Shangri-La Bangkok Hotel Review

We took a taxi to the Shangri-la Bangkok hotel from Banyan Tree (we change hotels for a different view). The taxi took us to the Shangri-la Bangkok hotel instead of the Krungthep Wing of the Shangri-la Bangkok. Not knowing this we tried to check in and were told we were in the wrong building, the front desk arranged for the hotel Tuk Tuk to take us to the Krungthep Wing. Check in was quick, Frank the Operations manager introduced himself and offered his help during our stay.

Room –

We were taken up to our room, we had booked a Deluxe Balcony suite, one of the main features of this room is that it comes with a personal butler. The butler came to introduce herself and this was the last we saw of her. This room had a Huge king size bed, a small sitting area and a balcony with great views of Chao Phraya river.
I had requested a high floor and we were given the 16th floor (top floor). As this was a special occasion trip, we were given a really nice box of chocolate (a block of choc and a large chocolate heart). Very yummy!!
The room offers free soft drink (and water) in the mini bar, you can call to get this refilled all day. which was a nice touch!

Service –

The service at the Shangri-La Bangkok was very different to the Banyan Tree. We felt more like a number than a guest. It was nice to have a butler but we never used the service.  The service wasn’t horrible but we felt they were always too busy to stop and say Hello.
I did have severe back pain while in Bangkok and had a look through the guest compendium, in the housekeeping section it offers a hot water bottle (press 0) when I called, no one could understand what I was asking for, I got put through to the nurse who said over and over they could only offer a cold pack, after speaking to 3 different people I gave up.

Club room –

The Shangri-La Bangkok Club lounge was really nice. The view of the grounds and river were lovely. The selection of brekky and evening canapés was really good! Except one evening they served chocolate mousse, it had lumpy bits of jelly/gelatine(??), I thought this might have been one cup so I tried another and so did my husband and it looked as if all of them had this lump of jelly at the bottom, it wasn’t very nice..

Pool –

The Shangri-La Bangkok had 2 pools, one for the Krungthep Wing (pic 1) and another for the Shangri La hotel. Personally I prefer the larger Shangri la pool (pic 2). It is much big and better. We didnt use either of them as we were too busy off “Adventuring”.

Shangri-La Bangkok Food –

The club lounge Brekky & evening canapés were really nice, they had a good spread set up. We did have a bit of a bad experience after having dinner at Salathip -. I bugged my husband to try the Salathip as I thought from the moment I booked at the Shangri-La it looked amazing. He wasn’t feeling very well but said okay we can try it. We decided to see if we could walk in without a booking, this wasn’t a problem and we got a table right away, it’s such a beautiful restaurant. We were given the menu and told about the set menu as my husband wasn’t feeling very well we ordered from the Al a Carte menu. Once we made our order we felt as if we weren’t good enough to be dining there because we didn’t order the set menu. It seemed to get worse from there. we asked for the bill and the (female) waitress said “oh what you are finished, no desert” huffed and walked away. We didn’t feel very welcome there.

Spa –

We did not try the spa as we found it very very expensive even by Australian Standards, however this is expected given it is a well known 5 star hotel.

Location –

The location of the Shangri-La Bangkok seems to be ideal. It is just around the corner from the BTS (Bangkok Sky Train) and right on the river, which has it pretty easy to get around.

There is also a Robinson (large supermarket) just around the corner as well as a small market place outside the hotel.

Staff worth special mention –

Joey in the Club lounge, he was very friendly and chatty.
The Security man who salutes you each time you go past.

General Summary –

They offer to have 2 items for pressed per stay (Previous hotel offered 4 items per day), feel that this is a poor.
A few things that we didn’t like –
There is no ventilation in bathroom which can be a bit awkward if you’re sharing a room.
The room offers a map for $250 baht but there is nothing to say that you can get a free map at the concierge.
There is no pillow menu (that we could find)
The pressure in the shower is awful!
Overall there were a few hiccups but it was a good stay.