Bangkok Hotels

[Duniawala]

I never thought selecting a hotel in Bangkok could be such a confusing one. With so many choices. After reviewing plenty of ISG reports and tripadvisor, I have shortlisted the below 3 hotels.

1. Ambassador Hotel.

2. Citrus Sukhumvit 13.

3. Hotel Windsor Suites & Convention Centre.

................................
Request your recommendations based on the above points.

I personally like Ruamchitt Plaza, next to Sofitel. Their refurbished rooms are OK, (neat and clean). It's not the Hyatt but you can't beat the price and location. (I. E. If you have a small budget).

There are too many families staying in Ambassador.

[JustForFun21]

I never thought selecting a hotel in Bangkok could be such a confusing one. With so many choices. After reviewing plenty of ISG reports and tripadvisor, I have shortlisted the below 3 hotels.

1. Ambassador Hotel.

2. Citrus Sukhumvit 13.

3. Hotel Windsor Suites & Convention Centre.

All the above 3 are fitting my budget (around 1200-1300 BHT / day in Agoda).

My requirements are.

- Sukhumvit Area.

- Girl Friendly (and preferably avoiding walk of shame).

- Decent size rooms and good bathrooms.

- Safety, to walk alone during the late nights.

- Walkable distance to MTS / sky trains.

- Closer to convenient shops and restaurants (preferably in <100 metres from the hotel).

- I'm not too particular about Pool, gym, etc.

My observations of the hotels are as follows:

- Ambassador Hotel seem to be having an upper hand in terms of location. However, of late, I could see quite a few complaints on this hotel due to staff issues and the dated rooms in the main wing (Tower wing is above my budget). But this seems to be a value for money at 1300 BHT non-refundable tariff.

- Citrus seems to be a good hotel in terms of room comfort compared to the rest of the two hotels. But I'm not sure whether it has location advantage as Ambassador hotel.

- Windsor. Good hotel but again seems to be dated one.

Request your recommendations based on the above points.

[Chukar]

Natty,

Thank you for the fine review of the Radisson Suite. I am a member of Club Carlson and that is why I asked about the Rad.

[Member #4698]

Does anyone know if the Radisson is guest friendly.Has anyone stayed at this hotel?

The Radisson Suites Hotel on Soi 13 is GF. I stayed at the Radisson Suites Hotel on my last 4 nights in BKK. My 65 sq meter 1 bedroom suite was roomy and comfortable. For $59/ night, I considered it a real bargain. The suite featured a decent size living room with an office area off to the side, a separate galley kitchen, a modern bath room and dressing area, and a good size bedroom. The hotel's red surface roof top pool was relaxing and peaceful, although the red concrete color is an unusual choice for a swimming pool surface. There was a small convenient bar in the patio area next to the pool. The Radisson Hotel staff were very friendly and courteous, so all in all, I think this is a pretty good 3. 5* to 4* hotel at a great price. My only criticism is that the view from my room was less than spectacular being that it looked out on a parking lot and another apartment building off in the distance. Also, location wise Soi 13 is not my favorite Soi, but it offers easy access to Soi 11 through the Ambassador Arcade and otherwise it is a fast walking commute to Sukhumvit.

One more thing about the Radisson: it is part of the Carlson Hotel Group. I had around 22,000 pts with Carlson from a stay I previously had at their Amsterdam hotel a while back. Before leaving on this trip, Carlson had offered me their signature Visa credit card with an 80,000 pt signing bonus. So after my stay at the Radisson Suites this trip, my cumulative Carlson point level was over 130,000 pts. Subsequently, I have booked 4 free nights at their new Radisson Blu Hotel on 489 Sukhumvit near Soi 27. The Radisson Blu is a higher class hotel than the Radisson Suites and I am looking forward to giving the Blu a try in 2015. It too is GF.

[Syzygies]

Are the Mercury Bangkok Siam and Holiday Inn Express GF hotels?, Anybody had experience here which are close to MBK mall.

Why would anyone need to be close to MBK? Get your priorities straight. I mean how many days can a serious monger go shopping? There is easy access to MBK via the BTS sky train.

Sorry can't answer the actual question. I would not want to stay in that area.

[Wandere]

Are the Mercury Bangkok Siam and Holiday Inn Express GF hotels?, Anybody had experience here which are close to MBK mall.

Holiday is fine with one guest.

[Brandt]

Yes, no problem.

Does anyone know if the Radisson is guest friendly

[Chukar]

Does anyone know if the Radisson is guest friendly.

Has anyone stayed at this hotel?

Thanks

[DwayneJohnson]

Pietra Hotel:

In front of Poseidon.

Very girl friendly and staff can arrange girls for you in 2500-3000.

My thai girlfriend did not leave me alone for a second so did not get opportunity of trying those girls.

Oceans (Livingstones) :

Cool parties and nice place to stay on short trip if minor inconveniences can be ignored.

Nobody bothered to ask for girl's ID.

[Daddy San]

Hi,

Below I am quoting from my inquiry from January this year.
Nevertheless, if you book a room for two and
-the lady checks in with you and stays the whole time or only one or more days.
-at check-in time, you announce that a lady will be joining you later and she then stays one or more days.
You wil not pay anything.

Besides, having booked for two guests, they need to tell you, BEFORE they start charging you for your second overnight guest.

What they want to avoid, understandably, is to be used as an overnight love hotel.
----------------
Dear Mr. Daddy.

Greetings from the Bangkok Hotel Lotus Sukhumvit, and thank you for your interest in the property.
Regarding to your inquiry about joiner fee, please be informed that hotel will charge at THB 1,000 Thai baht / person.
Should you require any further information, please feel free to contact me.

Kind regards,

Pinmanee Chantapong.
Assistant Manager.
-----------

[Member #4361]

I searched through reports and only found a couple references to this hotel. One mentioned it is GF but you need to pay 1,000 THB for the guest. As far as I can tell the location is pretty good as it is only two klicks from Nana Plaza. I don't have a choice but this place seems like it should be fine. I guess it is managed by Accor which is not too exciting.

Just curious if there are any recent experiences and if it was positive / negative.

Appreciate the feedback.

Scorcher.

[Nandu]

Are the Mercury Bangkok Siam and Holiday Inn Express GF hotels?, Anybody had experience here which are close to MBK mall.

[RacShack]

Stayed at and loved the Landmark while their, great location! Very girl friendly.

[Paul Kausch]

Just to chime in, the Sofitel is indeed substantially posher than all the hotels on that list. It is less overpriced than the JW Marriott and the Sheraton, although its rates have been creeping up.

Thanks for the up to date information about which hotels have refurbished rooms. I guess my friend was lucky and got one of the new rooms at the SGS. Regarding prices at the Starwood properties, as I recall the rates at the SGS were significantly lower three or four years ago than they are today. It's good to know that the Intercontinental has updated the rooms, not that I'd stay there, even though I belong to the IHG Rewards Club. Too expensive for me.

When I stayed at the Sofitel in June the room rate was $111 per night. I did not use any of my Le Club Accor points to get that rate. I was able to get a free upgrade from a standard to a club room. This is another benefit of belonging to a hotels loyalty program. I was only able to get the $112 room rate for December only after using several thousand reward points to get that rate. I wonder if I will get the free room upgrade during high season.

[Brandt]

Just to chime in, the Sofitel is indeed substantially posher than all the hotels on that list. It is less overpriced than the JW Marriott and the Sheraton, although its rates have been creeping up. The Sheraton has great service and spacious rooms, but most of them have not been refurbished yet. The Westin's rates have been inching down, in line with the age of its rooms. In general I find Starwood hotels in BKK have been priced above market for the past 2 years. For the $112 mentioned by Paul the Sofitel would be a no brainer in that price range, however it has been closer to $150 lately.

The OP was asking about the new Marriott Sukhumvit on Soi 55, not the JW. That hotel is a bit of an outlier, as during periods of low occupancy it shows up on wotif and latestays as a mystery hotel around THB2200-2400 all in, making it a great deal compared to the quality of the room, if you can accept its location. However its rates shoot up as soon as occupancy inches up.

One of my regulars liked its standard rooms best of all the ones she's met me in, including the Sofitel, Conrad, both Hiltons, and Westin, because of the large circular tub next to a window and probably because the huge open-plan bathroom's mirror allowed her to take (rather good I must say) selfies which have been up on her FB page for now over a semester!

About the Intercontinental: its rooms have been refurbished again recently, and are in excellent shape, almost as posh-feeling as the Sofitel. However it is also way overpriced, and I cannot fathom why its new 50" Sharp TV's are fed a VCD-grade analog signal.

With the exception of the Sheraton Grande, the Sofitel Sukhumvit is much nicer than all the hotels on your list. The Sheraton Grande and Sofitel are GF, as are virtually all hotels along Sukhumvit. You could also add the JW Marriott to your list. The Sofitel is a couple of years old. The JW Marriott and Sheraton Grande are much older.