Aloft Bangkok = Budget Choice if Suite Not Needed

I stayed for the first time at Aloft Bangkok, one of the last few remaining Marriott properties I had not tried in Bangkok before.  My overall takeaway was that the standard room was quite nice as they got rid of the carpet, but for people who value suite upgrades it’s not a good fit because they only have 1 junior suite to upgrade to.

The hotel has 6 suites but 5 of them are premium suites and therefore not what Ambassador Elites (or Titanium) could expect as an upgrade.  For the lone junior suite, stars have to align to score a suite upgrade at this hotel, and anyway Aloft is not a brand that participates in the Bonvoy suite upgrades so in theory the hotel is not even required to upgrade at all as per the terms & conditions.  

I arrived at 3pm and I was told that the junior suite was occupied by another guest who was leaving at 5pm and that I could get the suite at 7pm if I wanted, to allow 2 hours for housekeeping to clean the room.  In addition I was offered a standard room to use between 3-7pm which was a nice gesture and I took the offer.  

The standard room exceeded my expectations to be honest, I had previously read about issues of humidity and a mold smell but there was none of that in my room.  The rooms used to have carpet and removing it probably helped matters.  

The junior suite looked a bit more aging simply because of the flooring and I did not like that aspect much.  However for an Aloft brand hotel the bathroom was quite spacious and the room overall as well (60 sqm), almost double the entry level room 32 sqm.  The suite also had a jacuzzi bathtub in addition to the stand-alone shower whereas the normal room only had the shower.  

I am allergic to mold so I was a bit reluctant to stay at Aloft considering what I read before.  Thankfully there was no humidity and no mold smell, but unfortunately during the night I sneezed and my nose was congested.  After I shut off the air conditioning above the bed I got better and I could sleep.  Allergies can be hard to pin down so it might not be related to anything about Aloft but it could also be that the mold issue has not been resolved 100% yet and that some might have been coming through via the ventilation system.

The restaurant for breakfast was an attractive venue with high ceilings and a table set-up not cramped at all.  Not bad for the most inexpensive Bonvoy hotel in Bangkok when at the other end of the spectrum St.Regis squeezes guests together in a relatively unpleasant environment.  The food was ok considering the price of Aloft; it’s clearly below the various Marriotts (Sukhumvit 57, Surawongse, and Marquis) but in my opinion it was adequate for Aloft.  

I did not stay at the hotel very long (only 1 night stay) but my interactions with staff were good and nothing stood out negatively about service.  I would note that I had a quite low rate booked a few months prior when covid restrictions had not been lifted yet.  I wanted to shift my stay by one week without having to rebook at higher rates and via the Ambassador service the hotel agreed to move my date without changing my rate which was a good gesture.  

Wifi worked well with speed of 50-60 Mbps.

Overall I thought Aloft was decent considering the price even if I had not received a suite upgrade.  For people who don’t intend to spend a lot of time at the hotel and need a place to crash, Marriott’s budget option in Bangkok can be considered.