Millenium Hilton Bangkok
The Millenium Hilton Bangkok is located at the banks of river Chaopraya near the Peninsula and opposite the Royal Orchid Sheraton hotel. The drive from the airport take depending on the traffic around an hour and the fare will be around 235 and 370 THB, depending on the route the driver takes.
There is not much to see around the hotel, but the hotel offers a shuttle boat to the skytrain station at the Taksin Bridge (near the Shangri-La hotel) and to a stop near the royal palace. The royal palace might be even easier to reach from this hotel than from the many downtown hotels.
The hotel is a white high rise building with 31 floors. It was scheduled to open as a Sofitel but remained unfinished due to the first Asian Finance Crisis at the beginning of the century and it was finally finished and opened as Hilton in 2005. The hotel is set back from the main road closer to the river. The most people will leave the hotel by shuttle boat during their stay.
If one reaches the hotel by taxi, the taxi will be searched for bombs and after this is done the taxi is allowed to drive towards the hotel.
The hotel has a driveway with a desk of the bellboys, who helps you with the luggage and also dealing with taxi drivers who try to rip you off.
The lobby is impressive and has an open atrium. Opposite the entrance are the desk to check in guests. There are four of five places to check in guests. Two agents are welcoming guests and if you have status in the guest program HHonors you will be guided to a special area with lounge chairs and sofas for check in or guided to the lounge, if the guest has booked executive level and requests a check in there.
On the left side of the lobby are a huge number of sofas, lounge chairs and table for sitting, relaxing, having a cup of coffee. Behind the lobby are the elevators to the guest floors. Focusing the river is the restaurant “Flow” where in the morning breakfast is served and in the evening an evening buffet with local as well as Asian and European food offerings. The restaurant has also tables outside at the river and especially in the evening with candles this is a very nice romantic place for having dinner. Of
course, there are other restaurants available, located on higher floors.
The gym and pool area are located on the fourth floor. The gym is more of the small side, offering a few treadmills and steppers, but nothing for training the body. Towels and water are provided in the gym and staff is assisting you if necessary. The pool area is located facing the river. The pool is medium sized and a part of it is below the hotel building. One of the features of the pool area is a huge part around the hotel with ankle deep water with some sun chairs standing there in the ankle deep water making
this a very unique experience. Another number of lounge chairs are standing on a small area beside the hotel on grass or sand. A snack service is offered to guests relaxing at the pool. Giving the position and area around the hotel I find this area not the nicest one. Since the hotel is very narrow this area is not so nice and very narrow, too. If you can have a sun chair facing the river it might be okay, but the sun chairs at the side are not the ones with the nicest location and also the building itself is
blocking the sun. From my experience, there are nicer pool areas in Bangkok and if on is in relaxing at the pool, on should look for another place like the Marriott or the Sheraton. To my very surprise the pool and the area around it was quite busy around 09:00 in the morning.
The Spa is on the ground floor in a separate building on the right hand side of the lobby. I have not used it, sine the rates have been quite high but it looked nice.
At the river is the boat pier for the shuttle boat to the royal palace or the Taksin Bridge.
The interior design of the hotel is nice and very modern and quite a change from the typical hotel design. It is inspired by Thai themes, but in a very modern way and therefore in my impression very nice. It used warm and light brown colors and much of natural light combined with a lot of glass.
The above mentioned evening buffet in the restaurant “Flow” offers Thai dishes as well as Japaneses Sushi and Cantonese and Mandarin dishes. European dishes are available as well. The selection is huge and one cannot try everything, the selection is just to extensive. Sweet dishes and even tiramisu are available. The wine list is big and covers wine from Australia and New Zealand but has also a number of wines from Europe and the USA. Staff is friendly and attentive and used plates are removed quite fast. The
most people used the open air tables while I have been there in February 2009, but I can imagine this changes in the rain season with very humid weather.
The design of the restaurant was also very modern with a lot of glass, light brown tiles and very functional, but not uncomfortable. However not much of local Thai style, but this does not matter for me, it like it that way.
The restaurant “Flow” also hosts the breakfast buffet. It has a huge selection of sausages, cheeses, marmalade and jam. Rolls, croissant and several different types of bread and toasts were available beside a selection of muffins, doughnuts and Danish. In addition scrambled eggs, mushroom, vegetables, sausages, bacon, rösti were offered and omelets, waffles and other dishes were prepared by a cook on request by the guest. Tea was available and coffee was brought by the staff serving the restaurant. A number of
different types of juices were available on the buffet. Overall a very extensive buffet.
The hotels has the executive lounge on the top floor. It is a huge lounge which also has a sun terrace on the roof offering great views of the skyline of Bangkok especially in the evening when the sun sinks and the dark appears and all the lights went on.
There is a small area manned with two agents who are able to check in and out guests and also serve as lounge agents at the desk of the executive lounge requesting guests to sign in and off and see if the guests are allowed to use the lounge.
The lounge covers the most of the 31 floor and has a front part facing the river with some lounge chairs and tables and a rear part which also has lounge chairs and a few tables on the left side. It is a nice and modern design. The lounge offers free internet and there is a number of power outlets on the floor.
The lounge serves all day non-alcoholic beverages. There is no self service, one will be served by one of the members of staff. However this means it could take some time before one got the beverage one has ordered.
Afternoon tea is served between 15:00 and 17:00 and happy our is between 18:00 and 20:30 with warm food, hors d'oeuvres and as a special feature cocktails are mixed.
Breakfast is served in the morning between 06:30 and 10:30 during weekday and 11:00 during weekends. The selection of food is more limited than down in the restaurant, but the service is more personal.
Stays February 05, 2009
visited on: Two Days in Bangkok
direct link to hotel
Arrival Date: 06 February 2010
Departure Date: 07 February 2010
Room type booked: King Executive Room (no further upgrade)
Rate Plan: January Sale
Room Number: 2614
Room Rate: 3865.00 THB
Status of Guest Program: Gold
After my long flight and a taxi driver trying to rip me off I finally arrived around 17:00 at the Millenium Hilton Bangkok and was friendly greeted by one of the agents in the lobby. The bellboy already had excused the behaviour of the taxi driver and so did the agent. After I confirmed that I was holding Hilton HHonors Gold status I was directed to one of the sofas in the special area for the check in of status guests. I was asked
if I would like to use the check in in the executive lounge but I was fine with doing it downstairs. My trolley was taken care off while I was offered a cold towel and a cup of tea. I had booked a room on the executive level and had hoped for an further upgrade to a junior suite. The hotel did not offer a further upgrade but I could choose between a late check out, a bottle of wine and an invitation to the evening dinner buffet in the restaurant. Despite the fact that a late check out is one of the features of
Hilton HHonors Gold, I took the invitation to evening dinner buffet, which seems to offer the best value for money. I would not use the late check out anyway, so it did not matter.
After everything was done, I was accompanied to my room on the 26th floor.
In the elevator, one has to use the keycard to access the floors with the guest rooms. Only one key can be pressed after the keycard was used.
The room was more of the smaller size compared with other hotels, so my first impression and caused by the layout of the room and the arrangement of the furniture.
The room opened to a hallway with a closet and a place to store the luggage on the right side and the entrance to the bathroom on the left side. In the closet an iron and ironing board were stored as well as the safe located. An umbrella was also available. .
The bathroom is modern with an jacuzzi on the left side and a separate standalone shower with regular hand shower and rain forest shower head. The rain forest shower was a bit furred, but pressing on the rubber nipples of the shower head helped to clean them. The toilet was separated by a sliding door from the bathroom. On the right side was the sink with mirror covering part of the space behind the sink, while the remaining part was a glass wand to the living room but with a wooden shade at the window limiting
the view from the room into the bathroom. This shade could not be lifted and therefore was merely a decorative element than of any use. A nice lamp and a very modern designed coat hanger were some other nice aspects of the nice and modern interior design of this room.
Towels were provided in small, medium and big size as well as a bathrobe. Bathroom amenities were by Crabtree & Evelyne and bottled water was also available.
The room consists so to say of two parts. There was a small part between the bathroom and the bed where the desk with lamp and phone was located. A LAN connection was also available for a fee. The desk was having a desk lamp, a box with utensils for working like paper clips, tesa strips, scissor and some other things I often have missed in hotel rooms. Behind the desk separated by a wooden panel was the bed facing the big window, along with two bedside table and lamps on it, also the Hilton signature alarm clock
and another phone were placed on one of them. This bedside table was really packed and not much of room were left to place for example a bottle of water.
On the left side was a lounge chair with table and on a small sideboard was the flat TV placed.
The amenity consists of a fruit plate.
Air condition worked good, but not free of draught and not without a noise. But since it was not directed on the bed, I could live with that.
The design of the room was very nice and modern, using warm colours and having some local touch and therefore giving the room a very unique appearance. One noticed, that this is a room in an Thai hotel, but it was also modern and bright and also the room was more of the smaller side, I like the design very much. Local artwork made from wood added to this nice appearance and this was definitively not one of the faceless hotel rooms which could be also in hotel between Amsterdam and Zurich.
The room was in good shape, however if one took a closer look, one could find some scratches and minor stains on the wall and on the floor, but nothing which really limits the joys to stay there. However I have heard about rooms, which have had more scratches and stains and even some problems with wet wall, probably a result of the fact that the hotel was remaining unfinished for some years.
The only point is that the layout of the room and the arrangement of desk and bed gave the impression that the room was small, despite the fact that by size this is not the case at all.
Since I took the invitation for the evening buffet in the restaurant, I had only a quick view on the food offerings in the evening. The warm dishes have been a bit uninspired, just plain noodles with a sauce Bologna Style, not what I expect in Bangkok. Considering the warm dishes and the selection of salads, I must say, I have seen a more attractive selection of food offerings in many hotels. At least some more local dishes would have been very welcome.
I have had breakfast in the executive lounge after a quick visit at the buffet downstairs. I prefer the more quiet surrounding in the lobby. The selection is not bad with different types of bread, rolls and croissant, jam, sausages and cheeses as well as scrambled eggs, noodles. Cereals and muesli were available as well, tea and coffee were served by staff and several different types of juice were available on the buffet. Omelets were available on demand by the guest. The service during breakfast was okay, sometimes
a bit slow to clear used dishes and I had to ask for another pot of tea, it was not offered by staff themselves after they have noticed I have finished it.
I used the check out in the lounge which was fast and everything was prepared. The executive floor manager was working there and she was more proactive than her colleague; she asked about my experience and if everything was okay while her colleague did the paperwork like preparing the invoice and so on. I was allowed to use the lounge for an hour or so to finish some things using my laptop.
I like the design of the hotel and the ambiance of the rooms, as they are something special. Modern and bright and nothing faceless but also not too local. It has the right level between modern design and local touch. The staff is friendly, but not as proactive as for example in the Conrad. I have noticed this while I was sitting in the lounge.
The cons are the not so attractive pool and the gym being of the smaller side. The location is in my eyes not a contra, as a more quite location could be also an advantage in a busy and noisy city like Bangkok.
I will stay there again, if I am looking for a hotel a bit outside of the noise as I did not mind to use the skytrain or taking a taxi.
