I stayed two nights at the Grand Hyatt Bangkok on my recent trip. Arriving in the early evening, during the period of the recent curfew, I hopped a taxi to the hotel. The cab was about GBP£10 and took a little over 30 minutes. There were checkpoints visible but not operational when I travelled. The driver said that he had waited 4 hours for his fare.

The hotel is in a pretty good location near two of the subway lines in Bangkok but honestly for the cab fare it wasn’t worth taking the train.

About two weeks before I arrived the hotel has reached out to ask when I was coming on Twitter, after I replied to someone asking a question about the hotel. I though this was nice and told them about my arrival date in reply to their question. When I got to the Reception desk, the agent was expecting me. I had applied a Diamond Gold Passport to my room and so was expecting a suite, and the hotel told me that they had further upgraded me – well beyond the call of duty. The agent escorted me to my room. I was a little disappointed when we only went to the 5th floor, although sometimes this happens with the upgrades. However, as we walked through the spa I was a little unsure what to expect when the double wooden doors opened:

Outside there was a dining area for the spa and pool:

To the right I was taken through a planted area:

to a set of five bungalows, located at the end of the pool area. I had been given the middle one!

Whow !

I had booked some spa treatments for the next morning and the agent confirmed that the staff would come and collect me from the bungalow in the morning.

Entrance doors:

On entering the hallway there was a large sitting room to the right with the bedroom beyond. To the left was the massage room and beyond that bathroom and sauna. It was one of the largest hotel ‘rooms’ I had ever experienced. For about £90 per night and a suite upgrade.

On the desk was a letter warning about expected protests the next morning, but as I had planned the spa I wasn’t too concerned. I looked around the rooms that were going to be home for the next couple of days.

Checking the web site I found that I had been upgraded to:

The Living Room
Had a large sofa, desk, rocking chair and TV. There was a huge fruit basket also.

Many of the US/UK channels were not available:

The Treatment Room
The large bench was the focal feature of the room, but there were also two sinks on the far side.

The units along the side called out to be explored:

The was an espresso machine, and milk in the fridge!

There was a wide range of fruit juices (all free), and in the top freezer compartment, there were two tubs of ice cream and a scoop!

Bedroom
The large king bed was the feature of this room. The large picture window provided a lot of light during the day. A great place to read was the mattress on the window edge.

The was a walkway, past the toilet to the bathroom, with a super bath.

Bathroom

There were controls on the side of the sauna allowing me to set time and temperature.

Located off the bedroom there was a secluded patio area with several chairs.

If there was an issue it was how far the train tracks were to the room. If you had been a light sleeper it might have been a problem.

You can see the location of the bungalow in conjunction to the swimming pool – you can see how large the suite was from the plan!

This is the main part of the hotel, as seen from the 5th floor.

The next morning I found that there was a problem with the drain from the bathroom after the huge thunderstorm of the night before. It caused the bath to empty in to the room. I put down the large towels and told the staff at the spa desk as I went for breakfast. They could not have been nicer. A cleaner turned up almost right away to mop up the water and then a handyman came. I swear every member of staff knew I had a problem – they kept apologising. When it came time for my massage, the Manager of the Spa came over, apologised again and then arrange for a free lunch after my treatment as an apology! Now that is service.

Overall
A great stay where the staff absolutely went out of their way to make it perfect. I hope to be back in 2015 when things should be more stable in the city. Certainly the best upgrade I have ever had at Hyatt and it truly made my stay enjoyable and memorable.

Tomorrow – Grand Club at the property.