ftrichard

If you're at LM Bangkok then you're in one of my favourite hotels. The breakfast for Plats in the buffet is better than any lounge breakfast and you have your own seating area and sparking wine. Creative Hour in the bar from 5.30-7.30pm is freeflow fancy cocktails and anything else you want which is better than any lounge wine and spirits selection (and the women in the bar are great - say hi to Jackie from me). You're almost certainly in a suite as the upgrades there are well known. The hotel doesn't need a lounge to deliver some of the best Plat treatment I've had. Regarding ice there though... I'd just ask at the bar if I were you.

Generally I think ice machines in hotel corridors make the place seem quite downmarket.

lost_in_translation

It shouldn't be in the corridor, I agree - it should be in a little room with a door to soundproof it so that other guests can't hear when it's being used. If I come back to the hotel late and want a drink after most of the turndown ice has melted, sometimes I'd rather just get my own than wait for someone else to bring a fresh bucket (particularly in the US where I'm then expected to find a $10 note I probably don't have on me for something I could do more quickly myself).

SkiAdcock

I think that's a slight exaggeration. I've been to Marriotts that don't have ice everywhere or have scoops. I've seen some properties w/o ice buckets in the lounges or that have mini-tongs.

In years past some Marriott properties used to have ice machines on every floor, along w/ a soda machine in an alcove (some w/ doors; some w/o), then they started going to every few floors, & some don't have ice machines at all on the floors.

The only time I really need(ed) an ice bucket in the room is if I had bottle of champagne or white wine & wanted to chill them. If the champers/ww was from the hotel it already came in an ice bucket. If I brought the booze in from outside, then I'd get ice either from the machine or call room service to bring some.

At restaurants, whether hotel or regular ones, I request zero ice in my water or soft drinks & no ice or minimal ice in hard liquor drinks, as the cold isn't good for one's vocal cords. A friend of mine teaches speech therapy & we did a test of drinking w/ ice & drinking w/o, & you could literally tell the difference on your vocal cords. Ever since then I've gone the no ice route.

I agree w/ others that the Bali property bringing you ice on the 2nd day was good customer service/anticipating your needs.

I stay at the LAS Marriott each year for a week long convention. It doesn't have a lounge, but you get full buffet brekkie in the restaurant. Due to time zone dif, I normally am awake around 5am so make a couple cups of tea in the room & check email. By the time I go to the restaurant I'm tea'd out, so I order a diet coke/pepsi w/breakfast (yeah, I know - it's a bit weird). They all know that so when they see me enter the restaurant, the waiter/waitress automatically brings me the soda to my table, along w/ the newspaper.

Cheers.

CJKatl

I posted in the Marriott board that I'm not digging this hotel. IMO, it pales in comparison with the similar level pre-merger Marriott family properties in Bangkok. The Creative Hour had cheese, a couple loaves of bread and a few cold cuts, which seemed chintzy compared to what's offered at the FS Soi 57/Ren/JW/CY. Also, I prefer the CL being accessible all day. Yes, the breakfast here is good, but it's no better than what's offered at the hotels listed above and having to walk those steps while you juggle food and drink is odd. Yes, I got an UG to a suite, but it's not as nice as the two-room suite with huge bathroom and half bath and sweeping views I've always gotten at the Soi 57 property in dozens of stays. (Note: I blog during trips for family and friends. On that blog, I did admit to being embarrassed that my reaction to being upgraded was that it's not as nice as the other hotel.)

There were also some issues when I checked in, like being told repeatedly my room had been prepared per my request when it wasn't, being told ice would be delivered in 25 minutes so I could take a shower only to have the ice show up within six or seven minutes, requiring my answering the door wet in a towel because the worker kept ringing and knocking.

SkiAdcock

Marriott has close to 40 properties in Canada that have exec lounges. I just did a quick check in the exec lounge sticky on the Marriott forum.

Re: Canada & ice

Cheers.

ftrichard

Ah, you were unlucky. It sounds like you were in the lobby bar for creative hour which is where they put you (with cold cuts and cheese) when Bamboo Chic upstairs is booked out for a private event. Which happens occasionally. Upstairs, they bring you canap�s. It's not a meal and doesn't pretend to replace one.

Irrespective, it sounds like this isn't the hotel for you. It has many fans on here.

DeweyCheathem

My kind of heretic. I will use 2-3 cubes to cool a warm drink. But I don't want so much ice as to severely dilute the original beverage.

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I don't remember guest access to ice machines in any of the hotels I've stayed at in Asia (and I think I've been to a few). Maybe I just wasn't looking for them. Still, I'm not sure if this would be a deal-breaker for me - especially if the hotel staff brought it promptly upon request?

CJKatl

This happened in both Europe and Asia, and my gripe isn't that it has to be delivered to the room, but that's it's not in the lounge with the drinks. In the Prague Sheraton, my requests in the lounge resulted in slow responses, so I just went out to the bar and asked for ice.

CJKatl

Things improved during my stay. The manager met me on my way out. He hears complaints about the creative reception all the time. They are continuing to try and find a better solution, but due to space limitations and the relatively low number of elites that stay in the hotel, there may not be a better solution.

My point is posting on the Marriott thread was to let Golds and Plats who are used to the similarly priced Marriott options in Bangkok know that this hotel does not offer the same product. For those that like the hotel, might I suggest you try the new Queen's Park Marriott, which has outstanding service and the best CL I've experienced anywhere in the world, or the Soi 57 FS, which has stunning views and a great CL. For the same money, you are getting so much more at either of these hotels. Someone used to that level of service and the CL will likely feel shortchanged at the LM. I've always been UGed at both to rooms that are much nicer than the LM suite. The LM suite was nice, but I'm not a fan of carpet (QP also has carpet), the view was meh, the room was smaller and the Soi 57 property has an additional half bath.

For those that like the LM the way it is, go ahead and stay there. My intent wasn't to insult you. But once you experience either of the FSs, the Ren, the CY or even the JW you'll likely be asking the manager of the LM to up his game. And most of the Marriott properties are closer to the BTS and don't require walking through Patpong at night.

Doc Savage

Almost all hotels in the US regardless of quality have ice machines.

MSPeconomist

Even in the USA, the very top hotels tend to deliver ice through room service.

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Ah - I see. In many parts of Asia I wouldn't assume ice which has been left out in a public area is fit for consumption. I guess this is ultimately a cultural difference.

CJKatl

Did not know this... Thanks for the info.

CIT85

All but 1 FS Marriott in Paris do not have Lounges.