I am thinking of booking for November. I thought I had read that the Penn was building a new spa facility. Is this the case and does anyone know if it is scheduled to be done by late November?

Why don't you e-mail them - I am sure they would tell you.

Yes, they are building a new spa. It's in a separate building next to the pool. They were in the process of building when I was there last month and it looked pretty far along but I'm not sure when it is set to open.

The new Peninsula spa is not scheduled to open until sometime in December 2006. They offer massages in room only. If we wanted to get a several hour spa package to recover from long trip where would you suggest going. Someplace fairly easy to get to from Penn. This is our first trip to BKK and I am sure we will be a little groggy after the long flight with a 0640 arrival time in BKK. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

gpanda will probably give you an answer, but he often has the massagers come to his room from the wat pho (at least i think this is the wat massage school) school....you can arrange it in advance and they will come right to the hotel to assist you...

The pen can arrange for either thai style or swedish massage in your room (if the spa is not open for your November trip. I actually liked having the thai massage right on the bed in my room, because then I could just snooze away at the end of the treatment. Actually slept through a dinner reservation....but the relaxation was well worth it.

Last trip, I made a reservation at Face spa for the morning after our late night arrival. It does mean taking the Skytrain, which you may or may not feel up for on your first day. I have no problem with it, but I've been to Bangkok many timess and it feels like home to me.

You could also opt for a spa appointment at one of the other river hotels, the Oriental or the Shangri-La or the Royal Orchid - all have spas and have packages that would meet your needs.

We were at the Pen 2 weeks ago. The new spa looks like it is going to be great, but I think it won't be open when you were there.

My wife had 2 in room massages. They were good, but they didn't bring a table, they were done on the bed.