Planning visit to Bangkok in conjunction with 10-day tour of Bhutan. Will fly Thai JFK/BKK. Need 2 or 3 nights in BKK at start of tour; 1 night at end. How do these two hotels compare? Looking for a memorable (if short) stay. Also, any advice about 1 or 2 day guided tours of the city? Thanks-

Nobody on this board has an opinion one way or the other on these two properties...just kidding. I prefer the Penn just for the breakfast by the Chao Phraya river if nothing else but others will weigh in. For a "tour" you may want to hire a personal tour guide or driver such as Tong or Ratt - do a search on this board for info. The JFK-BKK flight is excellent by the way.

Like Craig said, lots of opinions here.

The Peninsula is where we have stayed 3 times in the past, and where we will return to next summer. The rooms are very large, and the suites are huge. The decoration is tasteful and sort of Thai. We have found the service to be no less then excellent there. The location across from the Oriental and Shangri-La means you have to either take a boat across the river (Pen provides frequent free shuttle boats) or a taxi/car over the bridge. We've always used the boats, and our daughter loves to ride them at night after dinner for fun. The pool is huge and lovely, with great service, and even some salas with fans along with lots of chairs. The new spa should be great...looks great on the website, and ESPA is very, very good. We also love the breakfast beside the river...it's what we missed most when we stayed at the Conrad last time we were in Bangkok.

The Oriental is also well liked, but we have no experience there. They have a wide variety of room choices that you can see on their website. I do think that rooms with similar size and amenities are a bit more expensive at the Oriental...but the decor there is lovely. Their entry level/superior rooms are smaller than the Peninsula's, but they have a wider variety of suites and specialty rooms that look nice.

We haven't stayed at The Oriental but have stayed at The Penn 3/4 times. on the last occasion we seemed to have problem after problem. We were shown to 3 rooms before we found one that was acceptable. One had stained carpets, another had not been cleaned (completed with dirty tissues strwn over the bed (yuuk!). All this after paying an additional $20 on arrival for a specuail room upgrade. Poor service in the restaurant. Things did improve after a major complaint to the management and we were then given the VIP treatment, but not what I expect from this class of hotel. Maybe we were unlucky but I will not be staying there again. We have since stayed at The Conrad a couple of times which is not on the river, but has really impressed in terms of the quality of its rooms, service and food.

Hmmm....that's bad to hear.

We found the service at the Conrad to be good sometimes, and poor other times. The pool service there was consistently poor. We always had to go up to the bar to order anything. The unicycles and frogs for calling the waiters for service we also found to be weird...somewhat circuslike. The spa...I had one excellent treatment, and one horrible one. Breakfast service was OK but not great, food nice. Dinner buffet one night had better service, and food was pretty good, too.

I guess every hotel has ups and downs. For us, though, the Conrad is one we won't go back to. We have high expectations for the Peninsula based on our past stays, and if they aren't met, we'll try the Oriental next time.

I have stayed at both the Oriental and the Penninsula. I prefer the Penn.
Carol

This is a really BIG argument topic on this board. I've stayed at both and I vote for the Oriental over the Pen and especially if it's a first time in Bangkok situation. It oozes of history and I like it architectually and the interior design in the lobby,other hotel areas, and rooms.Plus, it has a small,intimate feel to it.
Now the Pen, of course, has huge bathrooms and bigger-sized standard rooms that you won't get at the Oriental, but I feel that if the Pen didn't have its amazing bathrooms with built-in wall TV, then it would just be another luxury hotel...someone, on this board, once referred to it as "luxury deluxe" I think it was. Now, I know a lot of folks on this board love the Pen, so I'm ready to be barbecued, but I'm sticking with the Oriental...if it's a choice between the two...although everyone knows that my number 1 favorite hotel in Bangkok is the Four Seasons...hands down. Happy Travels!

I stayed at both the Pen and the Oriental when I was in Bangkok in May. My vote goes to the Oriental. But if you are coming thru the city twice, why not try both?

Also, another thought...if you are taking the Bkk-JFK non-stop on Thai Air, it departs at midnight. The Oriental was able to let me keep my room until 6pm (based on the rate I booked on their website), while the Pen would have charged me an additional night for such a late checkout.

I agree with the above. Stay at more than one hotel. I've stayed at as many as 4 on the same trip. Happy Travels!

The Pen will let you leave your bags and then use the fitness center and dressing rooms for a late checkout. Not quite as good as late room checkout, but we enjoyed the jacuzzi and steam room before dressing to go!

Thanks, everyone. Actually, it did occur to me to stay at both. Now, I have to investigate the Four Seasons, based on Guenmai's recommendation! Any more feedback?

Expert:

We have stayed at the Pen, Four Seasons and the Oriental.

Overall I would pick the Pen, then the Four Seasons and finally the Oriental, just my humble opinion.

The Pen has the largest and best equipped rooms followed by the FS and O.

They all have good to great restaurants on property. I would rate the Oriental the best here followed by the FS then the Pen.

The FS has the best pool, then the Pen & Oriental.

The Oriental gives the best personal service followed by the Pen then FS.

All of the above is just our opinion, would love to hear yours when you return!

I don't think you will be disappointed with any of the three, so why don't you try them all, it's the fun part of traveling.

Aloha!

Plus, the Four seasons is in the heart of things and the Rajadamri skytrain station is right across the street. That's the line that ends at the river when you go south. Happy Travels!

We were torn between the two and ultimately decided on the Pen because it's much cheaper than the Oriental. We need two rooms and the Oriental was $80 more per room.

P.S. Will be there next week and will be meeting friends at the Oriental for a drink. Will let you know how they compare.