I would suggest staying at the Peninsula or the Oriental. If you don't mind taking the sky train it is very easy to get to the Erawan, and traffic will not be an issue this way.

If you would rather be closer to the wedding, consider a Spa Cottage at the Erawan, as these are really fantastic. Otherwise, you can definitely get a very nice room or suite at the Four Seasons within your budget (book through FSPP, Virtuoso, or FHR).

Well, if one does not include the manner in which visitors of hotel guests are treated by the hotel staff, that might possibly be the case. However, I find that when I stay somewhere, I would prefer that my friends and acquaintances and business associates who might meet me at my hotel do not get treated shabbily and insultingly by the Hotel staff, as this might tend to reflect poorly upon me. Unfortunately, the Oriental has acquired a bit of a well-earned reputation in this regard, which is not shared by such comparable establishments as the Peninsula, the Four Seasons, the Sukhothai, the Shangri-La, the Lebua, etc.

GH spa cottage just mentioned. FS cabana mentioned immediately prior in thread.

if staying elsewhere before/after wedding (make sure to remember checkin/checkout times and leave plenty of room on whichever side - before/after - you choose) there is also new siam, as mentioned immediately prior in thread.

has anyone heard min lease for st regis or sukhothai residences?

ouch. including after kurt retired in may 2009?

Reputations, as well as the staff that populate the place, tend to linger beyond the original manager that spawned them

If your friends dress poorly, yes they will not be overly welcome at the Oriental. Those of us who love this hotel appreciate that they maintain high standards. ^

Actually just had a rethink on this and casting my mind back to dozens of car and taxi journeys in and around Bangkok over the last 20 years.... if you're having to travel to a particular place several times my advice would be stay as close to that place as possible

Whilst the Hyatt may be run of the mill by Bangkok standards that shouldn't necessarily put you off. In virtually any other city in the world it would be one of the best - it's a solid 5 star hotel, with a lovely lobby area - a bit like a tropical version of the Peninsula in Hong Kong's lobby (FS Lobby next door is not dissimilar, but that used to be The Peninsula Bangkok when it first opened many moons ago). As others have said, there are several hotels that are adjacent or a few 100 yards away that are excellent if the Hyatt really isn't suitable. Whilst I like the river I think if your having to make the journey several times a day it will quickly become tiresome.

Bangkok is a sprawling city and traffic is terrible virtually any time of day. Don't rely on taxi's - they have a terrible reputation - when they're not trying to persuade you that the place you want to go to is closed and trying to instead take you to a "sauna", they're telling you the meter is broken, or half way through the journey trying to renegotiate the rate ("oh you meant Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel, I thought you meant Grand Hoput Bezawan (or some other made up place) that 'll be an extra 500 baht"). More than once I've abandoned my journey with a Bangkok Taxi.

Most of the worse taxi journeys I've taken have been in Bangkok - we once had a driver who we were convinced was probably, by any reasonable definition, blind. His glasses were thicker than my old grandmother's (who was registered blind). One of his eyes was opaque and he seemed to be constantly put eye drops into both of his eyes whilst driving.

While I agree with you that the GH is a fine hotel, I stayed there often back in the 90's, in my nearly 20 years experience in Bangkok I have found the taxis to be very reliable, PROVIDED you choose wisely. Taxis driving on the street are just looking for normal fares from normal people. Taxis that are parked outside a tourist attraction are looking to get more money from rich tourists. Always make sure the meter is turned on before you begin a voyage.

That said, as I posted above, if you are staying at one of the high end hotels mentioned in this thread, you can take a private hotel BMW or Merc over to the GH in nice air conditioned comfort. Everyone should stay at the Oriental at least once in their life. There's nothing like it in the world.

We eventually gave up using taxis and went over to hotel cars, significantly more expensive but a lot less hassle. Those taxis you describe as waiting outside tourist attractions are, in my experience, the same ones also waiting outside the hotels (along with unlicensed operators).

We'll have to agree to differ on the reliability of Bangkok Taxi Drivers.

Taxi or Hotel car, either way the poster seeking advice needs to be aware that in Bangkok unless your hotel is next door to where you are there is no such thing as quickly nipping back to the hotel.

Good hotel doormen will never put you in an unlicensed taxi. And they will make sure the meter is turned on before you get in. You can make that request to be sure. Given that, I've never had a problem with taxis at hotels.

Agreed. Normally it is less than 20 minutes from the Oriental to the GH. Although as in any city, an accident or some other big disturbance can make it much worse.

The traffic around the Grand Hyatt and the intersection directly in front of the hotel at Sukhumvit have possibly the worst traffic congestion in all of central Bangkok. While I also think it would be nice to stay on the river and can see many advantages of the Oriental and the Siam, given that in my limited experiences an Indian wedding is an absolute test of stamina and some degree of sleep deprivation I would stay as close as possible to the actual wedding- hence the IC, the Four Seasons, the St. Regis, or of course the Grand Hyatt. With a budget of $500 USD per night (~15000 THB) the OP should comfortably be in a very nice Premium room or better at the Four Seasons which is not a bad hotel at all and takes very good care of guests (and is a 3 minute walk from the Grand Hyatt).

I also understand the Grand Hyatt itself is completing a renovation of the entire hotel so this may bring its physical plant up and certainly the service especially on Regency Club levels is pretty good.

Agreed, and they will also usually help in writing down the name of your destination, and making a note of the taxi. I seem to recall on more than one occasion seeing a driver dropping someone off being waved on by the hotel doorman instead of being allowed to pick up a new fare.

My one experience of knowingly using an unlicensed taxi driver in Bangkok was our own fault / stupidity completely. Leaving the Dusit Thani late one evening to return to our hotel (the Krungthep Wing at the Shangri La) we were approached by someone who said Taxi, we walked with him to his car (at the bottom of the drive (alarm bells should have been ringing) and realised when we got in that it wasn't a taxi but a normal saloon car. The sensible and logical thing to have done would be to have got out, but sometimes you don't do the right thing - maybe it was late, maybe we were worried about pi%%ing off the driver and now being out of site of the relative safety of the hotel entrance. Anyway, I think we were charged about 500 Baht to do the 2 miles or so back to our hotel (I guess about 3-4 x the going rate)

I agree with the suggestion of a Premier room or higher at FS, and would add that executive club access elevates the level of personalized service.

The renovations at the Erawan should be finished soon. The Spa cottages have always been completely unaffected by the renovations. I had a long stay in one last year and would have been completely unaware that renovations were in progress if I had not been told. IMO the Erawan spa cottages are nicer than the FS cabanas, and offer excellent value because of the included treatments and other spa benefits.

Assuming you have 6+ days, splitting the stay like this would be an excellent idea.

Has anyone stayed in the Joseph Conrad suite at the Oriental? It seems unique because of its terrace, so I am thinking of trying it at some point.

Have you seen this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pbL0izftPY

One word - gorgeous! The only thing I didn't like from that video is the bathroom looks a bit dark for my taste.