Review: Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi Resort & Spa

Ben Schlappig
March 2, 2016
17

Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi bottom line

Physically I thought the hotel was nice. While there are certain aspects of the suite which weren’t practically designed, all things considered I thought the rooms and resort were up to brand standards and generally impressive.

I have three major issues which would prevent me from returning to this hotel. One of which I knew going in (and was fine with), and two of which I wasn’t expecting.

First of all, the location of the hotel sucks. It’s an airport hotel of sorts which isn’t actually that close to the airport. And beyond that, the hotel is truly in the middle of nowhere. There’s not even a small town within walking distance, but rather you’re tucked away inside a golf resort. Perhaps it’s nice for golfers, but in reality this hotel’s market seemed to be big tour groups. I imagine they’re getting quite a good deal, since others have no reason to stay here.

My second issue was with the hotel’s policies. They advertise club rooms and they advertise an experience which is a “hotel within a hotel.” That’s not the case. Being a club guest gets you a few things for free, but that’s it. Furthermore, they advertise canapés with the evening drinks. Those don’t exist either. I don’t have an issue with the concept of what they’re doing as such, but I do take issue with them selling club rooms when there’s not actually a club, and claiming that the current arrangement is temporary, when that’s not actually the case.

My last (and biggest) issue was with the service. The service throughout the resort was just consistently less friendly and attentive than I’ve grown accustomed to in Thailand. The service in Latitude Bar was especially disappointing, both in terms of friendliness and attentiveness. I genuinely felt like I was inconveniencing them by being at Latitude Bar, both during the day and in the evening.

Despite the property being nice physically, I wouldn’t return.

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Planespeaking Guest
April 2, 2019, 2:18 am

Now back at home and having provided a brief write up of the Meridien’s Lattitude Bar with Club access, I thought I’d follow up on the breakfast experience. Before I do, I just want to say there were a few Chinese guests who entered the Bar after I’d submitted my comments and maybe it’s just the way they are but they were demanding quite rudely that the staff fill their flasks with hot water before...
Now back at home and having provided a brief write up of the Meridien’s Lattitude Bar with Club access, I thought I’d follow up on the breakfast experience. Before I do, I just want to say there were a few Chinese guests who entered the Bar after I’d submitted my comments and maybe it’s just the way they are but they were demanding quite rudely that the staff fill their flasks with hot water before they got on their coach. It wasn’t overrun with them but “please” and “thank you” would have gone a long way. We spoke to the bar staff about it afterwards and they said there’s not much they can do - there’s a language barrier and they’re one of the biggest contributors to tourism there.

We were also fine about the Club lounge being the bar and didn’t see any problem with this - having stayed at more expensive properties with dedicated lounges which only could be described as akin to a zoo, this bar concept made for an extremely pleasant change and as mentioned, the drinks are not limited.

Anyway, the next morning, we went down to breakfast at about 07:45 and it was pretty peaceful and nowhere near what the original review described. Maybe we were lucky and maybe it was the slightly different time on a Monday morning but it was quite civilised. Service wasn’t particularly slick - tea and coffee took a while and we had to work out for ourselves where some things were. Food was buffet - Thai and international - and it looked decent enough although I wasn’t hungry and knew I’d be stuffing myself in the Cathay lounge and on the plane. I had an omelette though and it was nice enough. My partner had some “hot” Thai food from the buffet but it was beyond cold and not pleasant so it was left.

Check out was easy and we had the choice of the hotel’s airport shuttle bus at a time which didn’t suit us and THB200 each or a metered taxi at THB200 total. We took the latter at a time to suit us and it was perfectly acceptable, taking about 15 mins max. Just watch the amount of luggage if taking a taxi as some of them have been converted to LPG and boot space is minimal although we managed.

The hotel has clearly come a long way since Ben’s review and there are still a few gaps they could sort but if you want a good value easy-access hotel the night before your flight which gives you Club benefits, breakfast and a perfectly acceptable and comfortable room for about THB 5,800 all in (when we went on a Sunday night in March), this property is perfectly fine and we will happily go back.

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Planespeaking Guest
March 31, 2019, 7:55 am

Thanks for the review - very useful and interesting. Sitting in Lattitude Bar now having booked a standard Club room for close-ish access to the airport for tomorrow. The bar is still the “Club” lounge but alcoholic drink choices are decent (cocktails and premium spirits although no Johnny Walker Red label today, despite being on the list) and all complimentary from 18:00-20:00 and there’s a decent spread of canapés too - sufficient to fill you...
Thanks for the review - very useful and interesting. Sitting in Lattitude Bar now having booked a standard Club room for close-ish access to the airport for tomorrow. The bar is still the “Club” lounge but alcoholic drink choices are decent (cocktails and premium spirits although no Johnny Walker Red label today, despite being on the list) and all complimentary from 18:00-20:00 and there’s a decent spread of canapés too - sufficient to fill you up so they’ve clearly got their act together. Will see what breakfast is like to tomorrow but definitely doesn’t seem busy although it is a Sunday if that makes a difference.

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DCS Diamond
March 4, 2016, 12:59 am

@Thai Native -- Thank you for the clarification. Wikipedia, of course, got it right. And, I believe I did well because in a conversation "su-wan-na-poom" could easily come off as "su-var-na-boom" if one does not roll the 'r' and 'w' and 'p' are soft. Try it. My major surprise, however, was that the 'MI' at the end is totally silent.

G'day!

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Thai Native New Member
March 3, 2016, 2:04 pm

@DCS @John @Prabuddha It's su-wan-na-poom. Yeah, even though the writing has the V and B, the Thai spelling doesn't show any characters of those sounds in the word. The official romanization of Thai language is weird; the romanization is of the WRITING instead of the READING.

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DCS Diamond
March 3, 2016, 10:11 am

@Prabuddha and @John -- Well, they might have "bastardized" it in BKK since "SuvarnaBOOMI" is what I said, and "SuvarnaBOOM" is what it sounded like I was told it should be...but looking at Wikipedia, it seems that I am closer to the way Thais pronounce the Sanskrit word: "pronounced [sù.wān.ná.pʰūːm] (Thai pronunciation)", with no "MI" at the end... ;-)

G'day!

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John New Member
March 3, 2016, 2:01 am

That's right.....there's an i on the end but not really. And yes, the Chinese tour groups--probably regular visitors at this place, but you happened to be there during the Chinese New Year holiday, which is like 'regular' on steroids.

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Prabuddha Guest
March 3, 2016, 1:41 am

@DCS Suvarnaboomi is 2 Sanskrit words Suvarna means Golden and Boomi or Bhoomi in the original Sanskrit means land so Suvarnaboomi is Golden Land and it is pronounced boo-mi two syllables.

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DCS Diamond
March 2, 2016, 11:58 pm

Just a little lesson for those who have not been to BKK and been "lectured". The name of the BKK airport, "Suvarnabhumi", looks like it should be pronounced as "su - var - na - BOO - MI". That would be wrong. It is actually pronounced as "su - var - na - BOOM."

So, this post is about Le Meridien Su-var-na-BOOM ;-)

G'day!

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Malc Guest
March 2, 2016, 11:41 pm

Hi Lucky, a typo in the first line: it should be "two days later" (plural).

Malc

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wizzy Guest
March 2, 2016, 9:23 pm

We were there in October, and the friendliness of the staff was one of the things we remember. The hotel didn't seem to be busy during our stay, so perhaps that helped things.

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jessie Guest
March 2, 2016, 8:52 pm

Thanks for the post as in fact I myself was considering this property for overnight layover (the morning Qatar A380 also departs around 8am). But an acquaintance in BKK advised me not to stay at this hotel as it’s a bit complicated to get a taxi or Uber in the early morning from this hotel to airport. I see that you managed to get to hotel using Omar Air Chauffeur service but how did you...
Thanks for the post as in fact I myself was considering this property for overnight layover (the morning Qatar A380 also departs around 8am). But an acquaintance in BKK advised me not to stay at this hotel as it’s a bit complicated to get a taxi or Uber in the early morning from this hotel to airport. I see that you managed to get to hotel using Omar Air Chauffeur service but how did you get back to airport (also by airline chauffeur service??).

The hotel does look beautiful and very clean, somewhat reminding me of Le Meridien Cairo Airport in many ways where I frequent although the latter offers great warm hospitality.

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MEOW Guest
March 2, 2016, 8:48 pm

The mainlanders really suck.

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David Kauffman Member
March 2, 2016, 8:44 pm

We had the same decision since we arrived in Bangkok from Phuket at 6:00 pm and will be departing the next day at 11:40 am. Decided against the Novotel and went into town to the JW Marriott last night. Great hotel, very fairly priced for the luxury and upgrade (Marriott Gold). An extra hour of transit time but well worth it for great service and a great executive lounge.

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Mike S. Guest
March 2, 2016, 7:23 pm

" ... there was yelling, people were touching everything on the buffet with their fingers, and people would literally grab plates and plates of food at once rather than finishing some food and then getting more once they were done."

Chinese tour groups no doubt.

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GringoLoco Gold
March 2, 2016, 6:45 pm

Plain curiosity on my part, but did you bring any of these issues to the property's management?

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T Guest
March 2, 2016, 5:12 pm

The Chinese tour groups now have their own separate breakfast at Favola in the morning.

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blueline7 New Member
March 2, 2016, 4:52 pm

Very interesting report, Ben. From the pictures of the hotel and the buffet alone, it would seem that this is an excellent hotel (ignoring the location). But your detailed commentary was a real eye-opener. Many thanks for such a detailed report explaining its deficiencies. How maddending!

One question; I note that you often refer to hotel employees as "Associates". I have seen this term used elsewhere by others. Isn't this really a 'corporate gobbledegook misnomer'...
Very interesting report, Ben. From the pictures of the hotel and the buffet alone, it would seem that this is an excellent hotel (ignoring the location). But your detailed commentary was a real eye-opener. Many thanks for such a detailed report explaining its deficiencies. How maddending!

One question; I note that you often refer to hotel employees as "Associates". I have seen this term used elsewhere by others. Isn't this really a 'corporate gobbledegook misnomer' as they are not associates at all but employees? I think that the term is probably used by hotels and stores to make believe that the staff has some kind of elevated status and responsibility? Anyhow, I find it annoying! :)

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Planespeaking Guest

April 2, 2019, 2:18 am

Now back at home and having provided a brief write up of the Meridien’s Lattitude Bar with Club access, I thought I’d follow up on the breakfast experience. Before I do, I just want to say there were a few Chinese guests who entered the Bar after I’d submitted my comments and maybe it’s just the way they are but they were demanding quite rudely that the staff fill their flasks with hot water before they got on their coach. It wasn’t overrun with them but “please” and “thank you” would have gone a long way. We spoke to the bar staff about it afterwards and they said there’s not much they can do - there’s a language barrier and they’re one of the biggest contributors to tourism there. We were also fine about the Club lounge being the bar and didn’t see any problem with this - having stayed at more expensive properties with dedicated lounges which only could be described as akin to a zoo, this bar concept made for an extremely pleasant change and as mentioned, the drinks are not limited. Anyway, the next morning, we went down to breakfast at about 07:45 and it was pretty peaceful and nowhere near what the original review described. Maybe we were lucky and maybe it was the slightly different time on a Monday morning but it was quite civilised. Service wasn’t particularly slick - tea and coffee took a while and we had to work out for ourselves where some things were. Food was buffet - Thai and international - and it looked decent enough although I wasn’t hungry and knew I’d be stuffing myself in the Cathay lounge and on the plane. I had an omelette though and it was nice enough. My partner had some “hot” Thai food from the buffet but it was beyond cold and not pleasant so it was left. Check out was easy and we had the choice of the hotel’s airport shuttle bus at a time which didn’t suit us and THB200 each or a metered taxi at THB200 total. We took the latter at a time to suit us and it was perfectly acceptable, taking about 15 mins max. Just watch the amount of luggage if taking a taxi as some of them have been converted to LPG and boot space is minimal although we managed. The hotel has clearly come a long way since Ben’s review and there are still a few gaps they could sort but if you want a good value easy-access hotel the night before your flight which gives you Club benefits, breakfast and a perfectly acceptable and comfortable room for about THB 5,800 all in (when we went on a Sunday night in March), this property is perfectly fine and we will happily go back.

Planespeaking Guest

March 31, 2019, 7:55 am

Thanks for the review - very useful and interesting. Sitting in Lattitude Bar now having booked a standard Club room for close-ish access to the airport for tomorrow. The bar is still the “Club” lounge but alcoholic drink choices are decent (cocktails and premium spirits although no Johnny Walker Red label today, despite being on the list) and all complimentary from 18:00-20:00 and there’s a decent spread of canapés too - sufficient to fill you up so they’ve clearly got their act together. Will see what breakfast is like to tomorrow but definitely doesn’t seem busy although it is a Sunday if that makes a difference.

DCS Diamond

March 4, 2016, 12:59 am

@Thai Native -- Thank you for the clarification. Wikipedia, of course, got it right. And, I believe I did well because in a conversation "su-wan-na-poom" could easily come off as "su-var-na-boom" if one does not roll the 'r' and 'w' and 'p' are soft. Try it. My major surprise, however, was that the 'MI' at the end is totally silent. G'day!