Conrad & Chateau de Bangkok review
I decided to move when my employer’s money ran out after a two-day training session in Bangkok, seeking lower rent and an internet bill I could pay without feeling sick with rage. What follows is a comparative side-by-side review of the Chateau de Bangkok and the Conrad Hilton:
CONRAD |
vs |
Chateau de Bangkok |
|
| Offensively obscenely expensive Internet, a slap in the face to the guest – 350bht/hour (~$10USD/hour – Even in Nepal, enough to buy nearly a month of broadband service.) Wifi in the lobby, but Ethernet only in the room. Despite out-dated reviews to the contrary, both the lobby’s wifi and Ethernet are charged at the same rate. Shockingly, even when paying 100% of the government authorized per diem, no negotiation to include it in the room price was possible. | Affordable Internet – 300bht/day (~$8.75 USD/day). Wifi in the lobby and restaurants, but Ethernet only in the room. | ||
| Professional, elegant desk and lengthy, concealable/retractable Ethernet hookup. | Modem under lamp on lamp light switch. No power near coffee table, no desk. That’s also the nearest power jack. Both my laptop’s power cable and the very short Ethernet cable reach after letting the DSL modem sit in the middle of the carpet, but it’s definitely awkward. UPDATE: Stayed in a different room on a recent pass, and it had a desk with the Ethernet jack mounted on it. Much more sensible – Ask politely to switch rooms if you can’t live with the first arrangement, or to see the room before check in. Bit of a bother, but an easy problem to avoid. | ||
| Extremely pet friendly if under their weight limit – They allowed us to bring two cats into the room when my wife and I passed through last summer. | Pet policies unknown/not tested by this author. | ||
| Small closet, no laundry bags. Little to no real storage space for luggage. Didn’t spot a safe, but wasn’t looking. | Nice walk-in closet the size of my first car with laundry hamper. Typical, if older, in-room safe. | ||
| Dressing bench + Nice sofa, slightly away from TV | Sofa at foot of bed, between TV & bed – direct line of sight. Only major problem was that the bed kept moving, but shifting the sofa back two feet to the base of the bed fixed it. (UPDATE: On both stays/in both rooms.) Not at all sure why they don’t do that themselves. | ||
| Most beautiful restroom in the world – One jacuzzi away from absolute perfection. Speaker tied in to TV/DVD setup. Full size bath in full view of the television (with automated curtain & glass wall between). | Generally far more compact, and not nearly as pretty, but the bathtub/shower is massive and quite nice. UPDATE: Not sure if I missed them on the first trip or if they’re only in select rooms, but the second time I stayed there we had a bathtub with 6 bubble jets and still a ton of space. Second room had a roomier restroom in general, more on par with the Conrad but without the odd window and, more importantly, without the TV speaker tie-in. | ||
| Razor, hair dryer, toothbrush, et already in room | More conventional spread. Didn’t ask about getting the other stuff, but it wasn’t ready in room. | ||
| DVD in room, nice ~32” TV | No DVD player in room by default, old but ~28” big CRT | ||
| Small minibar fridge, mostly full – Only one small bottom shelf free. Free bath elephant and purple plush elephant. | Mid-sized fridge, microwave, kitchen sink, and a handful of dishes already in room. No minibar in my room. | ||
| Free fruit platter, 2-4 bottles of water per day. Crappy instant coffee in room, but Twinnings tea and water heater. No free water in fridge, squeezed out by minibar crap and paid water of similar quality. Three brands of water (free, nestle, and evian) in room – Wasted effort and space. | Water heater, lower cost tea, still crappy coffee. A couple of bottles of water already in fridge. No minibar in sight. | ||
| Excellent free breakfast, with broad selection of each style of food, sacrificing neither quality nor range in their inclusion of Sino-Japanese, American, European, and Thai cuisine. Excellent bread, juices, and Twinnings tea. | Breakfast at the Chateau de Bangkok is perfectly acceptable by western standards, but pales in comparison to the Conrad’s. Just the usual omelet station, bread, cereal, and a couple of hot meats. For the cost of the room and its location, however, it’s hard to beat. Twinnings also served here. | ||
| ~$8-20 avg meal/head room service. Excellent food, all hours. Elegant checklist order system for breakfast menu – Again, all hours. | A bit less elegant, but the room service was a bit less expensive. Can feed two for $5-10 a head either in the room or poolside. Pizzas run just $7, but can’t vouch for quality or size. | ||
| Smartly dressed, professional and friendly staff. | Professional and friendly staff, dressed far more appropriately for the local climate. A touch more sensible. | ||
| Cable barely adequate. Contains some movie channels, but no obvious pay per view. TRUE cable lacked even a single music video channel. The only music available in room was through the DVD player or radio channels added to the TV’s cable feed, but without any sort of visualizer. Okay for use, unusable with guests in the room due to the ugly all-static display during radio playback. | Same basic cable feed, but lacks Al Jazeera and has a predominantly American “MTV China” feed (still light on the music, but it’s something), but without the added radio channels. | ||
| This location is a mere 5-10 minute walk from several high end malls, a handful of reasonably clean street vendor encampments (including good cheap street food), and several prominent workplaces including GE and a handful of embassies (Vietnam, US, etc). Skywalk joins the Conrad to a mall with several pan-Asiatic restaurants, a Starbucks, and a Burger King. | Same location, just without the skywalk. Located directly across the street from the Conrad’s rear entrance. The view of the skyline is still there, but a touch less impressive. The Chateau is only ~17 stories high, compared to nearly 30 for the nearby Conrad. The roof is accessible in the Chateau, however, while the Conrad’s executive lounge is a fair bit shy of the roof. | ||
| Bottom line? If someone else is paying for it, especially the Internet, so be it. If not, I wouldn’t stay more than one or two nights, and only then if I were entertaining. Executive suites actually DO have jacuzzis or steamers – Would make an excellent honeymoon spot. Will definitely come back for an overnight, however, when I fly out with my cats. |
Bottom line? Certainly problematic in ways, but at 66% the cost and with the extra in-room amenities in the kitchen and closet, this place is much more comfortable for a longer stay. If I come back for work again, I’ll definitely come here and try to save the taxpayers ~$30, unless it’s a one night stop. | ||
Comments
Comment from MrZaius
Time May 5, 2009 at 0506
No – The Feds are actually pretty good about it. They pay the night before the official business (training or whatever) and the night of each day of work. I arrived on Wednesday and left on Sunday, so I was only out of pocket Saturday. Fair enoguh – Just sucked that they weren’t able to negotiate free intertubes in the rather exorbitant (~$180/night) single-occupancy lodging rate.
Many thanks to our host, 
Comment from Chris
Time April 26, 2009 at 0105
So, they only paid for one day of a two day training?