The Amazing Race: The Brand New W Bangkok

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The continuation of Tahsir’s round-the-world first class trip report that started here.

During my trip around the world, I stumbled upon some cash + points availability at the brand new W Bangkok. This hotel opened a few weeks ago (December 7th) and it is absolutely beautiful. For 4,800 Points & $60, this hotel should be one of the better options in the heavily Starwood-saturated Bangkok.

We were picked up from the airport and taken to the W, which is kind of far from the main area of Bangkok. This hotel is located on Sathorn Road whereas other hotels are located on Sukhumvit Road. It’s not a huge deal as a taxi ride will cost you $2 to get from place to place. The BTS sky train is also right next to this hotel so that is an even cheaper alternative to taxis.

The W opened on December 7^th, and the night we came in, they were getting ready for their grand opening. When checking in, I asked the hotel staff if any suite upgrades were available and he stated that suites wouldn’t be ready till next year as this was only their soft opening. It made sense because they weren’t even selling suites on the SPG site. He did, however upgrade us to the Wonderful Room, which is a bit more spacious. The hotel, like other W hotels, is beyond trendy.

When walking in, you are immediately astonished that this hotel has a lot of space. W hotels often don’t allocate much space to their rooms, at least in New York. Here in Bangkok, they gave a ton of space to walk around and because the hotel had just opened, no one had even stayed in this room yet! The bathroom is massive and features a bathtub, rain shower, and separated toilet.

TIP: This hotel is NOT for families because the bathroom is see-through. The sliding doors are see-through and so is the shower. I learned this the hard way when we all had to turn off the lights just to take a shower or go to the bathroom! Our room was one of the lucky ones because most rooms are partitioned by a yellow or purple see through wall. Our wall was just a wall but had some remnants of see through in it towards the end of the wall.

There is a tablet that controls everything in the room from air conditioning to TV and even the lights. For some reason, it wasn’t working when we arrived but the idea seemed cool! The internet was given to us because of our Gold status and we even got two free complimentary drink coupons for the “Woobar” downstairs.

Although it’s one of the newest additions to the Bangkok Starwood list, the W does have a few drawbacks. For starters, it’s hard to catch a taxi and because the hotel is so new, most of the cab drivers don’t know or don’t want to drive there. This is a major headache if you have a morning flight to catch like we did. At 7AM, we woke up and didn’t get a cab till about 8:45 AM. The hotel does offer hotel transportation at inflated rates. It was 2,800 Baht or $90 for an S-Class hotel transfer.

After coming back to the hotel from the city, I noticed that there were two cards on our table. One addressed to my dad and one addressed to “Ms. Tahsir Ahsan” We all got a good laugh at this because they always seem to make a mistake on my name.

The W has a few areas to eat within the hotel. The main restaurant is the Kitchen Bar. They offer sit-down and food to go and although I didn’t try it, it looks like it’s a good place to eat.

The pool at the W Bangkok is probably the coolest part of the entire hotel! At night, it functions as a celestial pool. Lights shine from the bottom of the pool and replicate the stars. While checking in, they mentioned that we should make sure and see the pool at night. I recommend that everyone go and see the pool. Unlike other hotels, the pool is open 24 hours!

The gym is located next to the pool and is very modern with a pathway created by pebbles. There is a ton of equipment and towels for everyone!

If you come to this hotel in the next few months, the front of the hotel is still sort of under construction. The W was built on a historical site and because of that, one building in front of the hotel was unable to be torn down. When asked what the plans of that building were, the management stated that they planned to convert the building into the Presidential Suite!

Overall, the W Bangkok is set to be the newest and trendiest hotel in the Starwood list for Thailand. Their attention to detail and service are among the best I’ve seen to date. I highly recommend staying at the W because it is away from the hustle and bustle of Sukhumvit Road.

Stay tuned for my next post!