Conrad Bangkok = Executive Lounge Improvements

100   Recommended
Conrad Suite
April 3, 2020 by

 Map | 2 Reviews | 100% Recommended
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Conrad Bangkok
 Map | 2 Reviews | 100% Recommended

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Conrad Suite

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
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Room
Conrad Suite

I used to be a more frequent guest of Conrad Bangkok but over time my suite upgrade success gradually decreased and I thought the quality of the lounge went down, not only food & beverage offerings but also it became overcrowded.  Meanwhile the opposite has been happening at the property which I consider to be the #1 competitor of Conrad = Athenee (Luxury Collection), only a couple of blocks away from Conrad.  My suite upgrade success at Athenee has improved in the last couple of years and after the hotel has rebranded from Royal Meridien to Luxury Collection, the lounge has improved as well so I have found myself at Athenee more and more, at the expense of Conrad.  Prices between the two properties are often similar except that it’s easier to find a Best Rate Guarantee at Athenee whereas Conrad suffers from a painful BRG program in the entire Hilton chain.  For all those reasons it had been a while since I last stayed at Conrad Bangkok and my previous stay was not that great so I took a break.  However I have been keeping Conrad on my radar screen given the room renovations which I wanted to see at some point.  Anyway I had booked a stay at DoubleTree Sukhumvit but the hotel closed during the virus outbreak and they generously offered to move me to Conrad at no extra charge.  For 4.0k THB per night I prefer Athenee rather than Conrad, but for 2.4k THB at Conrad it was a no brainer to accept DT’s offer and it was the perfect time to give Conrad another shot.  I was pleased with the suite upgrade (although not renovated) and the lounge renovations.  

Location

Conrad is in a decent location in Bangkok, about a 10-minute walk from Ploen Chit BTS station.  I don’t mind walking but some people might think it’s a bit too much in the heat, in that case there is a shuttle bus to bring guests to BTS if desired.  The location of Athenee hotel is marginally better because it’s halfway between Ploen Chit BTS and Conrad.  

Room

With Conrad being only 20% occupied despite receiving guests from closed hotels such as DoubleTree and Hilton Sukhumvit, I received a great upgrade to a Conrad Suite (114 sq meters) which is one of their largest suites available besides the Presidential Suite.  It had been a while since I last stayed in this room type and it’s still nice.  For the moment the “Conrad Suite” room type is the unrenovated version while the “Conrad Premium Suite” room type is the renovated version.  To be honest even the unrenovated version is in acceptable shape and if I often had this kind of upgrade I would not have explored competitor hotels as often as I have in the last couple of years.  I am sure the renovated suite is nicer; I will need to return to Conrad in the future to see it.  The Conrad Suite has a convenient half bath near the entrance and the main bathroom at the far end of the room is in two sections, the first part has the dual vanity and the second part (which is separated by a door) has the shower, bathtub, toilet, plus a small TV in front of the tub.  The water pressure was very strong in the rain shower which I do not take for granted in hotels of a certain age and especially when staying on a high floor.  While the tile flooring in the bathroom is very nice, I am not a fan of rooms which are all carpet throughout the bedroom and living room so it’s one weakness of this hotel although at least I can say the carpet was not overly worn out.  The one element that betrays the age of the hotel is the air conditioning system which did not cool the room as much as some more modern properties do.  I would not say the room felt hot, but other hotels have a better capacity to cool the room quickly.  Part of the issue is that the Conrad Suite is so large and there are not many vents so the cooling process takes longer.  

As usual we had the lovely Conrad elephant waiting for us on the bed and the bathroom amenities were Shanghai Tang as other Conrads of the world.  The TV in the bedroom had a DVD player connected to it which can be convenient to some guests.  Last but not least, there is a pillow menu which we always appreciate for a better night of sleep.  

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Dining

The best improvement I noticed during our stay was the executive lounge.  They have done an excellent job on the renovations and it looks more attractive and stylish than before.  Despite the hotel being quite low occupancy there were still a fair number of guests in the lounge so I suspect in normal conditions the overcrowding issue will remain because the lounge is fairly small relative to the number of executive rooms and/or the number of Diamond guests staying at this property.  The food offered was also a pleasant improvement from the past when I noticed a gradual deterioration to generic fried stuff a couple of years ago but it was not the case for this stay.  Athenee has been going in the opposite direction: after noticeable improvements to the lounge in 2016-2017, since 2019 they have cut back on food choices so I now rank Conrad higher which is a reversal of the situation 1-2 years ago.  During happy hour Conrad had fried rice, dim sum, dumplings, bite-size crispy fish, and beef fajitas, in addition to soup.  The cold station had fruits, veggies, and spicy Vietnamese spring rolls, in addition to desserts.  All in all a complete offering where everybody should find something to their liking.  Alcohol is weaker however and remains below the level of Athenee: only one red and one white wine, sparkling wine, beer, and limited liquor.  

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In the past at Conrad Bangkok I did not like breakfast in the restaurant because it’s a crowded zoo with cramped seating arrangement, and I preferred the more modest choice in the lounge because it was more quiet.  This time around perhaps the restaurant would have been peaceful but it was closed due to the virus outbreak so the only choice was breakfast in the lounge.  In some hotels, breakfast in the lounge is disappointing because there is not enough choice, but here similar to my observations for happy hour the options were quite decent (including a delicious pad thai) so I rank Conrad breakfast as above average for Bangkok standards in terms of lounge breakfasts go. 

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Overall

Overall I am glad I unintentionally ended up back at Conrad, thanks to my reservation moving from DoubleTree because of the circumstances.  I still rank Athenee ahead of Conrad all things considered because I receive more suite upgrades there as Marriott Ambassador Elite even when hotel occupancy is fairly high, and the likelihood of suite upgrades at Conrad in normal conditions remains a question mark that I will need to test again in the future.  Also most suites at Athenee have been renovated while this is still work in progress at Conrad.  That said, for Hilton loyalists the Conrad property is now a more attractive option than before with an improved lounge, and it comes with a more modest price tag than Waldorf Astoria.  Conrad also has distanced itself relative to the two less luxurious Hiltons in the city so Conrad is now a stronger alternative within the Hilton portfolio compared to the past, when I used to consider Conrad to be more like a third Hilton in the city and I had come to believe that the price premium of Conrad over the two Hiltons was hard to justify.  The good news is I can now see a clearer difference between Conrad and the two Hiltons and probably even more so in the future when all rooms will be renovated.  Conrad will be a good fit for people who want more than the Hiltons but who do not want to splurge on WA.

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