As promised, I'm providing my comparison of these two Bangkok River hotels. They are similarly priced. My opinion is that the ROS is slighly better, but if you can get a very good deal at the M, take it. They are both very nice places to stay. Bob is traveling, so this is safe for a while.

Price-as noted above, the price is similar. The ROS is a Starwoods hotel and you can stay there free for 7,000 points. You can stay at the M with Marriott points, but Starwood points are easier to accumulate.

Rooms-the M has a slighly better room, but not much. Both are relatively generic, but spacious and comfortable. The bathroom is better in the ROS. Both have very good showers.

The Fitness centers are comparable.

Service-the service at the M really fell short on our trip. When the five of us checked in, they managed to return beth's passport to maureen and Maureen's to Beth, even though they were staying in different rooms. A near disaster was averted at trhe airport only through quick action. The service at the ROS is completely generic. Good, but not personable. We've stayed there 11 different times and never been greeted as returning customers. We stayed in the Towers rooms six different times and never saw or heard from a butler. Kathie raves about the Towers, but not once have we seen an extra ounce of service. Nonetheless, the ROS wins on service because they have never screwed up with 11 opportunities and the M did with only one chance. I do note that some of the staff greeted Bob as a long-lost traveler.

View-ROS by a landslide. The view of the river from all the rooms at the ROS is spectacular. It is one of my favorite things. The view from the M is OK, but not in the same league.

Location-ROS by a landslide. It is right on the river ferry. You can walk to three very good restaurants. It is right next to River City. The M is only near a moderate mall. Plus it takes about 15 minutes longer to get to the M by taxi than the ROS from other parts of town.

Lobby-the M has a better lobby, but neither is stunning.

Thanks for your review, Andy. Bob is already writing his rebuttal.

The Towers at the ROS has (alas) not had butler service for many years. But the Towers Staff are very accommodating, and have gone above and beyond the call of duty for us many times.

Surely some sort of penalty must be due for the tardiness of this report?

This is the pot calling the kettle black,lol

Thanks for your unbiased comparison> I hope to make mine someday soon with a stay at the ROS

Aloha!

Or you could stay at a REAL hotel on the river (where they only allow Yankee fans) - Peninsula or Shangri-La (Krungthep wing only).

HT-This report was supplemental to my trip report and as such is not subject to the normal penalty provisions. Plus, it's a mere five weeks since our return. Compared to certain unnamed Ekscrunchys, it's virtually contemporaneous.

Kathie-our Towers experience has been different than yours. the perks are nice, but the level of service did not increase one iota.

Craig-we poor, dissheveled Red Sox fans are forced to stay in hovels like the ROS and the M. It's part of our blue collar tradition.

We can only hope Bob is stuck in some flea bag Gulf Coast hotel. Even I hope it has heat. No internet would be perfect.

alas, it has both heat and we were upgraded to a suite at this marriott... did i mention there are only four cars in the parking lot and i have seen 2 staff... btw, it is a new fairfield... i can see the sea in the distance...

the review is moderately accurate with some obvious favortism... at best the boat takes 1-3 minutes more to go to the marriott... the sheraton boat only runs twice per hour and currently the marriott boat runs 3 times hourly---usually 4 times....i seem to have missed the cold towels and cold water on the sheraton boat...

the public boat at the sheraton, next to the hotel quits about 6PM../.

karen feels that rating service on one very unusual passport incident is not fair (usually the M gives passports back in a pile like most hotels do, but this time they tried to add additional service---of course the receivers should have looked at the passport received also)....

the reviewer failed to report the most important service failure at the M--- rhk's 4 time request to receive a glass of water at the expensive new italian restaurant...

we find the rooms and lobby at M slightly more thai---the fabrics and music, never mind the elephant corridor and other passageway decor...

but WHAT ABOUT THE MARRIOTT POOL???

i note that the alabama coast is today at freezing...

also i prefer alabama to cambridge----no phoneys here... and i have yet to see any shot guns

This long promised report is so late that it can't be considered timely even by claiming it as a "supplement."

And, by the way: does the ROS even have a wading pool for a panda? If not, then the Marriott really is best for him.

Both the ROS and the M have boats to the skytrain. The ROS boat runs only on the hour and half hour, but that makes timing very easy. The M boat runs more often, but takes about 7 minutes more to get there. The boats are a wash.

The pool at the M is very nice. The ROS has two pools. One a lap pool and the other a garden pool. The pools are a wash as well.

I note for Tengohambre that pandas are stream-lined and they glide through the water like manatees.

Bob's preference for Alabama over Cambridge makes perfect sense. He feels threatened by a center of learning. In his hat, who wouldn't. I'm guessing this is a life-long phobia.

Having stayed at both places in question, I overwhelmingly prefer the ROS because of its walking-distance proximity to stuff. Not only is there the large shopping center next door, but the Sheraton is close to the main drag that leads to the Oriental & Shangri-La -- this is a great street for shopping and strolling, welcoming to pedestrians. The Marriott has only the woebegone shopping center that's connected to it, and the street is unwelcoming to foot traffic.

All that said, I'll always opt for the Peninsula (coincidentally, official hotel of the 2003 and 2007 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox) or the K wing of the Shang if choosing to stay riverside.

Don-where do we start? I remind you that 2003 was the year in which Grady Little left Pedro in too long. Soemhow the Red Sox were not world champions that year. Therefore, the Peninsula's designation as the official hotel in that year is not particularly noteworthy. It was probably a very small crowd of RS fans gathered to watch the World series. One wonders the official RS hotel in 2004, the year they actually won.

Regarding the assertion that the Shang is riverside, one wonders what the body of water running next to the Peninsula is called. A creek?

Substantively, you were spot on. The ROS is convenient (Cambridge), the M is not (Needham). Note the alliteration.

good---all of you stay at the "very convenient", ugh, ROS leaving far more room for us at the fantastic unlearned M...

Good grief. Jackie Jensen and Tommy Brewer and Frank Malzone were my heroes. My SonsOfSamHorn user ID is DonBuddinE6. In my office I have a Boston Traffic & Parking Dept. "No Parking - Special Event" sign that I stole from a Van Ness St on the morning of 10/28/04. And still I typed 2003. I have no excuse, unless this is the onset of dementia.

(As a side note, while I too wanted to wring Little[Brain]'s neck for leaving Petey in the game, their bullpen did suck in '03.)

Now, as for the Peninsula's location: I might have thought it obvious even to non-native New Englanders that the prepositional phrase "if choosing to stay riverside" modifies both Peninsula and Shang. And that Mr Gpanda's interpretation would require an additional comma -- viz., <i>I'll always opt for the Peninsula, or the K wing of the Shang if choosing to stay riverside. </i>Still, ambiguity is rarely the hallmark of effective writing, so the point is taken.

Timlin in the eighth, Williamson in the ninth. It worked relatively well most of the year.

A comma, a comma, my kingdom for a comma.

My suspicion is that if one is from Needham, convenience is not high on one's list of priorities. Especially, if one lived there one's entire pathetic life.

It beats being run out of town on a rail, specifically and especially if the town was Chevy Chase.

BC

but CC was PC, which makes it ok..

I went to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, but I lived in Bethesda. My first wife was from Chevy Chase. I was welcome there for a while. Amazingly enough, there actually are train tracks in Chevy Chase.

There are also train tracks in Cambridge. I've walked across them with indytraveler and kybourbon to get to kybourbon's daughter's dorm on the MIT campus.

Draw your own conclusions. Coincidence? I think not!

BC

who was talking about train tracks???????????????????????

Plus, the ROS is a block walk from the Gallery Cafe, one of our favorites. After a long day touring (maybe with Tong), it's a pleasure to just walk out of the hotel, grab dinner and stumble back without any fuss. This option is NOT available at the M.

Bob, "run out of town on a rail" requires train tracks. Try to pay attention. Maybe Karen could explain the more complicated stuff. Maybe you're frozen on your Gulf Coast tour.