teo1991

walking from Conrad to the nearest BTS takes about 10min but there is also a shuttle bus service that serves the Conrad as well as All Seasons Place

alternatively taking a grab from Phaya Thai ARL to Conrad in non peak hours costs about THB100-120.that saves the hassle of going up and down the stairs at BTS

flyerCO

Agree. I've used Grab both for transportation, to order food, and for shopping. Better than Uber IMO.

For pickup at airport I usually book a limousine. (Never used AOT as they've always been way overpriced)

NoY

^ yeah, AOT are a tad pricey but its still "cheap", IMHO, & I always use them as its just super-convenient & a very very quick process, plus I have never had a bad driver (used them for years & years now) - YMMV, naturally

teemuflyer

"Cheap" is in the eye of the wallet holder..

thbe

You are right.

From my point of view it’s also about the place, where the wallet holder spends the money. Especially for tourists in Thailand it seems to be a kind of sport to save money. Some people have heard about low prices and they try to avoid spending too much at all costs.

So I think, when it’s about transport from BKK to Conrad, it’s less a kind of ‘I can’t afford it’ and more a kind of ‘I don’t want to get laugh at for my choice of transportation.’.

remymartin

I stayed here this past weekend. Having stayed at the Athenée Hotel many, many times and somehow thought it would be similar. At the price I paid (twice e.g. DoubleTrees) I was rather disappointed by the pool area and the lobby. The room was decent enough.

There was an alcohol ban in the kingdom and as a result no f&b outlet served any alcohol - including the lounge. I'm not sure that would've helped because the lack of natural light in the current lounge setup was depressing.

Something really weird happened and I felt the compensation offered by the MoD was laughable. As a result I won't be staying here again.

FFlash

Having stayed cheap at the doubletree, I was considering Conrad as alternative, but given the price range double I wonder if it is worth it. How would you conpare Conrad with Athenee? They are in same price range but the highest Bonvoy level produces much better benefits than a lousy Hilton Gold or Diamond.

or what about IHG Indigo next door if being Spire?

remymartin

I have stayed at Athenee for 8-9 years, but not since January this year. I was always fond of the pool area, the rooms post renovation (especially when upgraded to a suite), the service is in the lounge, the sumptuous breakfast and many of the staff in f&b. I have not tried the Indigo.

Back to the Conrad - I forgot to mention the porters who arranged taxis weren't very professional. I was never given a piece of paper of the car's licence plate and the last two taxis were just scammy - on the way back to the airport the porter arranged a "special fixed price of 500 thb" which I knew was more than the metre would say including the toll fees, but mai pehn rai.

thbe

You think, that HH DIA is lousy, but you expect something from IHG Spire? And you compare a status, you get with 60 nights, with another status, you need to have 100 nights?

Both don’t make any sense. But what make sense is staying with the preferred loyalty program or hotel brand based on your personal preferences.

I’ve stayed at the Athenee, Indigo and Conrad - the first with a mid tier status, the others with top tier status. None of that properties is perfect, but you may have a perfect stay at everyone of them. The Athenee is a bit more for tourists, the Indigo for people who prefer boutique hotels and the Conrad is a bit more for business people.

I’ve staid at the Athenee only one time, because I’ve experienced a lousy service at that time. I’ve staid at the Indigo only one time, because IHG’s (not IC’s) top tier is a really lousy one and being RA at that time, the IC was the much better choice. I’ve staid at the Conrad more than 30 times, because it matched to my preferences and the status recognition for DIAs was very good there. I don’t stay there anymore, because I’ve had a bad service experience there and because the recognition for regular guests went down from my point of view. YMMV

remymartin

Where do you stay at these days? I need a hotel hotel (preferrably HH) and I don't have very fond memories of the Hilton or DT Sukhumvit either, although those stays were about two years ago. W=A is too dear, Millennium is too far.

thbe

You find my rating here. But it really depends on your preferences. Millennium can be good for tourists, even if it’s not the best Hilton in Bangkok. Conrad and Hilton Sukhumvit are both business hotels, with the Conrad focussing more on guests from the US and the Hilton Sukhumvit more on guests from Japan - even if both have many guests from China. All of the Hilton hotels are good, but you can get disappointed. Even at the best Hilton property in the world (from my point of view), the Conrad Tokyo, some people are disappointed. And all hotels in Bangkok (not only Hilton group) are below that.

My next stay in Bangkok will be at the WA next week.

This year I had stays with Airbnb and at other chains as well (i.e. Siam Kempinski). For next year I move most of my Bangkok stays to Singapore with adding some leisure days in Phuket as often as possible. For my remaining Bangkok stays I will stay at... ??? Really difficult to say.

remymartin

Thanks. I took a look at your rating and have only stayed in 3, 4, 5, 7. I've been staying in all the Starwood hotels for years and absolutely do realise comparing a single stay to one which you are a patron of several times per year can compare. The reason I'm having a hard time deciding is I'll be on a 24h mileage run which means ideally I'd like to stay in a hotel that I've already stayed at and found acceptable.

I've reached out to the Conrad MoD via e-mail as per her request if I'm coming back to Bangkok - if she replies I might even consider testing it once more.

FFlash

Thanks for these replies.

I also need a place near Ploenchit, hence my questions.
I am price and quality conscious, so hence my stay even at doubletree -> I can do a 100€ hotel if a 200€ ”luxury” hotel is not that good to justify 200-price.

I got Hilton Diamond and IHG Spire, Bonvoy Gold (when with a friend, he books me a room through his Ambassador and then it is usually a no-brainer)

sapientia

Hi,

i booked a terrace suite for three persons in January. I assumed that the price includes any potential fees for a rollaway as it was more expensive than booking the room for two people.
Now i read that i would still have to pay for a rollaway even though i booked the room for three persons from the beginning? Does anybody know, whether this is correct?

imonnaliza

I've stayed at both the Millennium and Conrad over the last month, and had limited luck as a HH Gold for any upgrades/perks. Thanks to this forum I waited until the DAY OF for app checkin and indeed the options were much better than the previous day when it became available.

For the Conrad stay, I'd booked a King Premium and was able to book xx21 which at least from the floorplan looked to be a larger room, but more importantly at the end of the hallway with nice downtown views. Upon check-in, when I inquired about an "upgrade" I was informed that I could be upgraded to a "corner" room, but that the corner room had not been renovated yet - so although it would be bigger, it wouldn't be as nice. When I asked about Lounge access for my upgrade instead, got a big fat no, but was then offered a 50% discount off the usual price of 3,000baht. So for 1,500baht per day I could pay for the lounge access and also be given the courtesy of a room upgrade as well.... ho hum... Had seen/heard decent things about the lounge (which is still located on the 3rd floor while they continue renovating the proper lounge) so bit the bullet.

My new room xx19 was considered a Grand Premium, but was on a lower floor than the one I booked via the app. There was also some problem with the AC in the room, which never really cooled below 23 degrees, maybe because the room is bigger there's a harder time cooling it down? But the room was spacious and nice bathroom. For people who like a dark room, the bathroom has windows and the bathroom door is a frosted glass, so the morning sun still comes through. Also, I didn't really pay attention to the "perks" and misread "3 pressed items for free" as 3 "Laundered" items, so I ended up paying to wash 3 pieces of clothing that I definitely would not have paid to wash if I knew it wasn't free. That is my fault of course, but just pointing out to others who might make the same mistake.

As others have mentioned, the lounge offerings don't seem as nice as they have been in the past. I wasn't so bothered that there were no windows in the lounge, but rather by the fact that it was completely full both days I went for the evening cocktails and I either had to wait/share a table or go sit in the restaurant across the hall. Not sure if the real lounge is bigger, but that was a drag. Also, I don't know if it's because they need to quickly turnover the restaurant for lunch (breakfast is served in the Japanese restaurant, not the meeting room that is the temporary executive lounge) but at around 10:25am they start prepping the buffet to be broken down and by 10:30 and 30 seconds the buffet is totally gone. The first day they didn't even come by with a "last call" - which didn't really matter I guess. But they don't play with the buffet ending at 10:30....

So, was it worth it to pay for an upgrade that I think they should've given to me? Knowing what I know now, I would've just stayed in the room I got via the app checkin and used that money to chill at the bar in the evenings.... Also, I don't know if it makes a difference, but I used points for my stay, so maybe they were just trying to get some money out of my stay. I'd read that some people had success with upgrades (even lowly Gold members like me), but unfortunately that wasn't my experience....