AYATHORN BANGKOK — Hotel in Bowon Niwet Subdistrict

Ayathorn Bangkok review:

I stayed at this for 7 nights in January 2024. The following pros and cons list is based on our personal experiences during our weeklong stay.

Pros: This seven story hotel is in a good location, fairly close to Chinatown, and other attractions that tourists would enjoy. Will be across the street from MRT when project is completed They have an amazing breakfast buffet that was included with my room/stay, with staff, offering additional items ready to order (e.g. eggs in various form factors). Breakfast runs 7 to 10 AM every morning. The rooms are nicely designed and appointed; beds are comfortable. For the most part, staff is friendly and inviting.

Cons: There is a major construction project in front of the hotel, where an MRT (subway) station is being built (as of January 2024; projected project completion date is unknown). Construction noise is 24 x 7. Highly recommend you ask for a room that is not facing the road, but rather the canal in the back of the hotel. Note that this will also affect your ability to hail a taxi or order a Grab (rideshare app), since traffic in front of the hotel moves extremely slowly, as one side of the road is completely closed off due to construction. Now, to be fair, the construction project is not something over which the hotel has any control, nor can avoid. However, you should know this before making a reservation, since it does impact the quality of stay and ingress/egress of the property. There are significant issues with this hotel’s plumbing, particularly as it relates to hot water. In several rooms that we tried initially, there was no hot water at all. And other rooms, the hot water fluctuates from very hot to very cold, and it’s very difficult to find a comfortable while showering. The rooms’ AC (and we stayed in more than one) will often continue to turn and cool far below the setting you’ve chosen, making it very cold in your room. This seems to be a systemic issue. They have a variety of staff that seem to be in training, as their name tag indicates, and their level of English is “acceptable.” On a related note, during my entire stay, I only saw the manager once (her office appears to be behind the front reception area). When we needed to change rooms (since we had major problems with the plumbing and hot water issues, as outline and another bullet), I had to insist for the manager to come out to speak with me to resolve this problem, as I was told she was unavailable in her office, speaking with a vendor. She eventually did come out, spoke with me and helped resolve the issue, which required a room change/move. But, to clarify, she’s barely visible within the hotel and seems to not be as hands-on as I would expect. There are “normal” things that are missing these rooms. For example, hooks to hang your toiletry bags at an accessible height do not exist.

There could very well be a better value and experience for the money, but I could be wrong about that, as this was my first stay in Bangkok.

EDIT: Based on the response to my review left by the General Manager (below), it appears that what I wrote (and the challenges we experienced at the Ayathorn hotel) are either not fully understood, OR are simply being ignored; the rating (3-stars) was not entirely "postive," and the negative is not being addressed by her reply. Either way, this would definitely raise another concern that the experience AND feedback of the customer is not taken seriously, which is rather unfortunate, both for them, and for the...

Stayed here for 3 nights after arriving in Thailand.||Very smart modern hotel, great service from the staff. Lobby closes at 10pm but 24hr access via rear door and security staff.|Pool and bar on 5th floor.|Breakfast is a fully loaded buffet affair with fruit, cereals, hot dishes with your choice of eggs cooked to order, unlimited coffee etc||There is extensive, ongoing construction opposite the hotel where they are building a new underground train station which will, according to the staff, take 5 years to complete but I doubt that it will be that soon, so ensure you get a room at the back overlooking the canal as they work pretty much 24hrs a day.||As mentioned in Brian Gee's review on Google Maps the hot water fluctuates mid shower from cold to scalding and what I loosely term as Aircon doesn't have an Auto mode nor a heating mode just a fan speed and temperature setting which the system ignores and just keeps cooling the room to meat locker levels. I mentioned this to the staff, they said the engineers would fix it but nothing changed||There is a room safe but it is not fixed in so hardly a deterrent for anyone who has got in to your room to just carry the while thing out. It's not heavy and a battery disc cutter would make short work of the top.||Overall a decent "Marriott" style hotel for which I would accept a £120 a night charge in London or similar but it is seriously overpriced for Bangkok and given the choice I would have stayed somewhere else but wifey...

Stayed here for 3 nights after arriving in Thailand.||Very smart modern hotel, great service from the staff. Lobby closes at 10pm but 24hr access via rear door and security staff.|Pool and bar on 5th floor.|Breakfast is a fully loaded buffet affair with fruit, cereals, hot dishes with your choice of eggs cooked to order, unlimited coffee etc||There is extensive, ongoing construction opposite the hotel where they are building a new underground train station which will, according to the staff, take 5 years to complete but I doubt that it will be that soon, so ensure you get a room at the back overlooking the canal as they work pretty much 24hrs a day.||As mentioned in Brian Gee's review on Google Maps the hot water fluctuates mid shower from cold to scalding and what I loosely term as Aircon doesn't have an Auto mode nor a heating mode just a fan speed and temperature setting which the system ignores and just keeps cooling the room to meat locker levels. I mentioned this to the staff, they said the engineers would fix it but nothing changed||There is a room safe but it is not fixed in so hardly a deterrent for anyone who has got in to your room to just carry the while thing out. It's not heavy and a battery disc cutter would make short work of the top.||Overall a decent "Marriott" style hotel for which I would accept a £120 a night charge in London or similar but it is seriously overpriced for Bangkok and given the choice I would have stayed somewhere else but wifey...