FlytheTail

Great rates indeed:
Wonderful room: 3634 THB++
Spectacular room: 4108 THB++
Studio Suite: 5480 THB++
Marvelous Suite: 7960 THB++

travelswithmyself

wow... ! worth it despite all the bad reviews? Just for the heck of it maybe...

Edit: just checked - 4697 for basic wonderful room, same dates 11-12 Aug, special rate DALY50



Click on the RED HOT DEALS page right?

Maybe for people accessing from a Bangkok IP address?

[Further edit]

Looks like those rates are gone. Even trying a BRG at some sites which initially showed the lower rate, when you try to book the price reflects the higher rate :P Ah well

Chaiwattpin

Agreed with you These special rate are gones. May be reflect error of system.

cln

at this price it would have been a second chance for W Bangkok to impress me.

Was about to book but rate is gone indeed

seanthepilot

This hotel is playing 'special discount rate' games.

Since they opened, they have floated a 5200THB++ rate consistently.

Recently I have seen Starpicks, and other deeply discount rates for the W Bangkok. What were the prices?

5200THB++

Shows me that they are not interested in discounting their rooms. And that they think we are stupid.

holtju2

They won't discount before there is need to do so to fill up the rooms.

remymartin

So, how is the property doing? Are all rooms renovated, is that ghastly parking lot ready and how about that Russian all-suite house next door?

TRAVELSIG

Given that it is a newbuild property I don't think they have a renovation plan yet- in any case the location is too far out of the way unless you need to work in the area.

remymartin

Sorry, I meant to type "are all rooms finished yet"? Having stayed there last in March they were still not finished with all their room categories and the parking lot was a disaster


(and a few more - http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/re...ngkok%20garage)

markis10

4880++ on starpicks at present.

seanthepilot

I have no problem with them keeping the rate high. It's their hotel, their strategy. No problem whatsoever.

My issue is with them publishing Starpicks (which usually have fantastic discounts) as discounted rates, when they are not discounted at all.

Then with the promotion above, where they up the rates, then give a discount off of the inflated rate, turning their BIG sale into another farce of a sale.

Listen, and I respect you, it's just me talking out loud. But we all know that we get hosed forced to book on SPG when some hotels are selling their rooms 1/2 price to foreign consolidators. The BRG is a strategy to justify overcharging us, to those that can catch it happening.

I know some of the W staff. I have been to the hotel. I think their future is bright.

But to offer a deeply discounted, special, time limited sale which is the exact price that they sell the rooms for everyday.... it just left a bad taste in my mouth. Good for them for trying though, I guess.

Keyser

i agree....this is now the only bangkok hotel i haven't stayed at yet & these type of practices don't encourage me to give them any business....

snaffled

I don't disagree with some of your points specifically regarding the W and maybe some other hotels but I don't think your above comment is true at all.
All hotel companies sell different rates via different channels, based on volume, commitment, timing, commission structure and other factors.

A hotel sells a room to a wholesale tour operator at a cheaper rate than publicly available to an individual booker. This is bundled with an airline rate (again sold at a cheaper rate) and some local attraction tours (also at sold at a cheaper rate). The whole package is then offered at a very attractive price to the market, but you cannot split it into its component parts, and have to buy the entire package. I don't have any problem with this, and other variations of this despite the fact that I would certainly like access to these cheap rates. Or a hotel sells cheaper than publicly available rates to corporate companies based on volume (for either that hotel, or the chain as a whole). I don't work for that company and so don't have access to the rate. No problem.

The BRG, for Starwood and the other hotel companies, is a (successful) strategy to get people to book via their own websites. The hotel pays less commission, and the commission they do pay generally goes to the management company. We pay the same rate as is available on other websites, and we get better benefits.

I have no problem with hotels (or airlines or whoever) revenue managing as best they can. To say they are "hosing" us or have a strategy to "justify overcharging" us is in my opinion, not accurate.

jpdx

Given the many negative comments on this thread, I want to report on two recent stays I had at this hotel. Overall, I was impressed.

I should preface this review by saying that I’m not generally a W fan; I don’t stay at Ws in the US anymore because of the attitude one frequently encounters (staff and guest), paired with the frequent challenge to get upgraded to even a Cool Corner room. That said, Asia has some great W hotels; W Taipei is one of my favorite SPG properties, and I like the Ws in HK and SIN quite a bit (despite their unfortunate locations).

Because of the discussion of stingy upgrades, I used SNAs for my stays (single night and two night, respectively), and in both cases received email confirmations five days prior to arrival. W Bangkok actually has two suite types available for SNAs, Studio and Marvelous (I only selected the latter).

The Marvelous suites I was upgraded to are quite impressive, 85sqm, on the top floors of the hotel, with a panoramic view over Bangkok (with the robot building on the left and ROS/river in the distance). The furnishings are more functional and comfortable than is typical for Ws (you can actually sit on the loungers, unlike the beanbag thingie in HK and the weird styrofoam cutout folding chair in Singapore). The color scheme (black/white) is pretty appealing, and the room looks less cobbled together than what I’ve seen at other Ws.

Regarding the open bathroom issue lamented earlier; the suite has that feature, but I don’t mind. FWIW, I find the walkthrough toilet stall featured in SGS suites much more objectionable. In the Marvelous suite, the open floor plan is rather tolerable because there’s also a fairly large guest bathroom off the living room.

The area where the hotel does not keep up with its Bangkok competition is Plat benefits (beyond the suite upgrade). You can have breakfast in lieu of 500 points, but that’s it. There’s also a 30% spa discount and 50% off Woo Bar happy hour, but I assume that’s open to everyone. I can live without lounges and drinks, especially if I get a great suite (which is the case here), but it would be very easy for this hotel to throw Plats a bone and offer a couple drinks, or grant breakfast in addition to the 500 points.

Pluses:

- Great upgrade. If I could be assured of an upgrade to the Marvelous suite, this hotel would be my first choice in Bangkok. I don’t know if they are generally stingy on upgrades, or earlier posters just had bad luck and stayed during a busy period. I am also hoping that the Marvelous suite will remain in the upgrade pool and we won’t see a downgrade to the studio suite as only option (as has happened with various hotels which initially offered several suite types for SNAs).
- Great breakfast. Yes, it costs 500 points, but it’s a very nice spread of Western and Asian stuff (Thai and Indian dishes, dim sum and European meats, eggs delivered to the table). Totally worth foregoing the points, especially on a multi-night stay.
- Great staff. Everybody I encountered was helpful and friendly, but not in an annoying over-the-top hip W way. Looks like a well-run place!

Minuses:

- The elevators are scary! Pitch dark, you can’t read the signage, and I was actually afraid of stepping inside a couple of times (feels like you’re stepping into a black hole; probably watched too many James Bond movies as a kid). Generally, it’s a well-designed W, but the elevators are bad.
- Along the same lines, operation of DND sign, air condition, and lighting is not intuitive. There are lots of buttons in the room, but marked rather cryptically (right next to the front door there are four, labeled Wake Up, Sleep My Love, Msetup and Spare). I actually looked in the guest manual (which has a heading for airport transportation, but not air condition), before figuring out that the iPad-looking thing next to the bed controls everything (and not in an intuitive way).
- The pool has no shade. I tried relaxing out there for a few hours, and it was unbearably hot. If you are planning on pool time, this is a dealbreaker.

Neutral:

- Location: There’s been lot of discussion on this thread about the poor location. I get where the Sukhumvit fans are coming from, I really do. At the W, you can’t just walk outside and easily access lots of great shopping and restaurants. Despite that, I think the location is ok for tourists, with 2 Skytrain stops to the river and Silom. And while the train doesn’t run right through your living room, I found the 3-minute walk bearable.

In sum, I think the hotel is vastly better than it has been reviewed here. Great suites, great staff, and great rates – one of my stays was under a THB3888++ intro rate, the other was THB4300 all-in (with BRG). If you pay in that neighborhood, and get one of the Marvelous suites, it’s hard to see how you could go wrong with this hotel.

remymartin

Thanks for the review!

How did you get so low rates? I have never seen this property under 4600++