I go to Thailand on business about 5-6 times a year. I like the President Hotel chain because of the large rooms, reasonable prices and friendly management and staff. This trip, I started out staying at the President Solitaire which is where I have been staying for the last 5 years. I really love the hotel but over the last few stays I started to experience some serious issues with the Internet connectivity. Since I am CEO of an Internet Technology company, this simply was unacceptable and I finally decided to move up the street to the Grand President Hotel after running an equipment test first. I found the management and staff of the Grand President to be first class. The resident manager, Affendy Ismail and his assistant, Leo helped to make my stay at the Grand President a first class experience. It's the small things that really make a battle tested road warrior like myself happy. When I mentioned to Affendy that there was no decaf in the restaurant, about an hour later, Leo showed up with a large new jar of instant coffee, courtesy of Affendy. The next morning I also found out that decaf was newly offered at the restaurant. These are people who really care about making your stay at the hotel gratifying. The Internet technology at the Grand President while not perfect, was pretty good and allowed me to use my Vonage phone which is crucial since I work all night long in Bangkok getting on conference calls from New York to San Francisco. Without an IP phone my telephone bills would simply be preposterous. Also, the IT staff (Mr. T) was incredibly helpful in making sure my computer/vonage phone set up worked. I also must thank my dear friend, Khun Kwan who works in the GM's office and who has been like a younger sister to me over the years. I also must mention the effienciency and friendliness of the helpful lady in the business center, as well as an excellent team of professionals at the bell desk. The only hiccup that I experienced was that although on one short trip to Shanghai, the hotel limo which I had booked failed to meet me. They did make up for that by giving me a free limo to the airport when I left to go back to Hawaii. All in all, the Grand President is a great choice for a comfortable, reasonably priced and friendly BKK hotel. For the record, the President Solitaire is also a great choice once they address the tech issues. The GM there, Khun Nathalie is an awesome person.

I visit Bangkok avery couple of months and usually stay in the sukumvit area. My usual hotel is the Grand Majestic.

I thought I would check out the Grand President on the basis that the rooms were roughly twice as big for slightly less money.

The location is great - a stroll up Soi 11 and pretty close to Nana BTS. Soi 11 is a safe, wide street with a mixture of offices and shops (generally food stores).

The hotel has a number of 'towers', my room was in tower 2. This means checking in to the lobby reception of tower 1 and then walking over to tower 2. This is only 10 meters across the driveway to the hotel and under a covered awning so rain isnt a problem.

Tower 2 has its own lobby area which is nice enough but there isn't much going on there, just sofas for waiting around. There are 2 elevators servicing the tower of around 18-20 floors. This is a bit of a challenge at times. Waiting times for the elevator, particularly coming down can be excruciating. This is really compounded by there apparently being no staff elevator.

In the 3 days I stayed I shared an elevator with another customer twice, the rest of the time was with staff constantly stopping to get in and out. This was presumably the reason for the extended waiting times.

The room itself was OK but pretty uninspiring - not quite what I had imagined. Dark woods, fairly bland colours etc. It was a good surprise and the fixtures/fittings of the kitchen area were all of a good standard.

On hitch I did notice was a complete lack of towels. 2 days in a row I had to call down to request them be sent to the room. I complained to the management that this is pretty unacceptable, that towels are a basic of any hotel room but he blamed an issue they have with their suppliers.

To me this is an essential item and if I had been informed of the difficulties they were having at check in, it may not have been an issue. As it was I found it really annoying to find out when I was dripping wet from a shower and scrabbling about looking to dry off !

The other fly in the ointment was the wake up call which, by their own admission, they forgot about ! They finally called 1 hour after the alloted time - not good with a flight connection. luckly I had woken up 10 mins beofre and managed to race around to get packed.

The manager did compensate to some extent by providing a courtesy hotel car to race me to the airport. this was a good and a bad thing. The driver made it to the airport in 21 mins door to door but that involved 180kmh driving across all lanes of the motorway. I made my plane with literally 2 mins to spare so I guess I should be happy I made it, even if my blood pressure was through the roof !

In terms of value for money and location, the hotel is great - a firm 4 star property. If it wasn't for the towels and the wake up call I would only really have the lifts to complain about which I guess isn't such a big thing. On the flip side I guess there is really nothing out of the ordinary about the property that makes me want to go back again.

First of all, I would like to thank Leo from the Grand President for being helpful and patient towards my request to change from Standard Room to Executive suite.

I'd read the Grand President good reviews and decided to book a Standard room for 1 night stay. Before the Grand President, I had stayed at Holiday Inn Bangkok for 3 nights. So I can tell you that there is a big difference between these 2 hotels. But I must say that it's unfair if I compare the Grand President with Holiday Inn cos the price is doubled at Holiday Inn.

Anyway, we checked-in to the STANDARD ROOM and were glad that Leo came to assist us as the receptionist's English is very bad. We were brought to Tower 3 which is opposite the hotel main road and have to go through tiny small lanes to the Tower 3. As only me and my sister stay, I'm afraid that the small lane is dangerous for us 2 girls.

All the Tower's lobby was very nice and comfortable. But we did not expect the Standard room to be this bad. As soon as I entered the Standard room apartment, I can smell the stale furniture & cigarettes smoke smell. And the floor was cold & sticky as it's not carpeted.

The bed's firmness was fine but when I sit on it, I felt uncomfortable. Maybe the bed sheets are a bit old. The 2 single beds were placed so near to each other that there is only a small space enough for your 2 legs. And when you pick up the phone to speak, you can smell the stale breath from the phone receiver. I think they did not bother to clean the phones. The toilet also a bit old.

AFTER all the horrors of the Standard Room, I've decided to change to Executive Suite for an extra THB300.

The Executive Suite was average, at least much better than the standard room and it's at Tower 1 directly above the reception counter which is more lively. The room is very spacious and carpeted at the living area. But it still have some smell of old furniture & cigarettes. The Bed, pillows & toilet are ok and clean. But the bathtub are stained and the hot water is faulty. Sometimes the water is very hot and sometimes the water very cold. I have to keep adjusting the water throughout my shower.

The free buffet breakfast food was good but the staff was not friendly. Cos my sister told me that when I checked in, my friends (4 girls) waited for me at the coffee house at Tower 1. They ordered 1 set of sandwiched (that was about after lunch) and shared among themselves. The waitress looked at us from head to toe and toe to head again giving us some stare meaning we are poor or some similar meaning. We think that it is impolite to give these stares.

Overall, I give only 2 stars for the Grand President mainly because Leo gave a good & friendly service. If you really must stay here, stay the suites as they are better.

I would not recommend this hotel. It needs to be graded lower and cost less to stay.
I have stayed in cheaper hotels in bangkok and they were far superior.
Beware especially if thrown over to tower 3. And invest in a pair of ear plugs!