Central90210

I see, thanks for the extended insights into soaps

I just booked three nights at the SGS later this month after reading on the good stuff about it here, chose it over W, SR. Will also stay at the PA on the first night.

forumpersona999

Tried the Exec Breakfast at Rossini and it was quite good and very peaceful. Great service. I have been dissatisfied with various aspects at Rossini for years but the Exec Breakfast experience was very encouraging.

Will give them another try for dinner sometime.

Forgot to try the BarSu outdoor area. I shall catch up on that in due course.

Basil have a new menu structure now that is very good but none of the old classics were removed.

There's just some new choices and a new structure. It is broken down by regions of Thailand and there are set suggestions one can order but does not have to. They don't lock you in or out either way.

Still love SGS very much.

newshound

Stayed at the SGS over the last weekend and can echo forumpersona's thoughts on Rossini for breakfast although it closes at 10am so not quite as flexible as other options.

To answer my own question, I got nothing for my 30th stay. I had the plat upgrade to a XX12 suite again which again I only used the living room to store golf clubs. The layout just doesn't work for me.

Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Bangkok

Dear sabdhabi,

Thank you for your interest in the BarSu Terrace. It is currently only open during the evening, operating the same hours as BarSu. To keep the temperature down, we have installed fans with mist. Eventually the plan Is open during the day serving coffees, pastries etc. This should be in place by the next dry season.

With kind regards,

Richard

RICHARD
CHAPMAN
GENERAL MANAGER

cln

Hmm it looks like I missed the increase to category 5? When did this happen?

LIH Prem

It was one of the unannounced changes during the annual category changes.

-David

sabdhabi

I keep reading the occasional report/review that corner rooms are bigger and more spacious than other rooms (suites excluded of course). Is this fact or fiction? I thought all regular rooms were the same size, namely 45 sq m?

schoflyer

I didn't notice any difference in the 01 room I had as a connected 2 bedroom suite at the end of the hall last trip.

sabdhabi

Thanks Schoflyer.
So the xx01 rooms connect to the xx02 suites? Hence the wooden door at the end of the corridor offering some privacy? I have only stayed in a xx02 suite once so can't recall exactly, my usual room being a xx04 one. It was many years pre-refurbishment that I last stayed in a room with a Sukhumvit view. All floors have xx02 as a suite?

Dr. HFH

I haven't measured, but the rooms at the other end of the hallway (i.e., not the xx01 and xx02 end) are laid out slightly differently. I stayed in xx19 once. The entranceway and the bathroom are different from those of regular rooms. IIRC the bathroom is laid out more like the xx02 rooms due to being at the end of the building. The shower is larger and rectangular (as in xx02 rooms) rather than hexagonal shaped as in the regular rooms.

seanthepilot

The upgrade voucher/gifts presented after achieving milestone stays appears to now allow upgrade to specialty suites for 3 days, as opposed to the 5 days that the previous certs did.

Anyone have insight as to reasons for the cutbacks.

Dr. HFH

The fact that the hotel is often at 100+% might be relevant. More importantly, however, it might not have changed at all. It might just be different numbers of days for different milestone stays.

seanthepilot

This one was for a quite significant milestone.

I see several changes recently, which has me wondering if a changing of the guard is happening.

And Doug from Grande Club has left?

seanthepilot

Actually, I'd think that would be a reason that encourages accepting the cert. Because it frees up a normal room or grande suite for another paying customers. I'm guessing that it's few and far between that people are paying for the specialty suites.

And, don't get me wrong. These are great gifts to receive, whether 3 or 5 nights. It's an awesome acknowledgement from the hotel.

But, I suspect that they pull out the discretionary stays. I mean, people who redeem these certs are likely going to fit it in, on and above their regular stays. I don't see a businessman booking the governor's suite, or that Thai style one with the jacuzzi, for a typical business stay.

I see it as a way to use it as a mini vacation with a significant other. In this case, 5 nights discretionary spend beats 3 nights, hands down (without pulling a normal room/suite out of inventory).

Maybe we just look at it differently. As a hotelier, I'm always looking at the revenue capture end.

Also, sorry for being vague on the cert and observations, as these are my observations from a friend's stay, not my own.

Dr. HFH

I'm not so sure that that's a valid assumption. We FTers understand a lot more about travel than the average hotel guest. I once ran into a business traveler waiting for the elevator at SGS. We started chatting; and in the course of our conversation he mentioned that he's at SGS every few months on business, paying rack rate as that was the rate quoted by his travel agent.

I think that it's easy for us, as a group very aware of all things travel, to forget how many people there are who know little about it. We are a very small minority. And we also should remember that there are a lot of people who have a lot of money and don't really care. They want the nice rooms, fly full fare F, etc.