Oriental Bangkok Rooms
 

We are deciding about a stay at the Oriental and I'm looking for room advice/experience.

Garden Wing Superior (40 m2) no river view
Garden Wing Deluxe (40 m2) same as superior but river view
River Wing Deluxe (63 m2) partial river view

Anyone have experience in these room types?

I've stayed in both wings.The Garden rooms have a pretty limited river view because the building is not very high, it is set back from the river bank and there are alot of trees in front. However, I loved the room, very elegant, bi-level. We stayed at the top floor of the river wing and it had a really spectacular view. Much more modern furnishings. I would definitely pick the river wing over the garden wing with no view. My preference would be the garden wing with the river view even tho the room is smaller.

FromDC, thank you for your comments. Could you comment on the pools as well there?

Have you by chance stayed at the Peninsula as well? We'd like to stay at the Oriental, but for the Deluxe rooms, the price difference between the two is quite significant, and I'm wondering if it's worth it? The Oriental superior rooms are around the same price as Peninsula Grand deluxe...I don't like the River Wing Superior. We originally chose the Garden Wing Deluxe, but wonder if we will be disappointed by the size for the price.

We know we like the Peninsula and are booked there for 3 nights. My daughter and I will be back through Bangkok for another 3 nights and are struggling with the decision as to where to stay.

Our very first impression of Bangkok way back in year 2000 was from a Garden Wing room with a river view - something we always will remember. Our bi-level room was really quite nice but the Penn's rooms are far better in our opinion.

I don't see the point of staying on the river if you don't have a view of it from your room.

We have stayed in the Oriental river wing deluxe rooms and they are on the smaller size for the amount you pay. The butler service in the wing is superb but the rooms are the smallest of the big 5(Pen,S La,Oriental,FS and SGS) that we have stayed in.

Also, unless you pay more for the rooms which are at the end of the river wing which are parallel to the water you only get half a river view as the other rooms are perpendicular to the river, and the view of the river gets smaller and smaller the farther back from the river your room is so ask for a room closer to the river if you choose them.

The Oriental's pool is small and not as good as the Pen which is not all that great to begin with.

imo if you are looking just at the rooms size and appearance the Pen's rooms win hands down. The Oriental may have them on the service but not much else.

I also think children would like the Pen over the Oriental as the O caters mainly to the "upper crust" and children unless "properly" behaved would be uncomfortable there, imho of course.

Aloha!

don't forget the occasional brown water from the tap....couldn't resist...

i also can not imagine having a room without a full river view at those prices...

my guess is that at the penn you will be upgraded in august, btw....especially as a returning customer...

Thank you. Still hemming and hawing. Teaghan is going to strangle me if I don't quit asking her about it and just pick.

So is it agreed that Teaghan and I will feel more comfortable at the Peninsula? We will likely spend a good bit of time using hotel facilties wherever we are.

We both do like the Garden Wing Deluxe rooms on two floors at the Oriental though.

The only other hotel besides the Peninsula that we've stayed at in Bangkok is the Conrad, which disappointed us on several levels.

Kim - I'm sorry I havene't posted my Dec Trip report yet.

I would absolutely choose the Pen over the Oriental, unless I had the split level rooms with the full river view.

the Or room we had (626 & 627) had no view to speak of, although it was called a partial river view. I found the room small, and hated the window into the bathroom (really!)and no dressing room. I did like being able to go to Oriental place, etc on foot, but the boat from Pen to Oriental is only about 2 minutes anyway.

Our family was unanimous is thinking the Pen was much more luxurious than the Oriental. The Pen's room are so much bigger, and we loved having the big dressing room between the bedroom and the bathroom, and of course the TV in the bath is fun.

We also all thought the pool and the pool service better at the Pen.

Really, I love Lord Jim restaurant at the MO, but I would sleep at the Pen anytime unless I got a terrific deal at MO.

Last month, I stayed at Centre Pointe Silom. You don't get the hotel service, but the size, furnishings, beds, and kitchen and huge baths were really nice, especially at their prices!

I've been on vacation and am glad to be back and to read that the old Penn vs O issue is alive and well and unresolvable. Kim, I appreciate you hemming and hawing in public; I like knowing I have company when I debate about a choice ad nauseam. I am double booked at the Penn and FS for January and still can't decide!

:)
If I hemmed and hawed as much in public as I do in private I'd be banished from Fodors I'm sure. I have such trouble making a decision, and I really like to have ALL the possibilities fully explored before even coming to the hemming and hawing part. My family leaves the planning to me, as they can't stand to know all the options I come up with. I

Wacky board posting before I finish..

Anyway, I thank all for listening to me hem and haw, and for your feedback.

Now we have 2 bookings.
Oriental: A Garden View Deluxe with RT transfers, breakfast, and 1 time lunch at China House.
Peninsula: Deluxe Summer Splendor with OW transfer and breakfast.

Direct booking at both, so I hem and haw about it without penalty until August 29...but if I do it out loud, I'll be making the trip alone I fear. :)

KimJapan:

We stayed at the Oriental from Mar 23-31, 2007. We started in a Deluxe Riverview, but immediatley upgraded to a Deluxe Suite because the "Riverview" was just a partial view - could hardly see any of the river. We were delighted with the room (712) - it was beautiful, with amazing views of the river.

Here's some photos of the room and views:
http://tinyurl.com/39rcz5

It was a fantastic place to stay, and I would go again in a heartbeat!

<font color="green">Cyn</font>

Well, the old Pen vs. Oriental debate. I was wondering when it would pop up again. Smiles. I've stayed at both hotels along with a lot of other hotels in BK. As for those two, for me it's the Oriental.

I know there are a lot of Pen fans, but I wasn't impressed with the Pen and for me it lacked &quot;warmth&quot;. As for hotels in general in BK, as far as I'm concerned it's the Four Seasons hands down. I could live there permanently. I really wish that they had serviced apartments,too. It has everything that I'm looking for...warmth,friendliness,beauty, great location, delicious food, and wonderful service, staff and elegance, but absolutely no chee-chee-poo-pooness.

But, back to the Pen vs. Oriental...My room at the Oriental was a partial river view. It was definitely smaller than both my Pen and Four Seasons rooms, but again I just liked the atmosphere better at the Oriental. I didn't get a chee-chee-poo-poo attitude when I stayed at the Oriental. That wasn't my experience. Folks were nice, and I chatted with a lot of staff, laughed a lot, etc. But, I know that they can be a bit crazy at the Oriental. I swore that I'd never stay there when they denied my best friend, her daughter, and me to enter the property to have a drink because they claimed that her then maybe 15 year old daughter was wearing shorts...which they absolutely weren't...they were peddlepusher/clamdigger length and quite neat and fashionable and they said she was carrying a backpack...it was a TINY purse that was made to be worn on one's back. So, they can get real crazy about the dresscode although as we stood there, in the guard's booth area, being denied onto the property, someone was leaving the hotel and entering a taxi wearing tennis shorts. And one time I saw a young, European, backpacker woman walking around the property with an actual backpack on her back and she obviously wasn't a guest. You could tell that she was just a lookey-loo.
However, I had entered the property 4 years prior to that experience and with no problem and that day I was looking pretty grungily dressed in beat-up safari-style clothing and they said nothing to me. I walked all over the property, to the pool, Author's Lounge,through the lobby, etc.. Happy Travels!

Plus, almost every trip, I take their boat from Saphan Taksin and get off at the hotel and walk through it to get outside so that I can walk over to Oriental Place Shopping Arcade on the next street and they've never stopped me. And I've always looked kind of beat up and in the safari-style khakis, beat-up Rockport walking shoes and socks...with a skirt...a big no-no in Thailand. Smiles. Happy Travels!