As the year was coming to a close and in need for a few more qualifying nights to renew my SPG Gold status, I booked a night with W Bangkok for a weekend stay after a couple of working days in the capital city of Thailand.

W Bangkok is located along the commercial zone of Sathorn, near the Chong Nonsi BTS station. A stone’s throw away from Silom, the location is great for those who needs easy access to the city centre where Siam Paragon, Central World and the likes are located, but quite a hassle if you wish to café hop along the Sukhumvit area.

This Starwood property is a Category 4 hotel, the lowest category for the W Hotels brand (there are only eight Category 4 W hotels globally, with four in Asia).

The hotel runs 31 floors high, featuring 403 guest rooms and 34 suites.

For this stay, I booked myself into the entry level Wonderful Room. Being a SPG Gold member, I was upgraded to the Spectacular Room instead. And of course, I enjoyed the perk of a 4pm check-out as part of the SPG Gold benefits. Note that this benefit cannot be enjoyed at W Hotels that are resorts, such as W Sentosa and W Bali.

 

The Spectacular Room boasts a rather unique layout, around the curved parts of the floor, giving the room a curved window to form a triangular layout. The décor is in the usual loud and modern W Hotel style, adorned by a huge pair of glitzy boxing gloves on the bed.

The room overlooks the swimming pool on the 6^th floor, as well as the front porch of the hotel which has a fountain.

 

The bathroom is integrated as part of the room, separated only by a huge yellow frosted glass strips and a heavy red curtain that serves as a ‘door’ for the bathroom. For those traveling with friends and family and prefer a bit more privacy in the bathroom, W Bangkok may not be the best choice.

Most of the recreational facilities are located on the 6^th floor, including the gym (FIT), outdoor splash pool (WET) and the AWAY Spa.

The gym is one of the smallest in the W Hotels I have stayed in. It is an open area on the floor, and is accessible 24 hours. The outdoor pool is not large, but throughout the day you will find people basking in the sun on one of the many deck chairs around.

The AWAY Spa is located on the same floor as well. At the time I stayed, W Bangkok was running several promotions for spa services, including a room package, Fuel Your Glow, which includes a 60-minute AWAY Massage for one. My feel is that being a destination known for its great spa and massage scene, hotel spas such as AWAY will find it incredibly challenging to offer a premium product when similar alternatives can be found easily and at a fraction of their price.

Guests may use the AWAY Spa facilities, including the steam room and sauna free of charge. The relaxation facilities are gender-segregated, but they are rather small and often underused. Note that the staff do not keep the steam room on at all times, so it’s best to call 15 minutes ahead for them to switch it on if you intend to use it.

There is also a jacuzzi somewhere within, but I didn’t check that out.

While my room didn’t come with breakfast, I asked about it during check-in and they offered a 30% discount on the breakfast at the Kitchen Table if I took it up at check-in. That comes up to about THB700 nett, which was quite a steal for a hotel breakfast but obviously extravagant by local standards.

The Kitchen Table is located on the second floor of the hotel. First thing that caught my eye was the abundance of space and natural light. Of course, the high ceiling helped too. As with all W concepts, the Kitchen Table boasts of mod décor, the use of bold colours contrasted with black.

At first glance, there was a good spread of food choices: from your usual English style breakfast items such as bacon, eggs cooked-to-order, waffles, pancakes, to a wide variety of Asian fare, including congee, DIY miso soup and a live noodle station, serving up tom yum or chicken broth soups with noodles.

When I first took my seat, I was presented with an eggs menu. I ordered a pair of poached eggs. Honestly, the eggs weren’t fantastic so I only managed to finish one. The pastries were on point as usual – with the pancakes being my favourite. I only wish that the pancakes and waffles can be made to order so that they remain hot and fluffy.

Consistently across Asia, the Asian fare is much better. The noodles were on point, and the dim sum was decently delicious too.

Outside of breakfast, W Bangkok has got one of the most vibrant dining and drinking line up across Bangkok hotels.

 

Every alternate Saturday, The Kitchen Table features ‘W does Brunch’, offering a vast spread of fine cheeses, salads, cold cuts, carved meats, BBQ, seafood, céviche and many sweet treats. Food and non-alcoholic beverages goes for THB2,500++ per person, while free-flow alcohol adds only THB600++ to the bill. SPG members enjoy additional discounts.

At Woobar on the ground floor, they have a daily happy hour one-for-one deals, but note that the one-for-one offer is based on a more expensive and limited menu. Still good value overall, especially if you imbibe alcohol like water.

What’s more exciting are the mid week events: apart from the usual ladies night every Thursday called “Girls Love Bubbles”, Woobar also features a “Boys Love Bubbles” every Wednesday night with free flow prosecco!

Next door at the House on Sathorn, there’s also a plethora of dining offers and options available for guests and walk-in customers, such as the high tea offer at the Courtyard available daily from 2.30pm to 5.30pm at THB1,350++ for two, including a selection of TWG teas. In the evening, the Courtyard and the Bar also runs a happy hour from 5pm to 7pm on weekdays offering 25% off all cocktails and beers.

Overall, W Bangkok offers good value for the money you pay – in terms of its offerings as well as its excellent location in metropolitan Bangkok. The thing that didn’t quite work for me was the small swimming pool. As one of the cheapest W properties globally, this hotel is definitely a great place to sample the W style and top notch service without breaking your wallet.