ksiazemati

Hi,

Kind request for Your advise which SPG hotel You recomend to stay in BKK with:
- 3 year child ( Kids play room + nice pool)
- with well equiped in weights gym
- nice pool with sun most of the day
- club lounge ( Plat)
- goodie & wide breakfast offer ( if I will take rate without the Plat benefit should allow me to eat in main restaurant )
I stayed allready in past in Aloft, Athenee, Westin & ROS but the stay where not fited to above needs or do not remember the details.
Count on plat upgrade because of may date of stay.

Thank You for Your help

seanthepilot

It looks like we can finally group these hotels together., making for a lot of great choices in Bangkok.

Im booking hotels for later this year, after the programs have merged. At this point, I’ve stopped staying exclusively at SPG.

How does our list look now with so many hotels in the same area?

barracuda93

While LM is geographically close to Patpong, it is not close enough to create any sort of disturbance. Though I am not a fan of that location (Silom–Chong Nonsi area) at all, I wouldn't bother about Patpong unless you are interested in it (there is no reason to be, IMO, regardless of whether you are looking for that kind of entertainment: Patpong has gone down over the years, and alternative options are consistently better).

shevboyz

I love LM, good platinum treatment ,good breakfast and always a suite upgrade when possible. The only thing I dislike it's a abit of a walk to the sky train and at time u really need the skytrain as traffic around surawong is really bad.

So compare to the other SPG and Marriott properties , their location is their disadvantaged especially if their pricing are in the same range. But at times when they are significantly cheaper than let say the Westin or the Marquis Queen Park, I would choose them easily.

lost_in_translation

I did back-to-back stays at the St. Regis, The Athenee and W a couple of weeks ago so thought I should do a quick write up of each. For full disclosure I am SPG Plat, was traveling solo and am a millennial, all of which probably colour my opinion slightly. I was staying over a quite busy period so not spectacular upgrades at any of the three unfortunately.

First stay was at the St. Regis. Booked a Metropolitan Suite (cash rate) and was happy to see a couple of weeks out I was showing in a Caroline Astor Suite; unfortunately, this didn't stick and a couple of days out I was showing as back in a Metropolitan Suite. Booked the hotel limo from the airport but as my flight landed 20 minutes or so early it meant the car wasn't there and had to wait around for 15 minutes or so in arrivals, which wasn't an ideal start. After that things picked up considerably, nice drive to the hotel through Bangkok evening rush hour with a great driver, met by multiple staff members downstairs and whisked straight up to the room for an in-suite check in. Was given a Grand Metropolitan Suite (I think?) on the 23rd floor, which was huge (I'd guess 110 sqm.) but somewhat lacking in furniture. The 23rd floor is just 12 large suites of which mine was probably the smallest judging by the floor plan and was blissfully quiet - I didn't hear or see another person on the floor the entire stay. There is nothing Thai or even particularly Asian about the decor - it could be a room in a hotel pretty much anywhere in the world.

Service varied from truly excellent to really quite indifferent (the staff in the bar were probably the least welcoming I encountered the entire time I was in Thailand!). Platinum welcome drink in the bar is poor as remarked previously (I ordered a cocktail which turned out to be horribly sweet / mostly fruit juice). Breakfast was the best/highest quality of the three hotels, with a fairly extensive made-to-order menu to supplement the buffet. In terms of hard product quality I wasn't blown away, there were clearly corners in the suite where you could see slightly shoddy painting / less high build quality, scuffed furniture, etc. All in all then maybe 7/10, would probably go back but not a top St. Regis by any stretch of the imagination.

lost_in_translation

Next up, The Athenee. Booked base category room (Luxury Privileges rate) and upgraded to a Royal Club Room. On approaching the desk downstairs was offered an escort up to the Royal Club to check-in, which I accepted. The room here was a fraction of the size of the St. Regis one, but I think I might have preferred it. Not exactly hyper modern with lots of hardwood and marble, but it just felt like a step up in build quality vs. the St. Regis suite to me, decor feels nicely high-end with clear Asian influences and the Royal Club Rooms have an almost Peninsula-esque vibe to them. Royal Club staff were great, nice cocktails and nibbles in the evening and the lounge never got particularly busy/crowded. Most public areas very nice here although the Royal Club could do with redecoration, I think. Breakfast (I tend to choose main restaurant for bigger choice where available) had by far the biggest buffet selection of the three but I'm giving the edge to the St. Regis in terms of quality. Really enjoyable stay overall with small criticisms only (e.g. no ice with turndown service) - 8/10 and probably my favourite of the three, even as someone that generally goes for very modern hotels out of choice.

lost_in_translation

Finally, the W. They actually emailed me unprompted in advance to warn me they were very full and therefore probably wouldn't be able to upgrade to a suite but would try their best, which was nice. Booked a base category Wonderful Room (Luxury Privileges rate) and given a one category upgrade to a Spectacular Room, which I think is just a higher floor Wonderful Room. Nothing special about check-in experience. Build quality is good for a W and quite liked the room design - it was also the only one of the three to have a Bluetooth connection for music which I've come to expect in high-end Asian hotels. Found the bathroom poorly designed - too dark and also a shower curtain in a 5 star hotel, really? The water pressure was also really terrible. Food here in the restaurant probably the best of the three, with House on Sathorn also on site if you want something a bit special. Breakfast marginally the worst of the three. I was here over a Saturday night which probably helped, but this hotel had the busiest bar / most atmosphere of the three. Service mostly very good, with a couple of small niggles. Overall not as far behind the St. Regis as the reviews led me to believe, probably 6.5/10.

What was most interesting was how different the crowds were at the three - the St. Regis was heavily Eastern European / Russian during my stay, The Athenee a bit of a mix but a lot of Americans, The W was heavily Chinese with quite a few younger Brits also. In summary, I don't think any of them are bad choices at all (I'm quite a harsh marker) and all are clearly very decent 5 star hotels, but equally none of the three are amongst Starwood's best. If I had to pick, I'd return to the Athenee.

KosherKimchee

I agree with your assessments. Stayed at Athenee for 3 days in late March with the family and had a great stay (upgraded to Athenee Suite with SNA on BRG rate no less -- huge room with 1.5 bathrooms for 4200THB). Buffet at Rain Tree was very good. Hotel was packed because of some sort of SE Asia poultry conference but made for some great shots of my son flapping his arms posing in front of chicken signage around the Athenee. Between the silly chicken signage and saying "Ploen Chit" over and over, it was an 8 year old comedy extravaganza.

porkie

I'll be having an extended stay in BKK in July for 2-3 weeks, which of the hotels is most reliable when it comes to plat suite upgrades (and has a decent hard product)? Is July/August in general a busy time in Thailand with hotels running high occupancy?

Would also help if it was easy to BRG

CJKatl

Just throwing this out as a suggestion... Marriott has several executive apartment properties where you get a one bedroom apartment for about the same price as a room without having to worry that a three week stay will to too long for an UG. You get a kitchen, daily maid service and I've heard that you can pay for lounge access at the ThongLo property. The ThongLo (Soi 57) is my favorite of the apartments. It is located in the same building as the hotel. I like the location. It's near the BTS, away from the noise and close to some great cheap takeout places and some trendy restaurants. The bathrooms are spacious and great and the staff is awesome.

geminidreams

ROS would be the best for upgrades but the rooms are meh and the location near the river is nice but not near much of interest! LM has nice suites and these are regularly provided. I usually rotate when staying for a long period and probably better for getting upgrades but the others are hit and miss. You wont get upgrades at Aloft or 4P. Westin you need to force the issue. PA and SGS the top non suite rooms are pretty good if you dont get a suite. W will probably only give a junior suite, I used SNA to get a Marvelous suite which was excellent. StR only stayed once and got a nice Metropolitan suite but that was a while ago.

onobond

Is The Athenee still abbreviated PA as per its previous name?

dsquared37

I would think the abbreviation should TA at this point but old habits die hard.

M.dA.R.

The Athennee or SGS ? Any insights?

For a platinum first-time traveller to BKK

escape4

ROS highest chances of suite upgrade, but hard product is so-so. LM has decent odds of suite upgrade, but not as high as ROS, however hard product is clearly better than ROS. Next up SGS with more difficult suite upgrades but a step up from LM. Finally Athenee toughest for suite upgrades in my experience (0/4 in 2018 for me) but best hard product of these four. Never been to W, StR, 4P, or Aloft.

Interestingly, the order of suite upgrades ROS>LM>SGS>Athenee is the complete opposite as cash rates where ROS will normally be the cheapest and Athenee the most expensive.