NOVOTEL BANGKOK PLOENCHIT

I stayed here for 4 nights during a family trip in Bangkok. The hotel is strategically located in front of BTS Ploenchit Station, but there is only an escalator upwards, so it is not a good thing if you bring elderly. For those who take taxi from and to airport, this hotel is very near to the expressway. Malls are on the walking distance. The check in process was smooth and the bell-boys are very friendly and helpful. The room is clean and well equipped. Air-con and hot water worked very well. They provided standard amenities but if you need something else (e.g sewing kit and shaving kit), it is available on the reception desk. The shower gel and shampoo is too small. I expected they use some local Thai scents but, unfortunately no. Even though it is a 'not so new' hotel, they maintain it very well. The bedsheet and towels are clean and white, and the furniture are in a good condition. The pool is not big, only can contain 3 person, the gym is spacious and well equipped. The changing room is awesome and clean. No need to wait until sauna is turned on is a big plus. The staff is very friendly. Corridor and elevator is mildly air conditioned (or maybe not even air conditioned, because it feels hot in the afternoon), and surprisingly no Novotel signature scent. Overall it is a good stay and surely I will return in the next opportunity.

Location is perfect, next to BTS as well as expressway. Dee Lounge at the lobby is a very comfortable & relaxing place. Khun Meow & all the staff is smiling & courteous. Fairly good spread for the B/F & Rooms are comfortable with nice city view.

This hotel will probably be "one and done" for me, my first and last stay here. It’s not that the hotel was thoroughly bad, but in a city with so many premium choices, if a hotel does not have a customer-centric attitude and does not stand out in other ways, I find little reason to return. I booked the entry level room and I was upgraded as Accor Diamond +2 to Premier Executive which are the same as basic but on the highest floors. I asked what upgrade would a Platinum receive, it would be +1 to Deluxe which are higher floors than entry level rooms, but not as high as Premier Exec. They had junior suites and regular suites available online but they said they will not upgrade there unless I booked Premier Exec which would be a waste of money since Platinum+Diamond guests have lounge access already. For stays where I would value having more space, that alone would possibly be reason to choose another hotel; I made it clear at check-in that in my opinion their upgrades are not competitive. They still did not bulge. The room itself was not bad – on pictures. It was great to have a room without carpet and a walk-in shower with a window for natural light. However it was very hot when I entered (28C) so the first thing I did was to move the temperature down to the minimum. Unfortunately the cool air was very weak. After a few hours the temperature had only come down to 26C and it was not even sunny outdoors, and in fact the window had some kind of sticker which was obscuring hiding the view, possibly to help keep the room cool. I found it ironic that the upgrade at this hotel is exclusively for the view when the view itself is partially blocked to make up for poor air conditioning. Another problem with the room was that I was unable to lock the door. Because I did not want to sleep in a hot room, I went back to reception to inform them about the poor AC and I emphasized that the upgrade was even worse than I thought because the shaded view which was to compensate the AC situation. In many hotels when a customer (especially top tier of loyalty program) has a faulty room, they get moved to a better room type, but I think at this hotel they will simply not upgrade to suites come hell or high water because they still did not want to give me a suite. I was given the same room type, fortunately the second one had no AC problem as I could see right away that the wind was blowing strongly unlike the first room. However strangely that room had carpet and no window in the shower so it felt like a downgrade. Making me move to the same room type when they could have upgraded was not stellar service recovery, but in their defense they provided an apology letter in the room along with cake. That said, it was essentially the same as what was available in the lounge in the dessert section during happy hour. In addition, the cake has to be seen in the context that I did not even receive any kind of Accor Diamond welcome amenity such as a fruit bowl etc. which was a clear miss. To conclude with the room, the bathroom toiletries were one of the cheapest varieties one can find – unmarked and unbranded. While I did not care since I had brought my own, often times when a hotel deviates from brand standards and instead provide something very cheap, it’s a sign of the overall philosophy in the hotel which is the main issue and trickles down to other areas, rather than the toiletries themselves. The executive lounge on the top floor was one of the strong points of the stay because it looked nice and also had an outdoor seating area. The food in the afternoon was completely inexistent but in the evening for happy hour it was fair. Drinks were not so impressive, but not unreasonable for the price tag of this hotel. Breakfast was a bit the opposite, the restaurant setting was not very attractive with lots of tables crammed together but the food was above average. The welcome drink vouchers were not given to me proactively at check-in, in fact I forgot about them until I had already settled in my room so I had to go back to reception. To make matters worse, when I requested at the bar to take the welcome drinks to my room, the first answer was no until I protested. It was one more indicator that the natural inclination of staff at this hotel is sometimes not to please, it’s to be rigid. Wifi was slower than most hotels 5-8 Mbps. Overall nothing stood out very positively and because of their upgrade policy and lack of customer-centric approach I am unlikely to come back to this hotel. The location is great but there are many other hotels in that area so it’s not like Novotel has a monopoly on good location.

We stayed here for 5 nights for a family get together. The staff are very helpful. May at reception was very Knowledgeable and guided correctly. Golf who was the concierge was our favourite! He helped us with knowing what to do in the city and made all bookings for us! We had many a wonderful days due to this team.

Oh is a wonderful person to approach. He is very authentic and warm. He guided me on nearby places to visit as well as arranged cab for local visits. Very trustworthy and helpful like all Thai people. He took special interest as I was first time and was pretty unknown to the place...I wish to give him credit for his good work and hospitality too...Novotel remains my choice if it is Bangkok next time 😊