The Last Aeroplan Hurrah: St. Regis Bangkok

great shot of the toilet. So informative!

C'mon, spice these reports up a bit.

@ michael -- It's a hotel review. What do you want, hookers and blow?

@ lucky - Now THAT would be exciting! 😉

I like the toilet shots. Just like the lime and diet coke shots, it is not a proper Lucky report without it!

What about the SGS? I find their platinum recognition better than the St. Regis. Free Breakfast, many options for free happy hour, huge upgrade percentage, very personalized service, etc.

@ Lucky

You should do some sort of Easter Egg. Hide something in one of your photos that doesn't belong (in the room) and see who the first one to point it out is. Might make for a better contest than a random giveaway!

How is the hotel for access to sightseeing, shopping and transportation?

there is a middle ground between taxis and exorbitantly priced hotel limos...there are lots of car services. The one I usually take is about $30 one way and they use nice late model Camrys and Nissan Teanas (Maximas).

@JetAway, as you can see in some of the photos, the hotel is located right at a BTS (Skytrain) station Ratchadamri (I believe). Just one stop from the big malls for shopping. Sightseeing is a little less conducive to public transit unless you take BTS down to the river (Saphan Taksin) and take the river boat to the Grand Palace area.

It's walking distance to Central and Siam Paragon - or one BTS stop. In opposite direction, one BTS stop to Patpong.

AOT Limo offers R/T car service with Volvo or Camry [both with A/C] for less than what was paid for one day in the Mercedes...LOL.

We watched the construction of hotel when it first started back in summer 2010. It took quite a bit of time to complete....

Ben @ RakSiam- I used a limo service based at the airport in Bangkok, AOT Limo, in Dec. It was only $72 one way for a late model BMW 750. They had cheaper cars as well. They are located inside the baggage claim in BKK as well as another counter outside of baggage claim. I did not have an advanced reservation. On the return from the Conrad to BKK I used the Conrad hotel BMW 7 series. The Conrad charged around $92. AOT is a much better deal than using the hotel car at the Conrad or St. Regis.

I think you should do a blog post about arrival transporation services, and when they make sense for certain cities and properties. If you have 3 or more people, then you should definitely look into it, b/c the incremental cost is minimal.

I was looking at the GH Beijing, and the service starts after de-planing: Our Private Limousine Transfer includes our “Meet & Greet” service. With this service, our airport representative will wait for you with a “Grand Hyatt Beijing” sign, at the aerobridge of your plane. You will then be escorted through to the Immigration line, followed by the luggage collection point and finally to your Private Limousine.

This is definitely worth it to me, considering the comfort of getting to the hotel without language issues, potential to earn points, and low incremental $ cost for 4 people.

The Four Seasons next door to the St. Regis was one of the most reasonably priced, and best stays I have EVER had... definitely worth looking at.

@David - May I ask how much the hotel/airport transfer cost? What type of car did they use? I presume air conditioning is a given? Did you have to pay the driver, or was it chargeable to the room? Thanks.

Can you please take a trip to Asia one of these times where you actually "go" to Asia? Meaning, you land at the airport not knowing where you're going to stay, you haggle with a cab driver for ten minutes to get a $7 fare down to $6, eat street food, etc? In other words, do the things that make Asia Asia, and make Asia worth going to?

Also, although you somewhat admit it, $90 is absolutely nuts for an airport transfer in Bangkok. Is the marginal utility you gained from an S500 really worth more than the countless things you could've otherwise purchased in BKK with the $60-$75 you could've saved on getting to your hotel?

@ Jack -- Haven't stayed there yet, though will likely give it a shot the next time I'm in Bangkok.

@ Brent -- LOL, I love it. Promise to do that with the next report.

@ JetAway -- As @RakSiam points out, the location is excellent for sightseeing, both in terms of the actual location and access to transportation.

@ RakSiam @ John -- Good to know for next time. Thanks.

@ David -- Would be very curious to hear the cost for that.

@ Andrew -- I've said it before and I'll say it again. When I travel I spend 8+ hours a day walking around. I admitted upfront that I've never before arranged a car abroad unless it was included with the hotel. I always take public transportation or taxis, no matter how lost I am (and I negotiate). I just don't think I can add much value in writing a thorough review of a city I'm frankly not an expert on, since there are many better resources on the web. I'm trying to fill a different niche by focusing on the "getting there" and "staying there" part, and less on the destination.

And while I don't eat a lot of street food (I'm terrified of getting sick abroad), there's nothing I love more than the hawker stalls in Singapore.

This arrival service is listed on the Grand Hyatt Beijing website ( http://tinyurl.com/77zcugw), and is quoted for 600CNY ($95) in an Audi A6. They also offer a MB S350 for 920CNY.

Since it's booked through the Hyatt, I assume it can be charged to the room, but I only reserved it for a trip later this year, and haven't used it yet.

@Lucky, fair enough, and thanks for the insight.

Just curious, do you ever take the subway from the airport (for those cities blessed with a rapid connection to downtown)? I see how its not worth it for groups/families, but for single travellers I'm a big fan.

@ DBest -- Absolutely, almost always when it's an option. I'm all for public transportation when it's efficient for where I'm headed.

Great review & photos ... thank you for sharing! Please feel free to post with link here about your stay: http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/the-st-regis-bangkok-master-thread.7705/page-3#post-1222724

I have to agree that $90 for transfer to the hotel is a bit much for you and your travel companion. In cases like that, how do you handle the cost? Do you and he split it?

I've stayed at this hotel too. I got the same response from the management when I asked about the metropolitan suite - and when I kindly asked them to check again, after about 20 minutes they said they could have it ready. It was a fantastic suite, 1-bedroom, but the views weren't great at all. However, at the category 5 level I thought it was a great redemption value for my points. Also - dry cleaning could be done same day, you just have to ask. The best part of it all was the Platinum member cocktail hour you mentioned above. Fantastic selection of beverages!!

I will vote for hookers and blow -- on toilets

Just wondering if the shower in your room tended to flood the whole bathroom floor? We stayed in St. Regis last year and the water used to flow out of the bottom part of the shower screen. I saw reviews on TripAdvisor and it seemed that our shower wasn't an isolated case. I wonder if they had that fixed.

@ Rowena -- For me it wasn't too bad. Putting a towel in front of the shower did the trick. It definitely could have been designed a bit more practically though.

I don't know if it's your camera lens, but everything in the hotel rooms looks very small, like the couch and bathtub? I mean, there is no way I could fit both me and my usual Bangkok ladyboy companion in that tub!

I don't understand where your friend stays, you never post his room. Do you arrange a camp bed for him?

@ Donald -- Regardless of who I'm traveling with, I'm an adult and capable of sharing a king bed with just about anyone.

It seems the St Regis is no longer part of Amex fine hotels & resorts.

@ R B -- I just pulled it up and it is. Where are you seeing that it's not?

For views, try the Peninsula. They don't participate in points schemes, but the river location provides one of the best views in Bangkok. Only comparable view is the Hyatt in Shanghai looking over to Pudong. Balcony rooms are best. Service is excellent, although decor is beginning to age. The breakfasts will surprise, and the pool, cabanas, and riverside bar are wonderful. The icing on the cake is the ferry ride across the river to get to and from the city. At first it threatens to be an imposition, but ends in feeling like the trip to and from an oasis of comfort and pleasure.