Conveniently located in the central Bangkok district, this hotel is directly connected to MBK Center shopping mall and within walking distance to Siam Paragon, Siam Square and the National Stadium BTS station. Having heard decent reviews of this hotel, and alongside reasonable prices on Trip.com, my husband and I decided to give it a shot.
- Inclusions:
- 2-night stay in Grand Deluxe Corner Room
- Breakfast
- Spent: SGD$233.84
Check-in
Our first impression of the hotel was not great, unfortunately. The very dim and bare-bones reception area on level 2 was not the most welcoming of hotel lobbies. Although the check-in process was smooth and we were offered welcome butterfly pea drinks, the service experience was a rather impersonal one.
Our room, which was situated on level 23 (out of 29 floors), felt smaller and less luxurious compared to what the photos portrayed on the website, probably due to the not-so-great quality of materials used. Everything looked nice from afar but upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the materials were of the sort that are highly susceptible to wear and tear. Having said that, the city view was really awesome.
The firm pillow I requested came quite promptly and the bed was firm too. I didn’t find out if they had turndown service here but housekeeping did come automatically in the mornings to tidy up the room and replenish items.
The bathroom was fairly roomy, with space for a tub and a separate shower. However, the towels weren’t the cleanest (some had faded black or brown stains on them) but thankfully the bedsheets were fine. Every now and then, I would notice the occasional lone scout ant crawling around the sink area. I also spotted a small ladybug on the floor just before heading to bed. A little too many insects in the room for my liking.
Facilities
Guests can access a multitude of fitness facilities on level 8. There was a swimming pool, two jacuzzis and a huge gym (though my husband was a bit peeved that the gym wasn’t open 24 hours). Guests can also use the steam room and sauna located inside the changing rooms.
In addition, there were many dedicated sports facilities – a 500-metre running track, a tennis court, five badminton courts, two squash courts, half a basketball court and one table tennis area.
If you’re not one for rigorous activities, you can check out the reading room, a cosy L-shaped space with sofas and tables, as well as shelves of books for browsing.
The hotel has a Club Lounge on level G, accessible to guests staying in Suite categories (at the time of writing, the lounge was temporarily relocated to level 8 as the original one was under renovation). For other room types, you can opt to pay THB1000 per day to access this space and its benefits, like breakfast and Happy Hour Bar.
Walking through a large but discreet wooden swivel door, the lush space with lounge chairs and settees was indeed a serene venue to relax at. Alas, in terms of the food, it was regrettably very mediocre, with only the butter pound cake making a slightly better impression than the rest. Not worth the top-up in my opinion.
If your stay comes with breakfast, it is served at Citi Bistro on level G between 6.30am to 10.30am. We only managed to go down for breakfast on the last day as I wasn’t feeling too well the previous day.
Similar to the sparsely designed reception area, the restaurant’s interior felt purely functional. The environment was generally pleasant without any flies and such, but many of the chair fabrics looked extremely tired and had noticeable stains on them.
There was a good spread of food and beverage choices, including a live station for made-to-order eggs. In addition to the usual egg options, they could also prepare Thai omelettes and Kai Kratha, a popular Thai street food dish comprising fried eggs and savoury toppings in a pan.
Most of the food tasted average but the chicken rice came out tops for me as the chicken was super tender and succulent, plus the dish had good flavours too. However, for some reason, all the beverages we tried here (pineapple juice, iced coffee and Thai milk tea with brown sugar) were incredibly saccharine.
There are many other dining options within the hotel premises, but if none of those tickle your fancy, simply hop over to MBK Center shopping mall next door for a ton more to choose from.
My overall rating of the experience: 3 out of 5 stars. I believe I was most disappointed by the fact that the actual state of the room didn’t match what was shown on the website. While generally hygienic, it definitely wasn’t as well-maintained as the other Bangkok hotels we’ve been to, plus there were one too many insects in the room for comfort. Additionally, most of the food from the Club Lounge and from breakfast at Citi Bistro was merely passable. It might’ve made more sense for us to head out to find cheaper, better dining options ourselves. What this hotel did have going for it was the extensive facilities it had on site (on top of the usual pool, gym and spa, they also had many dedicated sports and fitness facilities), as well as its relatively affordable price point while being in a pretty prime location and connected directly to a shopping mall. It might just be a suitable option if you’re not planning to spend a whole lot of time in the room and simply need a spot to rest for the night.
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