10-13k for for the corner suite at WA with chances for the Astoria suite. When it’s all said and done, WA remains my choice in Bangkok out of the three properties.