dddick

Will be in BKK October 29th for 6 nights. Tentatively planning on staying at the Marriott Resort & Spa for about $99 a night government rate. Presuming this location is good for a 50 y/o married couple more interested in a leisurely "don't have to see everything" trip.

A few questions: Does the JW Marriott offer anything that makes it worth $25 a night more? Is the location acceptable or will we be forced to take a water taxi every time we want to go somewhere?

Is there any reason to abandon my Marriott loyalty to stay somewhere else?

Thanks

Dale & Kathy
Baton Rouge

JamesA

The Bangkok Marriott is a great hotel and many others on this site also rave about it, I'd stick with it. Check what room that rate gives you. Try this Bangkok site and take a look at the Marriott and you can compare to others. Good hotels in Bangkok are from $60 up but the Marriott is worth it! But I'd check the local promotion rates. Places like the Amari are good too, but for $99 th Marriott is 'nice'.

www.bangkok-online-hotel-reservations.8m.net

rhkkmk

i am one who champions the marriott resort and spa....we are 59 and it is our favorite bkk hotel overall...the pool area is the best in bkk, bar none....we also like the peninsula, but the pool is not as good...we also stay at the jw....it is a typical upscale marriott---you could be in chicago, paris or abu dabi...the rooms are beautiful, many of them are odd shapped....the lobby is very nice and the bar is in the middle of the lobby, not very private...the staff is very nice, but business like...the location is great if you want to be near the sukumvit area...it is located at soi 2, sukumvit road...lots of shopping and near lots of nice restaurants...the sky train entrance is about 1/2 block...lots of street vendors on sukumvit selling everything from rocket launchers to porn dvd's and lots of t shirts....the pool is narrow and no more than 4 feet deep and boring in general....the workout area and spa are very very nice on the 4th floor with the pool....no view from the pool...the restaurants are all very good...there is a bakery and ice cream stand on the first floor...top notch hotel, but not the greatest to chill out.....my wife has said next year lets skip it....

back to the resort and spa: there is a small mall attached...it has a mcdonalds, burger king, pizza place, korean restaurant, an excellent family thai restaurant (on the ground level on the right as you come from the hotel with green awnings), tailors, dry cleaner/laundry (same one as the hotel at 1/2 the price), jewerly, film, a drug store, paper store and lots more...it is two floors and maybe there are 30 shops and oh yes swensons ice cream (american style)...also a bank with terrific rates--on $300 changed i figured i saved $25 last november over the hotel rate/atm available too---it is on the street on the left as you exit the parking lot of the mall...
we us jack, the tailor on the second floor overlooking the parking lot---sarto monet II is the shop name or something like that...next to the laundry lady..

$99 is a good price...the best i have gotten and i've stayed there 5 or more times is $65/nite on a long term stay---we stayed 14 days....does that include breakfast??...the buffet is fantastic...really too much for us....we generally buy coffee rolls in the bakery on the ground level and have that with coffee in the room...very good and very cheap---cheaper if you buy after 7PM the nite before too....opens early...we paid $105 last nov. including breakfast....

short story...after we checked in two times ago, we were moving into our room and a maid came running up to me and tugged on my shirt and said, "i remember you, welcome back" ----that was good for a great tip and made us feel really welcome....and she ment it...
the pool boys are very nice as are the workers in the pool bar/restaurant, which is a great place for lunch..we love the clear soup with shrimp and dumplings and chicken satay...yum, yum...

getting around...you are correct...the easiest and fastest way to get anywhere is to take the hourly boat up river to either the oriental, or river city shopping center (lots of taxis outside on the street), next to the sheraton....we often take a taxi from the hotel too, just to be in the a/c...they are so cheap who cares...you are not in a hurry... there is a boat to the sky train every 15 minutes and it takes 10-15 minutes too...very pleasant to ride on the river...we always look forward to the rides....gears you up and down from the days activities...get the bell man to call you a long tail boat and do the tour through the klongs for 3-4 hours..it will show you the other side of bangkok--it is very interesting and worth the money--he will tell you how much to pay--maybe $25.??

other favorite vendors:

js thai silk in river city shopping center...ground floor at the sheraton end, opposite the info booth and up escalator---ladies silk outfits, ask for miss yai

thai stone jewerly---nana hotel, soi 4, sukumvit road...in the lobby (don't be offput by the looks of the place)--see amporn, a lady with great style and ideas...custom and ready made items...tell her karen and bob sent you....she has made us wonderful things and will make more in the future...

KEEP YOUR RESERVATIONS AS YOU HAVE THEM AND YOU WILL BE DELIGHTED !!!!!!

ask for a room with a view of the river up as high as possible (only 5 levels)....we prefer the central building above the lobby or the building on the left as you face the river, but all are fine and non-river facing rooms are ok too, just no view..

enjoy your selves....i am at [email protected] if you have any specific questions or want to know about restaurants...put bangkok in subject line

bob

Cicerone

I am also a huge fan of the Marriott Resort. As mentioned the JW Marriott is very nice, more luxurious, but the pool is really not anywhere near as large or nice as the Marriott Resort. The JW is not on the river, which to me misses the point of seeing Bangkok, as the river is the lifeblood of Bangkok. The Marriott Resort has a free shuttle boat that will take you up the river to the Skytrain stop, the Oriental Pier stop (to get public waterbuses) and the River City Shopping center, a good place for antiques and souvenirs, including Thai silk. The Marriott Resort also has a good Jim Thompson thai silk shop in the lobby, great for gifts and for yourself.

The government rate you mention, is that because you are a government employee? I would also suggest you contact the hotel directly, you may get a better price or a price which includes breakfast. Also, others on this site have said that the Marriott Resort has been on priceline for as low as $47. You might want to check that.

As mentioned, the pool at the Marriott Resort is wonderful, large and has SHADE, an almost unheard of phenomenon at Asian hotels...their Mandara Spa is wonderful, have a massage poolside!

Staff is incredibly welcoming (also true of the JW Marriott and most if not all hotels in Thailand).

LouiseUK

I stayed at the Marriott Resort and Spa in April, booked through priceline for $47 plus tax per night. When we arrived we opted to upgrade for another $10 per night. It is a very nice property and would not hesitate in staying there again. I notice that winning priceline bids of $55 have been achieved for the Shangri La and also the Marriott has just been won at $41!!

You may want to consider giving PL a go, if you haven't as it will definitely save you money, although it is not guaranteed which hotel you get. Likely if you bid 4* riverside silom area, it would be royal orchid sheraton or marriott resort and spa.

I have seen the JW Marriott having been won previously but I do not recall at what price!

et415

I agree with everything said above. It's a self-contained resort, but you can easily get to downtown if you want via the free ferry. Taxi rides are extremely cheap to get back to the hotel after the ferry ends. If you don't plan to spend a lot of time in the hotel and plan to spend most of your time out and about, then maybe you should find a hotel on the other side of the river.

dddick

Great answers all; thanks very much. I've never used PL but I've heard LOTS of angry folks at the Delta counter who have. (based on the MANY conversations, I would NEVER consider PL for air fare but I'm open to the idea for hotels) With Marriott, virtually any Gov't ID makes them happy, though I've only been asked to show it once or twice. I've got about 90 nights in at Marriotts so far this year (I'm a full time engineer and a nearly-full time fire chief; it's the fire chief ID I use for personal visits). I'm staying at the Charlotte Renaissance Suites as I write this paying $159 corparate rate when I could stay for the $89 government rate - again, since it's expensed to our client I have an ethical problem trying to stiff the folks who have made my life easier. If it was a personal trip or a trip for my fire department I'd claim the discount in a heartbeat.

With the Marriott chain at the Platinum level I get free upgrades & concierge access, which usually gives me a continental breakfast, horse-dovers and sweets in the evening and all the Diet Cokes I need. In some European destinations wine, beer & even hard liquor are also free, though the DCs meet my needs 98% of the time.
And in some places (like here in CLT), you really have no desire to go out for dinner after eating the evening horse-dovers - they're that good (NOT true everywhere!). It's not usually as good as the included buffet breakfasts, though at times it can be very close. It's also a freebie, so it lowers the overall cost of room & board. You could easily get by on $10 a day for food here in the states - 0 for breakfast, a $10 lunch & 0 for dinner, though it can get boring. I can assure you that WON'T be our approach in BKK.

I guess since Marriott has been fair to me and has taken care of my complaints 100% of the time I'm really not interested in sqeezing the last penny out of them. I'd sure be perturbed if I bid PL and wound up at the Sheraton just to save a few dollars.

Again, thanks. Any more pointers out there?

Dale & Kathy
Baton Rouge

LouiseUK

Dale and Kathy

Gosh, it's unusual to meet someone that doesn't want to save any money - would you like to adopt a nice, caring, considerate daughter with a British accent!!?? LOL

Have a great trip

rhkkmk

when we were at the resort last fall the conc. level rooms were in the central building on the 3rd floor i think, but they were closed to be re-done so you will probably end up there, as they must be finsihed by now...it is perfect...

eating: leave the hotel, the restaurants are good but you can do better, although the chinese is good on level two in left building...
try harmonique, soi 34, new road, between the oriental hotel and the shangra-thai, ask for a/c room
also lord jim for lunch in the oriental
biscotti in the regent hotel is excellent, my wife's favorite overall
senses in gaysorn plaza is nice
crepes and co on soi 12, sukumvit rd is fabulous
the indian restaurant on the top floor of the rembrandt hotel has a faboulous sunday brunch ...the mexican restaurant there is good too, senor pico's--soi 18, sukumvit road
the jw marriott has good restaurants also..including a new steak house
spice market in regent hotel is well liked, although i find it only ok...

enjoy---as a marriott stockholder, i thank you for your $$ generiosity..

rhkkmk

dddick---can you expand on what you have seen about pricline problems at delta...for us new pricline devotees..thanks

dddick

The Priceline issues I've seen have only been at the airline counters. I've seen 3 or 4 incidents in the past six months (but I do travel a lot). It's always somebody at the counter complaining to the airline rep (it's either always been Delta or nearly always been Delta - but that's who I fly 9 times out of 10). Near as I can tell it's always due to some upset in the system (mechanical or weather) and the airline offers zero accomodation. I presume the passenger ultimately gets where he wants but I don't know for sure. One thing is absolute though: the passengers aren't just a little mad, they're absolutely livid. More than once I've seen the airline rep say something, put his hands out in an "end-of-story" gesture, then turn around and walk into the back where the customer has no other [legal] recourse.

From my perspective, I don't even like charter flights (had too many problems). But PL sounds okay to me for hotels.

I know I wasn't a veritable storehouse of information, but that's all I can offer.

Dale & Kathy

rhkkmk

dale and kathy---thanks for that explanation....the problem as i understand it was not a ticket issue, but rather an issue about not leaving on time, etc...

i think pricline people are generally like me...i want 5* for one star price...who doesn't....like welfare people priceline people are probably "entitled"...its the american way????

rhkkmk

i forgot to say that i did a number of hotel reservations on priceline last nite for november/december in europe and in each case saved at least 50% and in one case nearly 80%....i'm sold until i have a problem....

dddick

Okay....now you've gotten me thinking (again!).

The value of the Marriott points is all over the place (by staying at the Renaissance Harbor View in Hong Kong I'm getting about $0.02 per point - 52,000 points for 4 nights in a 2000 HKD plus 13% tax room).

But in Beijing the value is less than half that. I guess I'm more like LouiseUK than I thought (in my BKK questions). So......since Priceline seems to be the rage, and I'm getting older & want nicer, there is only one 5-star property & it's located in the Sanlintun Embassy District. Any comments on location or the potential hotel(s)? I'm presuming taxis are cheap. Also, since I'll be giving up free breakfasts & evening snacks, what's a reasonable breakfast cost in Beijing (not necessarily in the hotel)? Are we looking at nominal or $15 US apiece?

There are 4-star hotels listed in the Chaoyang Embassy District & the Chongwen areas.

So....Peter & you other experts.....I've changed stride & am going to forsake the comfort of my Marriotts to try Priceline for the 1st time. Which should be my 1st & 2nd choice districts? The BiddingForTravel site has almost zero on Beijing.

As Orville Reddenbacher used to say, "Thank you for your support".

Dale & Kathy

dddick

At the risk of looking stupid, I meant to post the above comment on this thread. (yea, right!)

It appears there's not much "bang for the buck" with the Marriott points in BKK. With that in mind, is the general consensus to follow the Priceline crowd?

Thanks (again).

Dale & Kathy

LouiseUK

Dale and Kathy

Knew we'd convert you!!

Btw, I see that the Crowne Plaza has also recently been won when bidding BKK 4* Riverside, so perhaps less chance of winning the Marriott now - I think I'd go for the Shangri La for just a few dollars more!

Unfortunately, we can't book flights on priceline from the UK so unless the situation changes, I will not witness the Delta problems you mention. However, I have never had any problems with hotels booked through PL and have not had a bad room yet! I have three PL hotels booked in Florida for December, so I hope the good run continues!