Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - BKK trip report

Thanks so much for all of the info posted here. It really helped as we planned our 10 days in Bangkok 12/15 - 12/25. However, because the trip was anchored around my stepson's wedding to a Thai woman, a chronological report doesn't make much sense: You really don't want to hear about our running hither and yon on family-related errands! Instead, I'll try to post a series of notes on such of our experiences that might be of interest or helpful to others.

First, the Tale of Three Hotels:
For reasons I won’t bore you with, we stayed in three different hotels, JW Marriott on Sukhomvit, the Sukothai Hotel on Sathorn, and the Marriott Resort on the river. They are all good, but they are completely different types of establishments, geared towards completely different clientele. Here’s my take on each:

My favorite was the JW Marriott, which is a top-of-the-line business person’s hotel, geared to upper management used to luxury, service and lots of both. Of the three, it offered the best value for what mattered to me, particularly upgrading to the Executive services for $50 per day: The largest and best-equipped fitness club, the most attentive service, the best breakfast buffet (even in its abbreviated form in the Executive Lounge [concierge floor]), glorious bathrooms – separate shower and soaking tub, excellent business services (yes, I had to keep in touch with the office and clients) (including 24 hour free wireless in the Executive Lounge), liberal free non-alcohol drinks and snacks throughout the day, and alcohol available free in the evening with heavy hors d’oeuvres from their very good restaurants - White Elephant (Thai) and Tsu and Nami (Japanese). We made dinner from those hors d’oeuvres one evening, after a long day and big lunch. The location is not very pretty – but for convenience, even for a tourist, being right by the Skytrain can’t be beat, in my opinion. The clientele was almost entirely American, Australian, English, and Japanese – and lots of combination American-Thai couples visiting Thai family for the holidays. Very few kids under 12, a number of families with older teenagers/college students. The breakfast buffet WAS amazing, as Bob had warned me – too bad I was still on a diet, but “portion control” allowed me to try lots of Asian alternatives! For the less calorie-conscious, the custom-made waffles and omelets, the scones, croissants and other sweet breads, cheeses and breakfast meats looked terrific!

The Sukothai was lovely – quiet, beautiful rooms, very good breakfast buffet – and they did a great job on the wedding ceremony and reception. We were there two nights, and enjoyed it, but I would not recommend it for a family of tourists. Much of its clientele seemed to be embassy visitors, though business services were not as extensive as JW Marriott. (It is on a real “Embassy Row”, Sathorn (with Germany, France, Malaysia and Australia) being an extension of Wireless (Witayu) where the US, Vietnamese and British Embassies are. The Sukothai is at least 0.8 miles to the nearest Skytrain station, about 0.5 miles to the nearest subway station (at SE corner of Lumphini park, by the night bazaar) and about 2.5 miles to the river (Taksin Pier) – a bit far to walk except during the coolest part of the year in Bangkok. Sathorn traffic (six or eight lanes, don’t recall which) seemed even worse than Sukhomvit’s, so taking taxis was not appealing. Pool was nicer than JW Marriott, but fitness room was smaller and more limited. Much less to interest kids in the immediate area than the Resort or even JW.

Finally, the Marriott Resort – sorry, guys, I did not like it, but I can understand why others might. Sitting by a gorgeous pool when I am in an exotic city just isn’t my style - I can sit by a pool (well, a few warm days a year) here in Chicago <g> or at a Thai beach! However, I concede that the grounds are delightful, and my husband got a kick out of feeding the fish in every koi pound and lily planter he came to. I also am not a fan of Benihana or Trader Vics, though the latter had an excellent singing duo one night. We did upgrade to a river-view room, with breakfast buffet, one hour of internet per day only, and some other “freebies” included.

Even if I were a resort person, I would not choose this Marriott, however. The service was shabby and haphazard, compared to the attentiveness of the JW. Room supplies were not replenished on occasion. There was some other uncalled-for corner cutting: The drinks for which we gave a half-price coupon (part of the upgrade we paid for) were only half as strong as the drinks we ordered after that round, and hors d’oeuvres and drinks in the Lobby lounge (gratis for the price of the upgrade) were chintzy and the service there almost reluctant, by Thai standards. (And you weren’t allowed to take food or drink back to your room, something I have NEVER encountered with any other “concierge lounge” deal) Finally, they have an annoying practice of renting out too much of that gorgeous outdoor area for private parties, walling out everyone else, and letting the celebrants have Djs blasting until midnight. It destroys the beauty of the setting. I expect that on New Years Eve and other holidays, but not for a random midweek wedding or office party. (This may be a bigger problem around Christmas time, when we were there, than other times of year.) In all fairness, I might not have noticed the frayed edges at this Marriott resort if it were in a beach setting rather than the middle of a city – then I would have been in a more laid-back mood too. The clientele - many many Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians, in addition to Americans and Japanese. This was the place with the most kids under 13 - definitely the best of the three places we stayed if you have young kids. (There’s even a DQ in the shopping plaza next door!)

So - a very idiosyncratic summary, but there you have it. Next time I go, if I am not wedded to using our Marriott points, I would like to try the Oriental or the Peninsula – otherwise, I’ll stick with the JW Marriott.

Tomorrow - restaurants, cooking school, and the bike tour.