uggboy

How about...

http://www.shangri-la.com/bangkok/sh...rungthep-wing/

http://www.shangri-la.com/bangkok/sh...-balcony-room/

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

erik123

It's very good value with many inclusions but it's quite a step down from the MO. I also feel it used to be better many years ago. The location is very good though.

TravelPenguin

Thank you both! Didn't realize Shangri-la was on the river. I've never stayed at one of their hotels but I've always presumed they were luxury hotels. I will look into their rooms.

uggboy

Thanks erik123, could you please elaborate why especially the Krungthep wing room/balcony/inclusions of the Shangri-La is "quite a step down" against the MO?

Would be interesting to know. Thanks in advance.

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

uggboy

Thanks TravelPenguin, IMHO Shangri-La hotels are luxury hotels, but that's a personal opinion and others might disagree and that's okay too.

Yes, the Shangri-La Bangkok is directly located by the river and as good as every room/suite offers river views.

Of note of course is the Krungthep Wing, a dedicated hotel wing, here rooms/suites offer balconies and lots of inclusions which add real value and style IMHO incl. Krungthep Wing guests only swimming pool, Riverside Lounge for breakfast, afternoon tea and evening drinks etc. This should be indeed luxurious and memorable for the right reasons. While we haven't stayed at the Shangri-La Bangkok so far we've visited their property before for drinks and it's a superb hotel and made a beautiful impression on both of us and it's on our wish list of hotels which we would love to experience in our future.

As a reference we've so far stayed at Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, Penang and enjoyed their Rasa wing in a Premier Room which incl. their Rasa Lounge/inclusions, all presented in a separate wing concept which we equally enjoyed in Singapore at the Shangri-La Valley Wing.

So far we had very enjoyable experiences with Shangri-La hotels and would be indeed interested in staying in more Shangri-La hotels/resorts in our future.

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

Kagehitokiri

tons of peninsula visits/posts over the years, i recall this >
12/31/09 - MegatopLover (seventh year in a row) ; instyleprincess ; Maxfinder ; QF Lad
first 3 (and i think QF Lad too) were on 1/2/10 sunset cruise without realizing it

TravelPenguin

Thanks uggboy, we have never stayed at Shangri-La but I have a friend who has, in Dubai and she has only positive things to say. I'm definitely going to research it. A balcony room would indeed be nice for our littles to watch the fireworks or anything that may take place over the river for NYE.

Kagehitokiri you always have posts at your fingertips. I will most definitely try to find those from these members to hear their thoughts on the Pen. Thank you for always being so helpful

heronb

I have just returned from a stay at the Peninsula and stayed at the S-La a few years ago, IMHO there is quite a difference in room quality and service level with the Pen being my favourite by quite a distance.

The rooms may need an upgrade in style but the quality was very good. The reason for staying on the river is not only for aesthetics but also for access to the sky train and river boats. If you want to visit MOBKK for dinner or drinks then the Pen's boat will drop you right at the door.

uggboy

Thanks heronb for your insights, could you please elaborate what makes the Peninsula hotel/service so different against the Shangri-La hotel/service, especially in the Krungthep Wing/rooms with balcony and inclusions ie. Krungthep Wing pool by the river, breakfast, afternoon tea, evening drinks in the Riverside Lounge and more etc. all these add value to a luxurious stay in our opinion.

This would be interesting to know, thanks in advance.

For reference, we've stayed at Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa/Rasa Wing, Penang and at the Shangri-La Valley Wing in Singapore, plus at the Peninsula in Tokyo and the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur, Mandarin Oriental Tokyo and the Peninsula Tokyo, so far in our experience all of these hotels are very luxurious, offer memorable standards incl. hard product, offerings and services/location/style. Of course, while not a very extensive experience so far, especially against some others here on FT, we are comfortable about all three brands and what they offer to recommend to visitors in each city and we guess this incl. the Shangri-La Bangkok which is a beautiful hotel, at least we felt that way when we visited this hotel for drinks, we feel equally this admiration for the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok after visiting this landmark hotel for lunch at the Verandah and drinks at their Bamboo Bar or after our lunch at the Peninsula Bangkok at the River Cafe, which we felt was beautiful and memorable too.

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

heronb

We had a suite at the S-La but not the Krungthep Wing, had access to the Horizon Club lounge which was nice, but while the hotel was nice I just didn't feel it.

The Pen service was the differentiator, interaction with the staff was excellent and each request I had was answered without fault (although I don't believe that I'm that demanding) hard product was of a higher quality IMO. Pool service was good and found me a comfortable spot even when busy. It is nice to have benefits when staying at a place but it's not the end of the world, although I did book via FHR and had comp breakfast and F&B credit. They accommodated a very late check out which also helped.

As an aside I did enjoy the Bamboo bar and made a number of visits.

Regards

cathaana

I thought Pen and S-La KW were about the same service-wise. Rooms were nicer at the Pen and not so noisy. We enjoyed the included afternoon tea/dinner snacks at the S-LA but they weren't as impressive as e.g. the ones at the Horizon Club in KL. I would go back to both hotels but have always preferred the (old) Four Seasons or the Sukhothai to either of them.
We did NYE at the Pen a few years ago and it's a nice spot to see the fireworks on the river.

scented

I will not return to Shangri-La anytime soon... had a frightful Christmas dinner there last Christmas, where I was served Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce (yes really). Worst meal in Thailand ever, a visit to the food stalls on a market would have been better in both quality and atmosphere.

erik123

I found service rather cold at the SL KT wing. Inclusion were not well explained. The lounge is in another building which is quite a trek - so of little use to people staying in the KT wing. When I tried to avail of the free evening drinks and grabbed a glass of wine (placed on a buffet) I was promptly presented with a bill without the staff uttering a word (which did not show up on the bill - as I assume they realized I was a KT guest). Breakfast in the KT is a small (indoor) affair and with few offerings. Much superior at the MO. The KT pool is nice enough, but used by very few people and I did not see a server there. The other pool (more family friendly) has prompt service but the server did not speak English and the offerings were of very low quality. The riverside buffet used to be great, but is now very sad.

We had been at the MO in a suite earlier so that clouded my impressions.

Despite all that - the location is great, the room very large and well appointed, and it is undoubtedly very good value. If you get a good rate and are unwilling to pay MO prices it may well be for you - but not if the Pen offers a similar rate (which they often do).

scented

On a different note: Park Hyatt Bangkok finally opens next month after what seemed an endless wait and many problems. When it does, however, I hear it will be in the not exactly illustrious list of Park Hyatt hotels which outsource several departments. Not only that though, their GM -- Hyatt veteran Michael Golden -- plans to outsource 50% of front line staff: housekeeping, stewarding and security, just to name a few. The plan is to adapt to the local market better, but why they do this in a labor market such as Thailand is beyond me. He was even interviewed about it recently and stated that other properties (PH Tokyo) started doing the same, but not as extreme.

I don't mind outsourcing all that much, just the results so far did not blow me away. It is toxic for the team, it creates an endless array of new problems to deal with and at the end of the day it's not even all that effective. Why they would do this in Thailand -- I don't know. Some here know more about the ownership about this particular hotel (MikeFromTokyo) -- profitability? I could never imagine this at MO or The Siam, where the team is like a big family. It just further proves that PH will be a successful business hotel, but not so interesting for this forum here. And if other PH hotel head the same direction, we can write them off.

callmedtop

What other PH properties outsource, and to what extent?