Monday, December 26, 2011

Le Méridien Bangkok - a review.

I am not really one to write a review on a hotel, but my stay at this hotel prompted me to change that!  I have stayed in a number of hotels in my time, including 4 and 5 stars, and the level of service and attention to details at Le Meridien Bangkok is probably some of the best I have seen.

Le Meridien Bangkok is a self rated 5 star hotel about 2 blocks from Patpong in Bangkok.  The hotel itself is only about three years old and has a classy, edgy, contemporary feel to it. As soon as you walk into the foyer and approach reception you see three streamlined stainless steel counters which the hotel staff always man.  I booked via www.wotif.com and managed to get a discount, whereby my stay for two nights cost me about 250 USD.

Once checked into my room, I was blown away by the little touches! There is a block of boutique chocolate waiting for you on your bed (coffee flavour - OMG)! The room is decorated very contemporarily with splashes of red through the design of the furniture and the room.  Each room has a bed, a three person sofa, a work desk, a bathroom with a bath and TWO showers (a normal shower and a "rain" shower which comes out of the roof!) The bathroom has been brilliantly designed with sliding walls, which allow you to open up the bathroom and do things like watch television.  Amenities include scales, shaving mirror, hairdryer, safe, iron and ironing board, robes, kettle, coffee plunger, various spirits and drinking glasses, 4 packs of plunger coffee (I actually don't think they had instant), about 6 types of tea's, about 6 daily bottles of water, toothbrushes, vanity kits, free daily newspaper, and, this shows the level of thinking, take away coffee cups!  Have you ever had to leave a hotel in the early hours and wanted a coffee? Well, problem solved!! And the coffee was really good!

Here are some snaps I pulled of their website (mine didn't do the room any justice!!)

The bathroom and room, note the sliding walls, below.



The pool

The breakfast... I don't even know where to start here.  It was, hands down, the best breakfast buffet I have ever seen.  Great breads and cheese, fruits, cereals, coffee's which you can order - e.g. Latte.  The eggs station was great and some was the meat section with a massive choice of cured meats.  Heck, even the honey was fresh, straight out of honey comb, dripping with fresh honey! Anything you want and it was all amazing!  My breakfast did not come with my room charge and ended up costing me about 20 USD, which was excellent value, and I would definitely do it again.  Mel and Asheesh, however, had breakfast included in their room charge, so check when you book!

Some of the bread selection and the ginger bread house!!

The concierge was more than helpful, sending us to two great restaurants with excellent directions as well as guiding us to the Bangkok Weekend Markets (I post about my afternoon at the markets here).  The hotel was very central and seemed like it was walking distance to just about everywhere.  For those places a little further the staff were brilliantly efficient organising us a taxi!

On Christmas eve, I even got a knock on the door and was given a bag of Christmas cookies!! Om nom nom!  How many hotels do that?!

The internet was free downstairs off 3 Apple Mac computers (one wasn't working) which were usually available at any time, 24 hours.

If had had any recommendation or complaint, and I do, it is that the wifi is not free.  It really annoys me that upmarket hotels usually do not have free wifi, but cheaper hotels do.  It is such a nothing cost for them!  Other than that, the hotel was a dream to stay at and at breakfast the first morning I actually had a "I can't believe I am here" moment when I saw the food.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay here, as did my friends, also well travelled individuals, with the breakfast being the highlight! If you would like to see some more photo's or information, check out their website here.  Remember to check out Agoda or Wotif for deals though!

Until next time,

Daniel

Follow me on Twitter @TheDanFactor

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