St.Regis Bangkok = Timeless St.Regis Suite

100   Recommended
St.Regis Suite
February 10, 2020 by

 Map | 10 Reviews | 100% Recommended
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The St. Regis Bangkok
 Map | 10 Reviews | 100% Recommended

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St.Regis Suite

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
St.Regis Suite

My stays at St.Regis are getting increasingly better and it is becoming more clear to me that being a repeat guest at this property has clear advantages.  Back in the SPG days I was not a regular because of a subpar happy hour compared to other hotels, irregular suite upgrades, modestly aging hardware, and rates a bit high compared to other (excellent) hotels in Bangkok.  However StR has never been completely off my list so I have stayed there occasionally but since the Marriott integration it seems I find myself there more often than before for various reasons, and keep coming back.  Once again I was pleased with my latest stay and can recommend it under the right circumstances.  

Storage

All things considered I might prefer Waldorf Astoria close by, but WA is in a higher price range and anyway I like to mix things up so for me a stay at WA followed by a stay at StR is more enjoyable than two consecutive stays at WA.  I have occasionally asked StR to keep a suitcase in storage after my check-out from WA; this time around was no different.  I contacted the butler service in advance and they confirmed that they could hold a bag for us so when we left WA we asked the taxi driver to stop by StR to leave a suitcase and we came back to StR one week later to reunite with our suitcase that we had left because we wanted to travel lighter.  

Laundry Benefit

This time StR was an obvious choice not only due to proximity to WA to leave a bag in storage, but also because we needed a 2-night stay which is the minimum number of nights required for the 100 USD Amex Brilliant food & beverage credit (only received 2700 THB credit however so 13% haircut), and the rate was lower than historical average at 5.5k THB (flexible) per night.  Last but not least I expected that at this stage of our travel it would be convenient to have a generous laundry benefit and StR is the perfect hotel for that: 2 free pieces of laundry per person per day so we could have 8 pieces of laundry for our short stay.

Room

I booked the entry level room because for this stay I did not mind much if we had a suite or not.  I was pre-upgraded to the Grand Deluxe room in the mobile app, which is a fine roomto begin with, in fact some people prefer that room type than the Met Suite or even the Grand Met Suite because the Grand Deluxe room has much better views.  For this reason StR BKK is one of the few hotels where I don’t mind all that much not receiving a suite upgrade, as long as I get at least a one-category upgrade to Grand Deluxe.  Once we arrived at 4pm we were further upgraded to the Met Suite but unfortunately the room was not immediately available so we were given the choice of the Met Suite in about one hour or the Grand Deluxe immediately.  Most times I prefer to wait for a suite, but in this case I chose the latter.  Surprisingly after a phone call the front desk agent told us that we would be upgraded to the St.Regis Suite because that room was ready right away.  It was a nice surprise and excellent repeat guest treatment!

The Met Suite and the Grand Met Suite are nice but the downside is that those rooms are a bit aging relative to the renovated suites at Athenee (Luxury Collection) which is why I sometimes prefer to stay at Athenee.  In contrast the St.Regis Suite is in good condition: the room might not be new and modern like WA, but it is timeless and it does not have the little nicks and stains here and there.  In addition the views are far superior in the St.Regis Suite, both from the living room and from the bedroom.  Like the Met and Grand Met Suites, this room type has 1.5 bath, although not Toto washlets.  The main bathroom has a dual vanity, one on each side of the bathroom, and a very nice marble floor.  I wish the amenities were Le Remede but it’s rather Elemis which I do not like as much, but it’s still a notch above Thann which is available at the two Luxury Collection hotels in Bangkok (Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit and Athenee).  The StR Suite also has a small kitchen off the dining room with a fridge, dishwasher, microwave, etc.  I do not particularly like the carpet in the bedroom but the quality hardwood floor in the main living area more than makes up for it.

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Dining

As it’s been documented before, happy hour at StR is only one drink per person per day so when I am in a drinking mood clearly Athenee or even better SGS, are the way to go.  However the drinks quality at StR is fine, and for champagne sabering at 6pm every day they give a (small) glass of Nua Prosecco on top of the regular drink.  For people who want to drink outside at sunset, the terrace is nice with good views.  The food is clearly not like a standard lounge - for that Athenee is obviously superior.  That said, one evening the sushi plate was better than the crunchy bar snack from SGS in my opinion, however another evening was more forgettable: prosciutto on bread.  

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Breakfast is not the strength of StR compared to other luxury hotels in Bangkok but for this stay I saw an improvement from before.  Part of it is that occupancy was fairly low due to the coronavirus so the restaurant was not crowded and we could get a table by the window and enjoy the views.  I also noticed an uptick in food quality as well: the spicy yam som-o salad with shrimps was delicious and the (white) pieces of chicken in the green curry were better than last time.

Most dishes on the room service menu are quite expensive at StR relative to Park Hyatt, Waldorf Astoria, and 137 Pillars.  However with the 100 USD food & beverage credit we sampled a few choices and I can say the food was good. 

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Service

Butler service at StR is not on par with the service at 137 Pillars where we recently stayed, but it’s still quite good and service generally speaking is much better than at Athenee.  Not only the staff count relative to number of guests is quite high, in addition some aspects are very good particularly service in the bar where they remembered name and choice of drinks, but on occasion there were minor service mishaps which contributes to why it’s not quite on the same level as some of the best StR in the world for example they knocked on the door to deliver some printouts I requested plus laundry, despite the do not disturb light being on.  Overall it’s just minor things here and there but they are not so rare from one stay to the other which is why overall I probably rank SGS higher for service despite StR having the advantage of the butler service plus more staff available in general for example doormen / bellmen at the entrance and staff at the pool area.  

Overall

Overall StR is not a perfect hotel but compared to other cities the price premium over the LC brand hotels is quite modest.  If the price was the same I might pick Park Hyatt on some occasions but the reality is that StR is usually far cheaper than PH so in my mind StR is without a doubt better value for the money.  WA is a great hotel but more expensive than StR as well so when the price tag is considered once again StR is a decent choice even compared to WA.  The two LC hotels in Bangkok are great value for the money and personally I like having them on a rotation depending on what I am looking for.  Odds of a suite upgrade are the best at StR by far, followed by Athenee, and SGS is last.  Hardware is best at Athenee unless you get a premium suite at StR, and SGS is a laggard.  However service at SGS is excellent, followed by StR, and Athenee has room for improvement.  As long as StR keeps treating me well it will continue to be part of the group of hotels I like to visit when in BKK.  

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