I came to Bangkok for business this weekend and decided to check out a few hotels along the way. Since I was arriving late into Bangkok late on Wednesday evening, I decided to book the cheapest Starwood property available in town to clock a stay for one night, before moving on to other hotels the next day.
Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit 11 is my choice this time round, given that their cheapest room went at about THB3000 (S$120). I didn’t book early enough, because there were times where early bird discounts drive the room price as low as THB2400.
Depending on the time of the year, another Starwood property, Four Points by Sheraton Sukhumvit 15 may take the place of being the cheapest Starwood property in Bangkok city, so do check both hotels.
I booked myself into the entry level Chic Room simply because it was only for one night. Or a little over 12 hours, to be exact. Checking in at midnight is definitely not a fantastic way to start a trip and all I wanted was to hit the showers and the bed. There was only one other guest checking in before me (you will imagine that no one checks in at midnight) and I was impatiently waiting for my turn. Kudos to the front desk staff, check-in was very fuss free and quick, and when he handed me the room key, he said the magic words, “We have upgraded you to a suite.” My eyes widened only because I forgot that SPG tends to provide upgrades for their gold and platinum customers, except at resorts!
So I got myself a suite!
To be honest, I wasn’t planning on reviewing this property but since it’s the first time I stayed in a suite at Aloft, why not?
Aloft has a reputation to be the wannabe of W Hotels, almost like a pesky younger sibling. In fact, its tagline – A Vision of W – unabashedly positions itself so. At Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit 11, you can vouch that this is definitely the party hotel to be at, given the throngs of people streaming in and out of the xwyz bar when I arrived at midnight.
My suite was located on the 31st floor, just a floor under the top. I’m not a big fan of high floors, particularly when the lifts are few and slow. This was the case with Aloft – not necessarily the slow bit but there were only four lifts.
The suite was essentially twice of the regular Chic, Breezy and Urban rooms. There is a certain regularity to the size of the rooms in the entire property (unlike W Bangkok), so there isn’t many ways you can configure them.
The suite consists of a living room and a bedroom, with a bathroom and dressing area that ran the entire length of the room.
The bonus that came with the suite was a bathtub – this is the first time I’ve seen a bathtub in an Aloft room. The body soap and shampoo, however, still came in a push pump bottle.
There were also two vanities with a tray of amenities in between. What puzzled me the most was the bar soap – if Aloft is bent on saving money with the press pumps, why not do it for the bar soap too? There are liquid formula for either facial foams or hand washes.
The bed was definitely incredibly comfortable, with good sized pillows and mini bolsters that I liked to use. Do note that the suites only came with King beds, so if you definitely need twin beds in your room, you will have to give up the suite for a regular room.
I was feeling a little hungry so I went down to RE:FRESH, which was Aloft’s signature convenience store/café concept across the entire brand, and had saved my life on several occasions with hot food being available late at night. I ordered some lamb meatballs and a drink for THB230. Still pricey by Thailand standards, but hey for a hotel it’s definitely good value.
The hotel also contains a small gym and an outdoor pool on the 10th floor. The gym is adequate as long as you are the only person in the gym, while the pool can comfortably contain perhaps a dozen people.
Aloft is most famous for its wxyz bar (similar to W’s woobar) and this property is no exception. The perpetual deal was a 1-for-1 deal from 5-9pm daily, and a buy 2 get one free offer from 9pm onwards. Now that makes it perfectly understandable why it was so crowded.
Location wise, the hotel is located deep within Sukumvit Soi 11. A walk out to the closest BTS station, Nana, is about 10 minutes. The soi (lane) is also inundated with plenty of hotels, including Ambassador hotel, and newly opened Mercure and Holiday Inn Express hotels. As a result, the lane is perpetually packed with vehicles, so be sure to book your Grab or Uber well ahead of time, and leave plenty of time for getting from one place to another. If you are leaving for the airport, suggest you plan for a one hour journey. Besides that, the soi is generally popular with Caucasians and packed with bars – very good if you enjoy the Kuta-style sitting at bars and chugging beers the whole night.
Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit 11 is generally a good and cheap place to stay in Bangkok if you need to clock SPG nights. The only real downside is its location, which can really be a bummer if you, like me, hate to waste time getting from point to point and prefers a more accessible location.
Shanescape 
