The Athenee Bangkok, A Luxury Collection Hotel

December 31st, 2021

Posts in this series:

Getting Ready - Thailand Pass and Singapore Airlines Saga

Review - Intercontinental Boston

Review - Japan Airlines Business Class B787-9 Boston to Tokyo Narita

Review - Japan Airlines Business Class B787-8 Tokyo Narita to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi

Review - The Athenee Bangkok, A Luxury Collection Hotel

Review - Le Méridien Chiang Mai

Review - Renaissance Koh Samui Resort & Spa

Review - The Ritz-Carlton Koh Samui

Review - Emirates Business Class A380 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Dubai

Enroute:

After landing in Bangkok, we first had to go through layers of health checks. While the set-up was rather daunting, with chairs in the concourse spaced out for social distancing, the process itself was quick. It took us roughly 15mins from disembarking until we were at baggage claim. It helped that we were the only flight arriving at the time.

As I mentioned in previous posts, the on-arrival Covid test actually took place after leaving the airport. Our reservation at the Athenee Bangkok was a Test & Go package, so once we reclaimed our bags, we found a representative with the hotel logo and were escorted to the van waiting for us.

I was extremely impressed by the whole process. Despite us arriving late at night on New Year’s Eve, everything was seamlessly orchestrated. The driver took us to a private and modern hospital (MedPark Hospital) that was 6 mins away from our hotel. The test was drive-thru, and it took roughly one hour from picking up at the airport to dropping off at the hotel.

Check-in:

At the hotel entrance, a female front desk agent approached our van as we were pulling up. She immediately knew who we were and escorted us straight to our first night quarantine room. Quarantine rooms were all on the same floor. She explained that she wouldn’t give us a room key, and we would need to remain in the room until the hotel received our results. She was extremely professional and friendly, even though we were technically a health risk. We never felt like we weren’t welcomed.

For your awareness, the Athenee Bangkok has nothing to do with Plaza Athéneé in Paris, which is a Dorchester Collection hotel.

Unpack:

We booked a base level room and were upgraded to a standard club level room, on account of my Marriott Platinum status. The room wasn’t the most updated, but it was relatively spacious and well designed. Like most international chain hotels in Thailand, there was a perfect balance between tradition and modernity.

Upon entry, the closet was on the left, while the bathroom was on the right.

All the amenities in the room felt high-end, from slippers, robes to toiletries. The toiletries were from Thann, but unlike the ones at standard Marriott properties, these came in larger and more substantial bottles.

As is the norm at hotels across Asia, there was a consortium of bath amenities ranging from emery boards to sanitary bags. Outside the bathroom was a minibar, which was fully stocked.

One thing that stood out to me was how many bottles of water were in the room. There must have been about a dozen of them, which surely was appreciated given you weren’t allowed to leave for a while. All of them were neatly placed inside a leather sleeve. I’m always a fan for such minuscule detail that exemplifies a hotel’s interpretation of luxury.

What you don’t see in the room was a Keurig machine. I mean, we are not staying at a Hyatt Place, after all.

Continuing on was the bedroom, featuring a plush king bed, a writing desk and a seating area with sofa and coffee table.

Granted this isn’t the most inspirational hotel room in Asia, where the bar for extravagance is limitless. But it’s understated and timeless. Ubiquitous elements of traditional Thai patterns make for a strong sense of place.

We booked the premium Test & Go package which included a 2-hour expedited PCR test, so the cost was a bit higher, at around $400/night. Our subsequent nights were about $200, which was more in line with Bangkok’s normal pricing.

Refuel:

While we got settled and showered, we decided to order some room service to celebrate our New Year’s Eve in “quarantine”. In reality our test results came back before our room service arrived - the hotel slipped an envelope under our door, which contained our results from the hospital.

For room service we ordered Hainanese chicken rice, shrimp pad thai, a tropical fruit platter cuz when in Rome, and a bottle of champagne.

Everything was extraordinary. Thailand is one of the few countries where I don’t feel guilty of eating every single meal at a hotel. They were SO GOOD. Even in Covid, there was no single-use container in sight. Bourdain once said after his first trip to Asia that all the flavors he had experienced in his prior life were no longer adequate, and I FEEL THAT. After not being in Asia for two years, all the flavors hit me like a wave - the fish sauce, the tamarind, the palm sugar, the lemongrass, the toasted peanuts, the diced Thai chili, the little lime that’s half the size but twice the acidity. Oh how I’ve missed this.

The next morning, we could roam around like a free man. So our first order of business was to the buffet breakfast. My partner had never been to Asia, so he didn’t fully grasp the seriousness of the whole shebang. How can he be blamed? You have to see it to believe it.

The friendly hostess led us to a table by the window, and as soon as she sat us a waiter swooped in to greet us and take orders for drinks and a la carte dishes. The handoff was so effortlessly smooth I felt like I was a nuclear launch box being passed over in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre.

Over the course of our stay we tried so many delicious dishes. The buffet selection rotated daily and there was a menu you could order made-to-order eggs and noodles. The service was exceptional as well.

One day we had lunch at the Silk Road, the hotel’s Cantonese restaurant. You can find a limited version of the menu here. The restaurant was beautifully appointed.

To start we ordered a few dim sums, which were the crispy silky prawn spring rolls, soup dumplings and har gow, the steamed shrimp dumplings topped with caviar.

I wanted my partner to try a few staples in the Cantonese banquet cuisine, so I ordered a Hong Kong-style roasted baby pigeon, Chinese spinach with cured ham and superior seafood consommé with wild sea cucumber, jumbo sea scallops, prawn and fresh fish maw.

The f&b offerings were great at the hotel. It is common in Asia for nice hotels to feature at least one restaurant for each typical cuisine, so here at the Athenee there were the Cantonese restaurant we dined at, a Japanese restaurant, a Thai restaurant, an Italian restaurant and a French restaurant, in addition to the breakfast restaurant and various bars and cafes. It’s not unusual for hotels to have a dozen dining outlets on property.

Rewind:

Being on the club floor entitled us access to the club lounge. Unlike many hotels in the US, the lounge was fully operational. While we didn’t participate in any of it because we were either out exploring or asleep during happy hour thanks to time difference, soft beverages were available all day, along with afternoon tea and evening cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. The only lounge service cutback was breakfast, but I would gladly choose restaurant breakfast over lounge breakfast any day.

The space itself was nicely furnished and extremely under-utilized.

Recreational facilities at the hotel were abundant, such as a well manicured courtyard with city view, a rooftop pool with a bar, a gym and a spa.

The gym was equipped with Technogym machines and plenty of natural light. There was also complimentary sunscreen by the pool, a true test many self-proclaimed “luxury” hotels failed miserably at.

Prior to commencing our trip I had made it a goal to get as many massages as I could physically tolerate. So here we were at the hotel’s spa, which was so gorgeous. I don’t think I realized how gorgeous it was until I started going through the pictures.

Everybody at the spa, from the receptionist to the masseuses, were so friendly and accommodating. Treatment started with the standard health questionnaire, accompanied by a refreshing cold towel, a ginger vitality shot and some blue mint tea. The Alaia Hotel in Belize could learn a few tricks here.

Thereon we were led into our treatment room, which was the couples’ room.

The treatment was great and much helpful after flying for 24 hours. At the end, we were invited to lounge around in the relaxation room and were offered more tea and treats.

Depart:

It’s worth pointing out that the Thai hospitality was particularly heartfelt after not traveling to Asia for two years. I think Thai people are some of the most genuine, hard-working and gracious people I’ve encountered, and this doesn’t just limit to service industry people, but Thai people more broadly. There’s such a strong sense of servitude - I don’t recall hearing a single “no” on this entire trip. Whatever the request might be, it was consistently fulfilled with a smile.

After our first night in the quarantine room, we needed to move rooms. Our next room wasn’t ready when we were leaving the hotel for the day, so I asked the front desk agent at the lounge to move our luggage to the new room for us. Upon our return, not only were our luggage in the new room, so were our laundry items collected earlier in the morning. The communication across different departments was remarkable. Not once did we have to explain something more than once, heck, probably didn’t even explain anything at all. Everybody knew exactly what was going on. The hotel was quite full with both foreign and domestic travelers, but we were always recognized by staff albeit wearing masks - the porters would always greet us with a “welcome back” and inquire how our whatever outing was.

The extent the staff went above and beyond was incredible. Though the cutoff for same-day laundry was 10AM, I dropped off mine at 2pm and still got them back later that evening. I didn’t even ask for a quick turnaround because I was in no rush, but they made guest demands the highest priority. When they came to drop off, they’d refresh our room and replenish minibar or toiletries. I noticed them doing this twice, on top of the regular housekeeping and turndown service.

I couldn’t recommend the Athenee more as a hotel, but more importantly, I can’t recommend Thailand enough as a destination. From here, we were headed back to the airport for two nights in Chiang Mai.