cjbryant

sorry, this is yet another BKK hotels thread of sorts, but I need (and very much appreciate your help).

I'm trying to decide whether the Erawan Hyatt, Conrad or Millenium Hilton on award stays might make sense for a November trip to BKK.

I'll have 3-4 nights in BKK, 4-5 in Siem Reap and then 1 last night in BKK.

I can use points for award stays (I have 4 nights available for Hyatt, 2 for Conrad or Hilton) or I can pay for hotels.

Whether or not these properties are the best value for the award points may be more of a FT question, but any thoughts are welcome.

The real question comes down to hotel and location. If the hotels I can use award stays at are great picks to start with it seems a logical way to go. If not, I'd rather pay to stay someplace.

Hilton looks to be on the river (the Thornburi side), Conrad and Hyatt more downtown.

What are your thoughts (pros and cons, please) on the Hilton, Conrad and Hyatt?

How do they compare with the other / better hotels in BKK?

Bearing in mind that I am comfortable paying for hotels and can use the awards another trip so no worries in that regard, given the choice which way would you go?

I realize that there are about a billion threads that deal with BKK hotels (and I've read them all such that I can't make up my mind), but I'm just not sure how the "award option" hotels stack up in the equation.

Thanks for your help.

KimJapan

We used points at the Conrad last December and January, peak season, when rates were high. It was a fine hotel, though not special or outstanding in any way. Were it not peak season we would have preferred to spend money and stay at the Peninsula on the river as we had in previous trips...but we were priced out of that option due to season.

The Conrad is often available for $130.00/night or even less. It is not a good use of points as a Cat 5 hotel unless the price is high IMO. The Conrad is well liked over on FT but we all really felt it was a BIG step down from the Peninsula in terms of service, room quality and overall feeling. For our next trip to BKK we are back to paying for our hotel and staying on the river rather than trying to use points. With so many very good hotels in BKK, competition is fierce and the prices are not that high provided you avoid the Christmas/New Year time (which is exactly when we went last time).

The Erawan Hyatt is supposed to be very nice, but no experience there, and the Hilton had not yet opened when we were there.

Bisbee

I've stayed at the Conrad many times and the Hyatt twice. Both are excellent hotels. Hyatt is in a slightly better location, as it's near Gaysorn Plaza, Siam Square and several BTS stations. Conrad has All Season's Place shopping center connected to it, and has a free shuttle to the Ploenchit BTS station running every 15 minutes. I stayed at the Conrad as it was quicker and easier to get to when I finished working each day. Both are really nice hotels. The Hilton is located in a building that was vacant for many years and has just opened in the last year. I heard there were issues with how it was built (someone else might have more details). The location being on the other side of the river isn't the best for me as I tend to spend more time around Sukhumvit/Siam/Sathorn areas.

Craig

If this is your first trip to Bangkok, stay on the river. That means using your points to stay at the Millenium Hilton which has had mixed reviews on this board. If it were me, I'd stay at the Penn and save the points for another time.

If you have been to BKK before, you may want to stay closer to the central shopping area and/or the skytrain and use the above recs as a guide.

Gpanda

As Craig said, if this is your first trip to BKK, stay on the river. The best hotels are the Peninsula and the Oriental (I'm sure you've read the numerous threads on which is better). A step or two down are the Shangri-la, Royal Orchid Sheraton, Marriott and Hilton. If you want luxury, opt for the P or O. If you want to be frugal, use your points for the Hilton. You can report back to us how it was.

Kathie

I agree with Craig and Gpanda. Stay along the river. The Hilton has mixed reviews. One of the issues is that some rooms have showers where the sill is angled wrong, and it floods the bathrooms. If you get such a room, ask to have them move your room.

Kathie

By the way, I rarely use my hotel points in SE Asia, as the prices are pretty good. I tend to use my points in Europe where prices are high. So take a look at what the price would be on one of the hotel discount booking sites before you decide whether to use your points.

rhkkmk

i agree with kathie....hotels in bkk are so much cheaper than elsewhere in the world i use points as a last resort...

as you know on nov 1 you enter high season for rates in thailand so the hotels will be at their next to highest cost of the year (xmas-new years is higher)...

but the rates generally are only $30-50 more per nite in high season...

hotels: hilton is too new to make a decision on it....i cancelled my res there because i was uncertain...

the conrad is a very nice hotel and well located....i think of it and the hyatt as having almost identical locations...the conrad is about 2-3 years old so very fresh...

the hyatt has long been considered one of the best in town....they often offer specials too as does the conrad...

look at the discount sites for pricing....this includes the 17.7% tax/service and usually breakfast which is a huge savings

my preferred site is: www.huahin.20m.com

they have not yet posted the post nov 1 rates but will shortly...

you could also look at www.asiarooms.com for comparible rates....

i prefer the HH site....

don't make a res on these discount sites if you think you would cancel/change...they are difficult to make adjustmets to once made..

if none of this works for you i would suggest that you look at the peninsula....they have a special rate of $190/210 until about dec 21, which is a good deal....this is fantastic and right on the river and every room has a direct river front view, which no other hotel can boast of... if i did not care that much about spending the $$ i would go with penn and save my points for more expensive places like nyc, london, paris or almost any other place in the world