Yet another luxury hotel has sprung up in Bangkok, this time on the very posh and uber class street of Rajadamri. Skipping over the entire debate of whether the city really needs another fancy accommodation that offers you an even fancier ways to spend your hard earned money, we are going to take you straight to the reason why St. Regis Bangkok should be looked over the next time you are here.
What makes your stay at St. Regis so special? Not the architecture or the décor, not the high tech rooms or even the pedigree lineage of the name behind the hotel; and certainly not the fact that they are refusing to offer free Wi-Fi to their guests. Yeah, the last factor might even cause you turn your attention to one of the hundreds of hotels scattered throughout the city. But some of the amenities the St. Regis offers might make you pause and reconsider your decision several times over.
To begin with, if you are a horse lover, or rather you enjoy watching horses run like mad to make money for you, you’d better head straight for St. Regis. It has one of the best possible views of the grounds of the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, which is well known for the horse races it organizes every other Sunday. Why bother going to the dusty, muddy, and noisy race tracks when you can easily tune into the excitement from your air-conditioned room on the 12th floor?
Someone once said that the most harrowing part of a journey was the packing, unpacking, and re-packing that one had to do so many times, especially if you were off on a longer trip. However, with professional packers at St. Regis hotel, you may never have to worry about how to cram those two dozen knick knacks you bought for your family into an “already-overflowing-and-very-close-to-bursting” suitcase.
These trained butlers are experts at handling all kinds of potential packing disasters and they are even willing to impart some of their skills to you so you have a trouble-free and wrinkle-free journey wherever you are. And all those ladies who are going pink in their faces thinking about a guy going through their err…lingerie and other delicate apparels, worry not. There are female butlers as well. How very thoughtful of them.
Which brings me to the next great facility this hotel is offering. In keeping with their amazing butler services, something Regis is famed for worldwide, you are free to call on the butler at any given time of the day. They work round the clock to make sure all your whims are met, be it something as small as shining your shoes or bringing you coffee to arranging for transport and helping you check in and out.
Ask anyone about the most distinctive thing about St. Regis hotels and they are all most likely to answer – Bloody Mary. After having invented the very first version of a drink that took the entire world by storm in St. Regis New York, it has become something of a tradition to devise interesting variations of this drink at other St. Regis properties. At Bangkok, they’ve concocted something they choose to call “Siam Mary”. It’s made from tomato juice (duh!), Thai chili (huh?), lemon and coriander. A word of advice before you tip the glass – it’s spicy, so go easy on it.
Although it is a rather recent addition, which started back in 2007, there is yet another thing that St. Regis is popular for – their “Aficionados” packages. These are specially designed for the guests of the hotel, and it allows them access to certain prestigious and “hard-to-get-tickets-to” attractions and events. In Bangkok, they’ve introduced something known as the “Caroline Astor’s Expedition on the E&O”. This package, named after the founder of St. Regis, offers a journey on the much hyped Eastern and Oriental luxury train and includes stays at St. Regis hotel in Singapore and Bangkok.
I think the last offer kind of does it for me. Now the next time I head to Bangkok, I am not even going to look in the direction of any other hotel. As long as interesting Aficionado packages like are offered, it will always be St. Regis Bangkok forever!
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