I've read many recent negative reviews on the Royal Orchid Sheraton and felt compelled to chime in. Some context -- I've stayed in Bangkok hotels for 100+ nights in the last 15 months with a majority of stays at the Le Meridien, with many as well at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit. I've written reviews on TripAdvisor for both of these properties as a discerning business traveler to some of the finest properties in the world.
Overall, I feel the Royal Orchid Sheraton is a beautiful property that I highly recommend for your stay in Bangkok. Some of the positives include:
1) THE VIEW: Every room has a view of the Chao Phraya River. The views of the river with the city backdrop is simply spectacular and provides a real sense of calm from the madness of Bangkok. Hard to find this elsewhere in the city.
2) SERVICE: I'm simply floored by the level of service and attention at this hotel. It does help that occupancy is low post-red shirts protest, but I've found the staff to be incredibly helpful, kind, and sincere in their efforts to assist. As an example, I wrote an email of feedback after my first stay with some comments on possible improvements and a complaint about Internet not working well in my room. On my next stay, the staff on their own upon check-in had an engineer waiting to assist me in setting up Internet properly. That same stay the hotel manager sought me out in the lounge to thank me for the comments. The responsiveness of this hotel is best-in-class and I would suggest that guests who have particular issues discuss them with the staff. I am positive they'll do whatever they can to remedy the situation.
3) TOWERS LOUNGE: One of the most expansive and impressive lounges anywhere with all-day drinks and snacks available and spectacular views of the river and city. This is available I believe to guests staying in Towers rooms and SPG Platinum members. A must-visit.
4) BREAKFAST: Amazing food available at "etc on the river" with many International selections and great service.
5) FITNESS CENTER: A hotel with a fitness center that you crave working out at -- they have all the latest workout machines. I do wish they had more elliptical machines as these are very popular, but overall very impressive.
Every hotel has some drawbacks -- it really depends on what's important to you. Here are a few that I identified:
1) NO IN ROOM WI-FI: Apparently this is coming soon, but until it does you have to use corded in-room Internet, so no surfing the web from the sofa.
2) TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF RESTAURANTS: There aren't a lot of dining options nearby so it's unfortunate that many restaurants here are closed due to low occupancy. This will likely change and people should realize this is very common across many Bangkok hotels right now -- it's just more difficult for guests given the more isolated location of the hotel.
3) VALUE COULD BE BETTER: Room rates in Bangkok are still surprisingly high or at levels similar to pre-protests. The cheapest rooms at the Royal Orchid Sheraton are typically around 4500 baht or $150/night, but if you're staying 3 nights they often have a "third night free" deal available. The Le Meridien Bangkok which is only 2km away is usually only 3000 baht/night for the cheapest room.
4) ACCESS TO MRT/BTS: They're closed down the free boat shuttle to the skytrain but have a shuttle bus every 30 minutes which takes 15 minutes to the BTS station which is towards the end of the line. I recommend paying less than 50 baht taxi ride to the MRT station, especially if you want to go to Sukhumvit. A free shuttle to the MRT would really be helpful.
Overall these drawbacks are minor enough to me and outweighed by the many positives I've outlined. If you can secure a good rate, your next stay in Bangkok should certainly be at the Royal Orchid.
