We are looking at 4-5 days at the Millenium Hilton in Bangkok in mid-January and would appreciate some feedback from anyone who knows this hotel. It appears convenient for ferries to Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Barge Museum etc and rooms look comfortable and a good size but there's nothing like first hand opinion. It's also hard to visualise the pool from the photos on their website - anyone care to comment on that? Recommendations for alternative hotels/apartments in this area would also be appreciated. Thanks Greg

Location is a good one on the river. The pool is a cool concept, called the Beach, in which the chairs are actually in shallow water. Nice view from up there.

The regular rooms are smallish 34 m2 and starkly decorated. We don't care for them. The exec level and corner rooms are a little better. None of the rooms are warm and welcoming imo, but its the design and furnishings, not the intent.

They have a shuttle boat to the skytrain and River City that runs about every 20 minutes. We were at the Peninsula twice in August and while sitting at the cafe one evening we counted Hilton boats as we thought maybe it would be a good place to spend Hilton points in Bangkok as we did not like the Conrad...very few trips across the river. Pen and Oriental boats go constantly, and the Hilton boats go rarely. That would drive me crazy, to have to wait at the skytrain dock for 20 minutes for the boat.

Other options...Peninsula, Oriental, Shangri-la, Marriott Resort and Spa (same boat issue though, and the trip is longer as well), Royal Orchid Sheraton.

The river location is fantastic, and if you like Hilton for points or get it for free, that's one thing. But if you have choice, I'd choose another place.

The Hilton has gotten mixed reviews. It had some start-up problems with service. Also, apparently in some of the rooms the shower threshold is installed wrong, and the water runs into the bathroom.

It is located on the "wrong" side of the river, which makes you dependent on the hotel boats to get almost anywhere. The Hilton has a reception area in River City, and I think they may run boats back and forth across the river more often than they run boats to the Skytrain. Also, being on the wrong side of the river means there is not a water taxi stop there (as there is near the Royal Orchid, the Oriental, the Shangri-La).

There is a cross-river ferry that runs continuously during the day from a stop next to the Hilton to a stop next to the Rotal Orchid Sheraton/River City. It cost 2 baht, about seven cents. You will not have to wit for the Hilton shuttle to get across.

The cross river boats are not much use for getting to the Skytrain though - you would then have to take a water taxi from the other side to get there.

I think you can do much better than this hotel. In that price range I would go for the Royal Orchid or perhaps the Shangrila.

Thanks everyone. We looked at the Royal Orchid Sheraton and ended up with quite a good price and an upgrade to a suite. Now looking forward to our first trip to Thailand - Bangkok & Chiang Mai.

We love the ROS. It is perfectly located. You can easily walk to three good restaurants, The Gallery Cafe (just around the corner), Harmonique (try the yellow curry crab) and Tongue Thai.

I can also recommend Harmonique and Tongue Thai. Though not as good as 2 years ago I love the Peking Duck at the China House in the Oriental, though a little high priced.
We stay at the Peninsula and love it and the Thai restaurant, I forget the name, is outragious and not over-priced, We eat there 3 times in the past 3 years.

Thanks also for the restaurant recommendations - if they are within our budget we'll certainly try them.

In case anyone who offered comments back in October is still around, I thought I would give some feedback following our return from Thailand. Overall we were very happy with our choice of the ROS. The location was great for us as first time visitors as most of the places that we wanted to visit were accessible via the river. Our room was very clean and comfortable with a view over the river. Most days we went sightseeing in the morning and spent the mid-afternoon by the pool. We used the garden pool which was excellent, but the other rectangular pool also looked good. Breakfast offered an enormous range and all that we sampled was very good. The hotel is less convenient for access to the shopping areas. There is a free shuttle boat every half hour from the ROS to the Skytrain station and its all very easy but with connections it seems quite a bit of effort to go not very far. Traffic permitting it might be just as good to take a taxi. We were not there for shopping so this didn't really bother us. We were glad we didn't go with the Hilton; crossing the river all the time to catch the ferries would have been annoying I think. We had a great 5 days in Bangkok and also enjoyed our 3 days in Chiang Mai. Thanks again to those that responded to my original query. Greg