Plaza Athenee Bangkok reviewed

A review of the Plaza Athenee Bangkok.

A few years ago, we were staying at the Bangkok Hyatt while they were renovating the pool area, putting in the teak deck and building the i.sawan Residential Spa & Club. It was a bit of a bummer because we weren’t able to use the pool.

I had sometimes wondered what the 5 star hotels do in situations like this, when a major facility is unavailable. In this case they had made arrangements with nearby 5 star hotels to allow guests to use their pool and gym. A bus left the hotel every thirty minutes or so and delivered guests to a different nearby 5 star hotel every day. One of the days we were staying there, the hotel whose facilities were made available to us was the Plaza Athenee Bangkok.

That was my first experience at the Plaza Athenee, which carries the official name of Plaza Athénée Bangkok, A Royal Méridien Hotel and I recently had the opportunity to stay at this hotel for free using Starwood Points.

While there is a BTS Skytrain station (Ploenchit) within walking distance, when first arriving you might like to take a taxi from Sukhumvit Road, as it might feel a lot farther if you are dragging luggage along Bangkok’s notoriously rugged sidewalks.

The first thing we noticed was the magnificent sweeping lobby with polished marble floors, thick rugs and twin grand staircase in the center leading up to the second floor. To the left is the front desk and concierge, while on the opposite side was the all-day-dining Rain Tree Cafe, where the breakfast buffet and Sunday brunch is served.

At check-in, we chose a Royal Club Room, located on floors 24~28. Our room was on the 27th floor.

The Room

As you can see from the photo above, the room was well appointed and quite spacious. From the photo below you will see that behind the position from where this photo was taken is the entryway and bathroom.

Being on the 26th floor, views of Bangkok were great. Our room was on the Sukhumvit side of the building, so we had views all along Sukhumvit.

One of the things I liked about this room was that there was plenty of space for me to occupy that wasn’t just on the bed. I’m kind of weird in that I don’t like to mess up the bed, or even sit on it until I get into it to sleep at night. Our room at the Plaza Athenee not only had a workdesk (with an extra chair!) but there was also a comfortable 2-seater sofa with cushions and a small table in the space between the bed and the panoramic windows.

Though not nearly as large as some of the serviced apartments in Bangkok, the 44 square meters in floor space, large floor to ceiling windows, sofa, and the extra chair by the work-desk, certainly made the room feel larger than average and we certainly didn’t feel cramped at all.

Speaking of the work-desk, I have never seen a better equipped work-desk than the one in our room at the Plaza Athenee Bangkok. The work-desk is of a decent size and it comes with a comfortable ergonomic work chair, lamp and desktop calendar.

Inside one of the desk drawers was a compartmentalized stash of office supplies, including scissors, a stapler (with spare staples), sticky-tape, highlighter pen, paper-clips, pens, pencils, a ruler, note paper and Post-it notes.

Of course there was a multi-line telephone as well as the choice of wired or wireless internet connections.

The Bathroom

As for the bathroom, what can I say about it? It was pretty much your standard marble and glass bathroom that you will find in pretty much any 5 star hotel in Bangkok.

It was pleasant enough, quite spacious, with a separate bath tub and shower, with a telephone by the toilet, so you won’t have to miss those important calls.

There was no television above the bathtub like you find in some hotels, but that wasn’t a problem for me.

There were bathroom scales and a shaving mirror, and the hotel has it’s own range of Le Meridien toiletries, including a small bottle of mouth wash.

Le Royal Club

Our Royal Club room granted us access to Le Royal Club (26th floor), entitling us to complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea, all day tea, coffee and non-alcoholic beverages, evening cocktail, Wi-Fi Internet access, and garment pressing service. We also had the option of access to a private meeting room for two hours usage per stay, which we didn’t take up this time.

The Royal Club lounge itself was fantastic. It took up almost all of the 26th floor. We certainly took advantage of the afternoon tea and evening cocktails.

While it does cost extra to stay in a Royal Club room (though since we were using an award redemption, we just had to use extra points), I believe if you take advantage of what is on offer, it can be great value for money.

Before heading out for dinner, I like to start the evening with the free cocktails and Hors d’œuvre provided for club guests. The selections available at the Plaza Athenee Bangkok didn’t disappoint, with a good choice of beer, wine and cocktails. After a full day of traipsing around Bangkok either shopping up a storm or taking in the sights, a relaxing hour or two in the Royal Club is a great way I find to recharge and get ready for the evening.

The lounge area itself was very comfortable with plenty of room throughout the floor with plush sofas as well as tables and chairs. The sunlight from the Bangkok sunset shining through the wooden venetian blinds cast the western side of Le Royal Club in a golden hue.

There were a couple of desktop computers with internet access and also free wifi throughout the lounge. (Just quietly, I also noticed that if your room is close enough to the lounge, the wifi signal may be strong enough to reach it.)

The Pool

No review of the Plaza Athenee Bangkok, or just about any hotel in my opinion, would be complete without a mention of the pool.

I like to have a pool where I can do laps while traveling, and while this pool is a free form pool and doesn’t have any dedicated lanes, it is long enough and it has a straight enough section that allowed me to get some laps in.

The pool itself is quite nice, surrounded by frangipani trees and orchids. The pool is quite large with a maximum depth of 1.5 meters, as well as a shallow kid’s pool at one end.

The area around the pool is finished with large stone pavings, and there is also a slightly elevated, covered sala area, providing shade, in addition to the many parasols placed around the poolside. While I didn’t find the sun lounges particularly uncomfortable, they did look a little old to me.

There is of course a poolside menu offering drinks and snacks, which we didn’t take advantage of during our stay as it was overcast and not really pool weather.

The Location

Located on Wireless Road, off lower Sukhumvit, which is home to many embassies and consulates including the US embassy, as well as the embassies of Japan, Spain,  New Zealand, Vietnam, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Switzerland. Wireless Road is a leafy street with a BTS Skytrain station within walking distance  on Sukhumvit Road.

Have you stayed at The Plaza Athenee? If so, what are your thoughts? Do you agree with my review of this hotel? Did I miss something?

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