The “Royal Orchid Sheraton”:https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bkksi-royal-orchid-sheraton-hotel-and-towers/ is, despite its five stars, the type of hotel I normally hate: huge, noisy and soulless. However, we were arriving in Bangkok relatively late by train and needed a hotel for one night before setting off by road the next day. The hotel on Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River suited as it was close to both the station and expressway.
Compared to all the tiny places we’d been staying at, the check in formalities appeared to take an age and we had to put 2000 Baht/£50 deposit on a credit card. We were offered a choice of either two queen size beds or a king size and a choice of floors depending on whether we wanted a ‘tub’. We opted for one on the highest floor (there are 30) and were allocated a room on floor 15 – what was described as the lower levels (from 1 to 18) with specific lifts.
Our relatively spacious room had the usual bland chain-style decor, with not even a wall hanging or picture to denote the country you’re in. There was a comfortable bed, desk and chair, large TV screen, good lighting, tea and coffee making facilities, complimentary water, mini bar, huge safe, plenty of hanging space, robes, slippers, iron and board, good bedside lights. In effect everything you needed apart from character. The bathroom was a ‘one person at a time’ affair with a walk-in shower, good mirror and hairdryer. Wi-Fi was surprisingly complimentary.
Having had a quick look at the menus for the Thai and Italian restaurants they seemed too formal for us, but the ground-floor bar provided snacks and great service from delightful young girls. Our beer and Virgin Mary arrived with three types of nibbles and we ordered a slider to share – three mini burgers with cheese, straw fries and coleslaw. It was all beautifully presented and arrived with small jars of mustard, ketchup and sweet chilli sauce. With another beer and coffee, it wasn’t cheap at 1700 Baht or £42, it met our needs.
Breakfast was a huge buffet with everything you could want: juices, smoothies, cereals, pastries, Asian dishes, full English, waffles and pancakes, salads, cheeses, etc. and tea and coffee was served. It was very busy and noisy and a total contrast from the calmness at the “U Sukhumvit”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/accommodation/195116-review-u-sukhumvit where we’d stayed at the beginning of our trip.
If you want to stay on the river, this is probably a good option for the superb views from our panoramic window of various boats plying the River. We were particularly fascinated to see from a different angle, the strings of large barges that had passed us so close by at “Ayutthaya”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/accommodation/195404-review-iudia.
That day, Bangkok made the BBC news as schools had closed for 4 days due to high levels of pollution in the atmosphere, but fortunately it didn’t impair the view.
