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Thailand
Bunking and Debunking in Bangkok - Millennium Hilton
Bunking and Debunking in Bangkok - Millennium Hilton
By Edward Carter
Published February 21, 2007
A six-minute read.
“Millennium Hilton
‘When it happens in Bangkok, it will undoubted happen at the Millennium Hilton Bangkok.’” (from the press kit)
It did.
Spent Christmas Eve in the new Millenium Hilton that opened March 2006. Figured it would have ironed out all the hard- and soft-ware glitches by then. Wrong.
I had booked a suite; was taken to a deluxe king.
O.K. but sort of reminds me of a Hilton hotel room.
We moved down to the end of the corridor to a suite whose outer wall was curved and took in most of downtown Bangkok and the Chao Phraya River.
The best feature of the sitting room was the 2-meter long desk with a one-meter long side extension!
The worst feature was the un-adjustable thermostat (how many times have you heard/or had to endure this?!) set at 65 degrees Fahrenheit—cold!
The next worst feature is that the door bell only rings in the bedroom. The engineer who was to fix the thermostat waited outside the door for ten minutes until someone called me on the phone to say he was there. (Couldn’t he have knocked?)
The next worst feature is that the bedroom has its own un-adjustable thermostat—the engineer had to come back! (Couldn’t he have told me?)
The best features in the bedroom are the tailored black-out curtains and the felt strip that is beautifully inlayed into the edges of the door to keep light from entering.
The worst feature of the bedroom is that the door is warped so the rising sun hits you right in the eyes. (The turndown service hadn’t shut the curtains in the sitting room.)
The next worst feature in the bedroom was that while two of us were registered, the bed was turned down only on one side, and there was only one chocolate. However, there was a linen floor-cloth on each side of the bed—“the consistency of the inconsistencies” – my current favorite phrase.
The next worst feature in the bedroom is that there is no waste basket; none!
The best features of the stunningly modern bathroom are the Jacuzzi tub, over-size shower stall with beautifully detailed hinges, the frosted glass shielding the toilet, and the halogen lighting.
The worst feature of the bathroom is that the maids intricately fold the bath towels in specially designed recesses…6 feet away from the shower door, so the first time you take a shower, it’s drip-slip-drip to get a towel. The second time too, if you forget. Dumb! There’s a rail on the shower door, put the towels there! Once again, it’s obvious that management hasn’t spent the night here. Duh!
The next worst feature of the bathroom is that one is given one bar of soap; one. Slip-slip, slip-slip, back into the shower stall to retrieve the soap.
The next worst feature of the bathroom is that the halogen lamps hum, loudly.
The next worst feature in the bathroom is that there is no waste basket; none!
The best features of the hotel itself are the soaring lobby…
and the pool with its own real sand beach. This is the beach…
Most of the pool is only six inches deep and beach chairs are scattered about these shallows. This is what it looks like in the hotel’s CD:
The worst feature of the pool area is that it is so under-staffed that the guests have to man-handle the heavy metal chairs themselves to catch (or avoid) the sun.
The next worst feature of the pool area is the untrained staff. I watched the only two waiters take orders and then head for the kitchen without even looking to see if anyone else needed service. All afternoon, the calm was rent with whistles and shouts for service. Hey, never mind, it’s only Christmas Eve, why make any extra effort? Remember TIT (This Is Thailand)!
This is what the pool was really like…
The next worse feature at the pool is the design of the heavy but teeny tables next to the chairs (that you have to move when you move your chair)…the top is too small to hold a tray and is fitted with partitions that are too small to take a glass.
I booked a table at the breezy riverside buffet restaurant, Flow. I wandered in during the afternoon to pick a table for dinner. The stainless steel, open plan kitchen/buffet set-up is dazzling!
The best feature of this high-ceilinged space is that it spreads from the hotel’s lobby all the way to a lovely outside terrace along the river. The head waitress said it would be too breezy outside—she had earmarked an inside table along the window wall. Dinner was a splendid affair but…the worst feature of our experience—the candles kept being blown out by the over-zealous air-conditioning! (Doncha love it; breezy inside too!)
Stuck our heads in Yuan, the Chinese restaurant. This is one laaazy susan!
At the top of the hotel is Three Sixty, a sophisticated jazz lounge with all of Bangkok wherever you look. Sabrina Montgomery, a dream girl from the American South, sweetly serenaded as we watched the fireworks in front of The Oriental far, far below. This is 360…
And this is the view. The Oriental is dead center on the river…
We found an elevator that slowly runs down the outside of the building all the way to Zeta Bar. Zeta, the bar that shifts to a club every night of the week, won awards in London and the concept has spread. The drinks are great and the music is what you want. Unfortunately, that night the cover charge was set so high, only two other people ever came in the door. Looked like this…empty.
Yep, spent Christmas Eve in the new Millenium Hilton that opened March 2006. Figured it would have ironed out all the hard- and soft-ware glitches by then. Wrong.
Hey Kids, remember it’s just a Hilton. It’s a business hotel. It may be on the Chao Phraya River but it’s no 5-star leisure hotel. This is a place to work. So, one of the best business features of this hotel may be its fast Internet connection.
But certainly, its worst feature must be charging its customers to use the Internet! Can’t management figure out how to bury the $18 per 24 hour-fee in the room rate to at least appear to be businessman-friendly? This is the NEW millennium after all, and we all understand Marketing 101!
The best feature of this visit was that the hotel was nowhere near full occupancy.
The worst feature of this visit was that we had to wait twenty-five minutes for our bags to be brought down from our room. I asked every five minutes, and every five minutes someone else told me they were on their way.
Finally, if you are in BKK to do business, this place is on the wrong side of the river. Go to the Conrad—it’s the Hilton in this town that has its act together (I wonder if it charges for the Internet).
Millennium Hilton, Bangkok
123 Charoennakorn Road, Klongsan, Bangkok 10600, Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 2 442 2000, Fax: +66 (0) 2 442 2020
www.hilton.com
Conrad Bangkok
87 Wireless Road, Phatumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
Tel: 66-2-690-9999
Here is my review of Conrad’s Italianate restaurant.
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Please email me your travel tales, "postcards," and questions. I'll publish the most interesting, appropriate or outrageous in Correspondence - All the best, Ted (short for Edward)
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| copyright © 2006, EDWARD CARTER |