MattEvan

Early check-in availability will generally be determined by occupancy the night before.

If you have a real Virtuoso agent, and not some fly by night platform one, have them leverage their relationship to help. Some places will guarantee for a strong relationship.

Dave510

Park Hyatt has been pretty good about it for Globalists. Based on feedback from this forum I would not be surprised if Siam would, if it's at all possible. I wouldn't count on it from the current WA or St Regis.

Desirees

Are there any specific hotel recommendations - preferably near or around the WA area? We stayed there in Sep 2022 ( had a huge corner suite and with a view of the concrete jungle), and DH wants to got back there because he really liked the room and the location and the bar on the 80th floor. I want to stay somewhere else ( no specific reason of why not at the WA - would just like to try other hotels). Really liking the Siam Riverside but he wants to be near shopping and walking away into chaos ( we will be going on to Taka and Sara from
BKK) so he can get his big city vibe while in BKk.

EuropeanPete

The Anantara Siam is right next door (and the not so good St Regis next to that). Alternatively, the Park Hyatt has finally come into its own and is a short walk away.

Michaeljinnyc

Since the Anantara Siam was brought up, curious if anyone has stayed at Anantara Riverside?

Looks to be a very lovely property with a good price

francophile

https://www.peninsula.com/en/global-...insula-promise

offerendum

Exactly what came to my mind.

Desirees

Thank you for your replies. Just booked the grand deluxe balcony suite at the Peninsula

BA_Jfan

I'll be at PH next week. Any thoughts on what to expect?

Aventine

Probably a very good to excellent service experience, very good breakfast and enough sun at the pool.

Desirees

looking forward to reading how your stay went…

EuropeanPete

There are quite a few reviews on the PH's review thread over in the Hyatt forum. You can find my absolutely stinking review from when they first opened, following more and more positivity with successive visits to what I think is now generally a very nice hotel My one hint is that I always "outsource" the F&B as (unlike most people) I don't rate the PH's dining or drinking venues particularly highly. The hotel is perched on Bangkok's highest end and in some ways most interesting shopping mall though: basement has a very accessible authentic thai food court but with clean food, top floor is an incredible bookstore concept, floor below has Bangkok's best mid/ highish end food chains (great boat noodle soup, crab curry, etc.) and Siwilai Social Club is one of my favourite places in the city to hang out over a drink and great modern takes on Thai food with an almost entirely Thai middle class crowd.

chinmoylad

Full reviews to come in a bit (some of the videos are up on YouTube - again, with more to come, and my stories from my stay from the highlights are up on Instagram), but form my recent stays in Bangkok here's how I rate them (note that I'm also taking into account expectations and value for $):

The Siam is the most exceptional property in Bangkok, and pretty much flawless, save for one aspect - the location. But really, you're here to relax, not run around town. Everything else here was absolutely incredible, the rooms/villas (although the 'courtyard' pool was a bit frigid during our stay), the service, and oh my the F&B is to die for here. Nick runs an incredible property.

On the other hand, I think The Sukhothai is a sleeper property - not much discussion about it here. Yes, it is old - very old, but in a way that's part of what makes it so great (though they have refurbed and are in the process of a full refurb, with an exceptional new spa compound to come). That said, I actually kind of like the old design too and I think (given the generally pretty good maintenance), they could
Unlike The Siam, it has a very central location. And how else could you have 6 acres (!) in a central location except to build back in the early 90s? Ed Tuttle & Kerry Hill collaboration, this really is like a resort in the middle of Bangkok. If you're sitting at one of the pool side cabanas, you could be forgiven for thinking you're on an island somewhere. It's not a flawless property by any means. Particularly, the F&B here is a bit mixed - Celadon, their Thai restaurant - especially is excellent but I found the other F&B to be of varying levels (including their much vaunted breakfast). And service is generally very good but not always flawless (but they do try!). It's also within walking distance to COMO, Banyan Tree and the new Villa Deva, among others - and thanks to its central location, within easy reach of many other points. When I've gone back to Bangkok, I've gone and stayed at Sukhothai multiple times now because of the mix of the above.

137 Pillars Suites
Good location - central but quiet (nearby some embassies), yet within 5-10 mins walk to a major mall, beautiful (large too!) rooms, good service. Again thought the F&B was quite mixed here, but there are a few options considering the size of the property, as well as plenty within walking distance for food. It's certainly not 137 in Chaing Mai (which is exceptional), but thought it was unique/interesting enough to just sneak in ahead of the last 2, especially for the value aspect.

Park Hyatt / Capella
The location of both of these is excellent for opposing reasons. And at both properties, thought the F&B was really, really good (exceptional even). I do feel the Park Hyatt to be a bit "could be anywhere in the world". There was nothing really wrong with my stay there, it was a very nice stay - but it lacks something for me. Character? Colour? The weird layout of many of the rooms?
Capella has incredible potential, but thought the service on the whole was slightly below par for a luxury property. The rooms, while nice, also suffer from the same thing that PH does - and maybe this is because we were coming in after The Siam to Capella, but that's where it really paled in comparison in addition to the service. The overall grounds of the property are nice though, and especially like the pool, and you certainly get nice proper river views.

Also visited Rosewood, Mandarin Oriental, Como and Four Seasons. Very briefly:
I get the impression that the FS is very much the yin-yang to the Capella. You need to be careful when booking rooms here though because partial/river view can still leave you without a proper full on river view because of the orientation/structure of the building.
MO - loved, loved, loved the refurb. That lobby is incredible. The property definitely gets very busy though.
Rosewood - not a fan of the pool there, but the property otherwise looks nice, but that might just be cos I went at just the right time when the sunlight was hitting right...location is right next to PH.
Como - not really a huge fan of this one, it's a bit odd to stay the least. Feels like a 3* or a hospital or something where the interiors have been refurbed. Found out, it used to be a YMCA - go figure. Dinner at Nahm was enjoyable though. That said, they've also priced the entire property appropriately so as a value option, it could work.
With all of these last 4, going to reserve proper judgement till I stay there, but there's first impressions.

bigdog2

Very insightful. I appreciate the value expectation. Looking at rates for the Sukhothai I can tell why it's 2nd on the list!

MattEvan

For some weird reason I always associate the Sukhotai with Justin Bieber (https://www.richardbarrow.com/2013/0...d-in-thailand/).

I do agree that it's vastly UNDERRATED.