BESVISOR

My wife actually hates the dryers in most hotel bathrooms so she has always traveled with her own dryer (meaning I end up carrying and traveling with it, lol!) so I would love for this trend to catch on. ASAP!

Aventine

I think it's a way for Mr. Harlander to differentiate his property from the myriad luxury choices in Bangkok and to justify their rates. We have the Airwrap and I hate carrying that heavy brown case and all the addons on every trip.

ajca

Thinking about making a last minute trip to Bangkok to check out some new(ish) properties...

Park Hyatt
Rosewood
137 Pillars
Waldorf Astoria

Does anyone know the practical difference between the Suites and Residences at 137 Pillars? If I'm reading right, the Residences seem to be coming out quite a bit cheaper which is a bit counterintuitive.

Any TAs got any insights on when PH and Rosewood might appear on Virtuoso?

m0hamed

We had a terrible stay at the PH that we cancelled the stay thereafter. In short - beautiful property, however the windows are not glazed and you can hear street noise form the highest floors. The pool is adjacent to the restaurant meaning while enjoying your breakfast you have to see guests in various states of undress.. The FT thread is full of reports of roaches but also sewerage smells in some suites.

Although the StR is 8 years old, it's still a spectacular property IMO and the top floor suites are great. If you want to splurge check out The Residences.

I'm keen to try the Rosewood Pool Suites.

Aventine

Use Rosewood Elite for Rosewood Bangkok bookings and it's open now. Forget Virtuoso and forget PH. An absymal new flagship property by Hyatt.

ajca

Ah I didn't think of using Rosewood Elite, thanks Aventine! It will be my first stay at a Rosewood property - I guess there are agents on this forum who can help?

​Thanks for the tip, I will definitely steer clear of the PH! Yikes, what a mess. 3 years ago back when I used to spend a lot of time in Bangkok I was enthusiastic about PH coming to town and could see the building under construction and it looked like it would be good. Surprised that they have screwed it up.

Have stayed at the StR a bunch of times and agree it's a spectacular property. In the early days I had a lot of total comedy of errors service problems (and basic things going wrong like no hot water) and having your own butler that didn't speak English and couldn't do anything but it seems to have improved over time.

I have been told in the past that opening new luxury hotels in Bangkok is quite challenging because English fluency is still relatively rare in Thailand and those who are fluent in English tend to be from the higher socio economic classes and, to generalise wildly, those from that group want to pursue careers other than hospitality. Certainly the StR seemed to be struggling in the early days. The MO and Pensinula etc have had a long time to work through these issues and I gather have loyal staff that are unlikely to leave to join a newly opened property. It will be interesting to see how Rosewood, WA etc go with this.

Nizar

PH presidential suite looks amazing, had my eye on it since the hotel opened, but what a shame the rest of the hotel seems to be a let down

ard9719

I am travelling to Bangkok in November and will be spending 5 nights. I have been looking at which hotel chain I should dedicate my time with as this will be a paid stay so earn points and count towards my award nights. Having an Amex Plat I am gold with all major brands.

Marriott hotels seem much better in terms of location and customer reviews. However i often find being Gold at a Hilton properly yields better perks, free breakfast being the biggest and guaranteed!

What hotels would you suggest for someone with 5 days of being a tourist?

Thanks in advance

MikeFromTokyo

Kacee

I did a quick one-night stay this week (booked via FHR) just to check the property out. My overall conclusion is that, much as with the PH and WA, the hard product has some serious shortcomings which I personally consider deal breakers, particularly at a price that hovers around 10k THB per night.

Hotel has been open less than four weeks, which showed in some service glitches which ranged from minor to fairly substantial. I won't dwell on those, on the assumption they will be ironed out in time. Suffice it to say the staff are certainly well intentioned, though many seem rather inexperienced.

The hotel has the now common two elevator set-up, with lobby on 7 and guest floors above that. Only about half the rooms (up to floor 19) are currently open. The 7th floor lobby I found disappointing. The elevators open into a rather confined space between Lakorn Brasserie and reception. There is no grand entry nor views, nor much of any lobby seating area.

I was drawn to this property by the photos of dramatic room design with slanting floor to ceiling windows with spectacular Bangkok city views. Note that only half the rooms, i.e., the ones fronting on Sukhumvit, offer these vistas. The rooms on the other side of the building have regular vertical windows and an uninspiring view of the relatively featureless landscape to the north. I was initially assigned to a 13th floor Executive room on this side of the building, and found it quite disappointing. (This was echoed in the FDA's comment during in room check-in, where the most she could say about the room is "you have a nice view of the sunrise.")

Due to A/C problems, I wound up in a16th floor manor suite on the Sukhumvit side of the building. (Note that this property does not normally upgrade from rooms to suites on FHR rates.) Here are my comments on the room:

1. While there were some beautiful furnishings, the room overall was a bit dull. I would rate the decor of the Caroline Astor Suite at StR as much more appealing. (I also prefer the views from StR.)
2. There is no desk. Just one of those low tables you can pull up next to the sofa/chaise combination.
3. The view from the living room was okay. The view from the bedroom, with the slanted windows, was spectacular.
4. Unfortunately, there are no sheer curtains in either living or bedroom. So you either get full Bangkok sun, and zero privacy, or you close the black-out shades and lose the view entirely.
5. Privacy is a big issue in the bedroom. You're surrounded by other buildings such that you really have to close the shades. So no enjoying the view while lying in bed.
6. Bed is exceptionally comfortable (but too many pillows!!!).
7. Bathroom has lots of wasted space. Bathtub is huge. I had problems getting hot water.
8. As you can see in this photo, you are literally right on top of Sukhumvit, Ploen Chit BTS, and Chaloem Maha Nakhon Expressway:

Unfortunately, the soundproofing is not up to the challenge and there's a fair bit of traffic noise (as also reported at the PH, next door).

Overall, you can probably tell I was not blown away by the room. The living room in particular struck me as somewhat bland and uninspired:



I was particularly struck by bare walls and dead space:



And while I did find the bedroom view spectacular:



the lack of privacy and traffic noise are big negatives.

The pool here is also a big negative. It has very little lounging space - perhaps a dozen chaises total. It is jammed up against the side of the building, in the cavern of Sukhumvit, and as far as I can tell, the seating areas get no direct sun at all. (I did not check out the spa, as they were unable to accommodate my admittedly last minute reservation request.)

Overall, I personally see very little compelling reason to stay here, at least not based on the hard product, which IMO trails StR (for example) when you consider pool, lobby area, and views. The trade-off of traffic noise for views is particularly unfortunate. It will be interesting to see whether the Rosewood reputation for service will allow this property to rise above the hard product's limitations.

Aventine

Just shocking at the amount of dead space and that you could not get hot water! That room or suite looks unfinished.

HKTraveler

Kacee

Yes it felt a bit empty and bland. No "wow" at all (apart from the bedroom view, which really is cool with the slanted windows).
They did have a reasonable charging solution on an end table at the foot of the chaise. But no desk is a real issue for me, as I usually need to work several hours per day even on vacation.

I'll add that I spent the rest of my time in Bangkok at SGS, and actually preferred my Grand Suite there in terms of overall comfort and functionality.

reigndrop

sophialite