UASPG

I had some time to kill, waiting for a flight, and checked if there were any staff changes. You never know, new blood might bring back the excellent "Elite" and frequent guest recognition.
There is also a chance that the new GM will look at the records and see that some frequent guests have stopped coming to the hotel.

In the meantime, I listed the name of some managers, if anybody needs to get in touch with them
The email address is often the first name, a period, then the last name @ lemeridien.com .
.

• Dieter Ruckenbauer, General Manager
• Herman Botic, Director of Food & Beverage
• Marco Cammarata, Executive Chef
• Chaw Su Aung, Assistant Manager
• Loic Herel, Assistant Night Manager
• Potjaman Ketsara, Director of Human Resources
• Salinee Choothong, Assistant Manager Human Resources
• Emilie Dolp, Front Office Manager
• Chatthongchai Thongdee, Banquet Manager
• Patsorn Duangkaewpiboon, Assistant Director of Sales, MICE + Catering
• Kullatida Cherdrumphai, Director of Sales

[email protected]

I also checked what positions were available at https://jobs.marriott.com/ to see if there were any upcoming changes.

nexus7556

This is great. In December they didn't have a rate that included laundry, and most of the places in walking distance that do laundry by weight were still closed. 6 pcs laundry is an easy way to win my business!

UASPG

.
Previous GMs
- Ralf Stresing: GM at the Frankfurt airport Marriott / Sheraton
- Christian Humbert : GM at the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong (future GM at the Ritz-Carlton, One Bangkok?)
- ChooLeng Goh: still GM at the Athenee, Bangkok
- Killian Donoghue: GM at the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay hotel

Previous HM
- Carl Volschenk: GM at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok

Previous Directors of F&B
- Michael Hoevel: GM at the JW Marriott Zhengzhou, Henan, China, until May 2021
- Mitsuru Itabashi: HM at the Hyatt Regency in Osaka, Japan

Previous FOMs
- Krongkarn Siriporn aka KK: Director of Rooms at The Surawongse, Bangkok
- Wilawan Khankhao: Front Office Manager at the Centara Reserve Samui

Previous Bamboo Chic staff (last known moves)
- Hart: went to Chiang Mai
- Jackie: F&B position at the Park Hyatt, Bangkok
- Nuchy: went back to Korat
- Benjie: works on cruise ships, mostly in the Caribbean

Previous Latitude 13 staff
- Ice: opened a small restaurant with her partner (a Chef) in Bangkok

robnc35

Was wondering if they opened the new club lounge. A previous post said they were going to open in July.
Thanks

ftrichard

They have quietly cancelled plans to turn the Presidential Suite into a Club Lounge due to the volume of eligible elites that are staying. I got this direct from the GM some weeks ago when I was there and asked when the lounge was going to open.

So breakfast (as a check-in benefit) and creative hour for Platinums will remain in Latest Recipe which is a large enough space to accommodate peak elite traffic. Blame (a) Marriott for making Platinum so easy to achieve/maintain the last few years and (b) the Thai government for imposing discounted room rates for Thai citizens at hotels. Hence high volumes of elites staying and the proposed space was deemed to be inadequate.

I don't mind. I always thought the idea of a Club Lounge at LeM would be a "me too" facility that would only serve to be compared with every other lounge in Bangkok whereas LeM's existing approach to feeding and watering elites throughout the day is perfectly good. We can get breakfast at one of the better buffets in Bangkok, coffee/coke/snacks throughout the day, and two hours of booze and canapés in the evening without needing a lounge space to provide it all in.

dw

I noticed this as well. For a brief period last month they started selling rates with Club Lounge access… but that has now been changed to Club “Benefits”, which we are familiar with the implementation of

flyme2

Some EL's can be so over-crowded as to make them completely undesirable. I usually prefer to have a seat at a bar and be served a lesser selection with my beverage, but in a somewhat more relaxed atmosphere. Food options in Bangkok are so plentiful and inexpensive, there's really no valid excuse to rely on the EL's offerings to provide a full dinner, nor is it meant to. How many satays and chicken fingers can one consume, and more importantly, why would one want to?

robnc35

thanks everyone for the update. I will give this property a try next month.

Sohan

Has anyone stayed recently? How is the hotel now? I saw some pics of circular beds, do they still have these?

ftrichard

I've had seven stays of varying lengths so far this year since the hotel re-opened. I've still been upgraded to a suite each stay however they are in much shorter supply these days due to the vast increase in elites in Thailand now so YMMV. My loyalty - the seven stays - to this specific hotel is repaid. The room refurbishment is sensible but not radical - replacing the carpet with wooden floors, some new furniture, more USB ports, new wall coverings etc. - so you may not think it's much different. We got a suite on a high floor a few weeks ago so the refurb seems to be nearly complete. Elite benefits are broadly similar to pre-plague times. Platinums can get drinks and snacks during the day and the Creative Hour is now 5pm-7pm in Latest Recipe with a choice of about 10 canapés and wine/spirits. The food is better but the alcohol isn't as adventurous as it used to be in the olden days in Bamboo Chic. Latest Recipe breakfast is as good as it always was with sparkling wine for elites. I don't know if the round beds survived the refurb. I was personally never keen on them and I haven't been given one this year. Do they still list them on the room types?

makin'miles

A friend stayed last week - we were speaking this morning and he mentioned that the art piece of the man's face on glass at the entrance will be replaced next month by another piece by the same artist... will be interesting what they go with. I always really liked what was up.

dw

They are also pricing the suites pretty attractively- I was just there last week and as a Plat elected to just book a suite for around 6,500 THB. Revenue bookings for the suites also come with all elite F&B benefits so I’d say pretty attractive for those without status.

goodeats21

I just completed a one night stay here using points. Arrival BKK at 10PM, a quick night's sleep (after a bit of fun in the area) and then off to Esan.

Upgraded to suite on 14th floor. Staff as pleasant as always. Breakfast was good. I did not receive, nor inquire, about sparking wine benefit as Ambassador. After a late night of Silom partying, I was in no condition for it. Haha.

escape4

Great to hear about the consistent suite upgrades given to a return guest. Perhaps I will get lucky as well - one reason I stayed away recently is my fear of not receiving a material upgrade given the swelling of Marriott Bonvoy elites which has (temporarily) given me an incentive to stay at other chains instead. I think 2023 will be a better time for me to return to Marriotts in Bangkok on a larger scale, rather than 2022.

Is it no longer possible to get cocktails during happy hour? If so it would be a loss.

Retaining free flow sparkling wine for breakfast is great and it avoids the "me too" factor because as of now, I believe LM is the last man standing in that regard (for Bangkok) because it's been cut from 137 Pillars.

UASPG

Ftrichard has been reporting those consistent upgrades, but I am not convinced that all repeat guests, even the ones with a long record at the hotel, could go back to the hotel with a peace of mind regarding the upgrades. I do not think that the "We cannot guarantee that ...", that I never heard pre-pandemic at the LMBKK, has disappeared - my royalty treatment certainly has.

I'll stick to the SGS, where upgrade is not an issue, for the time being, and will continue experiencing hotels outside Marriott, as well.