The Peninsula Bangkok

100   Recommended
December 2, 2014 by EXPERT

 Map | 4 Reviews | 100% Recommended
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The Peninsula Bangkok
 Map | 4 Reviews | 100% Recommended

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Liked:
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Short Review

We are now in Chiang Mai after five nights in a Grande Deluxe suite at the Pen in BKK. I haven't been to BKK for 11 years since I was a poor student, staying at the Amari Boulevard (which at the time was the best place I had ever stayed).

We paid $395++ for a suite on the Leading Hotels of the World website. The Pen's website never had these suites below $470++, and the LHW package included a bottle of wine and breakfast.

We booked a car to pick us up from Don Muang, cost $48. A Mercedes was there waiting for us. As with all things in BKK, you can book a cheaper Merc from one of the airport firms, but I didn't need the hassle after 11 hours on a plane.

We were met at the steps to reception by two members of staff who were waiting for us, and instantly whisked to the suite, bypassing reception. We got one on the 29th floor (Grand Deluxe are 10+) which had exceptional views. Think of the Pen as a 'U' shape, with a suite in the tip of the U on both sides. These have expansive views up and down the river, whilst other rooms only look up or down (or just forward if you are in the middle of the U).

You don't want to read a long essay on my holiday, so here are the good and bad points from our 5 days:

Good:
Location great. There is a shuttle boat every 2 minutes to either the Skytrain station or the pier next to the Oriental. You never feel isolated being on the wrong side of the river.
Room furnishings of excellent quality
Housekeeping of the highest quality
Bathroom with two sinks, separate shower, separate cubicle for toilet, second toilet and sink elsewhere in the suite. TV above the bath!
Excellent buffet breakfast - you can sit outside on the riverside terrace or inside if its too hot.
The other restaurants we tried were also very good
Very well priced laundry service of the highest quality which always beat its predicted return time. My linen shirt has never looked as good!

Bad:
Very little. However, the TV was very old, as was the CD player / hi-fi (although sound quality through the built-in room speakers was excellent). And why a laser disk player but no DVD, or even VCR?! And I left my shoes to be cleaned one night and they never got done. The pool could also be bigger, but was rarely busy so not really an issue. The bar only has about 15 seats and I wouldn't want to spend any time there, although they were having a free wine tasting on the Saturday so we did pop in!

The Pen has no spa but is currently building one. You can get treatments in the beauty centre. I had a Thai massage which was OK ($50) but all of the Pen's treatments can be had for literally a quarter of the price in one of the many salons on the street that leads up from the Peninsula Pier. We paid 200 baht each ($5) for an excellent reflexology foot massage, for example.

And on our last night, November 27th, they put up all their Christmas trees, lights and bunting! The place is full of it now. I really didn't need to see this on my holiday!

I can thoroughly recommend the Pen to anyone planning a BKK holiday. You can obviously stay in BKK five-star or high 4-star hotels for a quarter of that price, but if you have the money you will get excellent value (compared to most other parts of the world) for your $395 + 17% if you can get this rate.

It is difficult to compare with the Oriental as we only ate there, but I would say that: a) the Pen has a younger client base (but not by much), b) the Pen is quieter because the Oriental gets a massive amount of tourists popping in, c) the Oriental pool is no better than the Pen's and is very exposed to passing tourists, d) the Oriental has far better shops than the Pen, e) the Oriental has a better bar - but again, you wouldn't want to spend the night in either, f) all Pen rooms have a direct river view - many at the Oriental do not, and none seemed to have the wrap-around views of our suite.

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