Waldorf Astoria Bangkok — Hotel in Lumphini Subdistrict

If there’s any rating below one star, I’d definitely give it. This hotel was so below my expectations given how much it costed me to be there for 3 nights. I chose to be there for my birthday, despite of the fact that I notified the front staff about my upcoming birthday which was the next day that I specifically booked this hotel to celebrate my special day even though the staff took my ID card, not noticing my birthday date. When the staff was informed about my birthday. He said happy birthday to me and that he would put this into the hotel system and there would be a birthday cake for me from the hotel which I happily acknowledged.

I booked Deluxe Suite, 1 King bed and paid 50k THB or €1,300. Everything was so below my expectations. There was no birthday cake on my birthday, nothing was decorated in my room when I came back after having done my errands about 5-6 pm & I didn’t have DO NOT DISTURB sign on before I left the room. I gave it another chance by leaving the room for dinner outside and came back to the hotel around 11.30pm. There was literally nothing at all so walked down to the front and saw one staff but I wanted to complain to the night manager so I waited as he was also accompanied by one customer complaining about how unfriendly the staff was. When that was done then he came to me and I informed him about this whole thing which he had no idea what happened and how they missed my birthday despite of the fact that this was put into the system. He was standing there not trying to find any solutions, only said sorry sorry sorry. The other staff was listening making a face. It was very awkward as I had to come up with something first but he rejected and came up with something else instead like offering me to have a drink at the bar (which I don’t usually drink at all).

I forgot to mention that, on my birthday that morning I went for breakfast and the girl next to us got a birthday pancake from the hotel together with the staff singing a happy birthday song to her. It was my birthday too but nothing happened to me. 😭

I then continued complained about the baht tub in my room that was broken, it was covered with some white paint that you could not notice until you put water in it and you gotta keep water running all the time because it was leaking. How did they give this room without checking properly to their customers in the first place??

The staff weren’t friendly at all. One I saw walked past me, didn’t greet me, yet made an arrogant face towards me too.

The welcome drink that was supposed to be delivered to my room after check-in as informed by one staff who guided me to the room didn’t come at all. After waiting for my welcome drink for 15 mins - I had to call the front and ask for it.

WiFi - I couldn’t log in with my last name for some reason. Again, I had to call the front but they just offered me to use their special code instead. I then asked why I can’t use my last name?? They said they didn’t know. Then I asked again why? That’s when they went back to check and fix it. Horrible problem solving management!!! This never happened to me and I’ve stayed at a lot of 5 star hotels. This is the first time that something like this happened.

Breakfast was not as good as expected. One day I ordered eggs Benedict and it never came!! There was this truffle cheese that I liked at breakfast but then they ran out the second day I was there and never refilled it.

My birthday night, when I came back to the hotel after dinner, the water pipe was broken and it was all flooding down to one side of the elevator, I had to use the staff elevator to go up. 😂 and the next day that side of the elevator was closed so only one side was available and it was packed.

The room view was super horrible. All I saw was construction sites.

A lot of dust on the bedside tables.

The gym was super small and the dumbells were very dirty.

For those people who are considering to book this hotel. I’m warning you to reconsider it. It’s not worth your money and your experience.

I will never come back to this hotel....

I have written glowing reviews of WA BKK in the past, however I have significantly soured in my views of this hotel. First the positives, the breakfast buffet remains an absolute standout, and service in the restaurant is superb as well. They always seem to remember our choice of drinks and they keep the table we like the most reserved exclusively for us, even after being away from Thailand for several months they still remember - impressive. The quality of the rooms is among the best in Bangkok even better than some more expensive hotels like Four Seasons. However WA has become less competitive because they have changed their policy regarding room upgrades for Hilton Diamond guests. I have occasionally received upgrades all the way up to Astoria Suite in the past, however for my latest stay I booked a Corner Suite and I did not receive any upgrade at all (not even +1 room type) despite Astoria Suites being available for every night of our stay. They told me that Astoria Suites are out of bounds for upgrades and they will not upgrade beyond Deluxe Suites. This is entirely their own decision and they are obviously free to manage their room inventory how they see fit. However my concern is they argued vehemently that their policy has not changed, when clearly it has, based on my own experience. They should be honest and transparent that they have changed it (for possibly logical reasons) rather than argue endlessly that nothing has changed when I know it’s not the case. Unfortunately this is in complete contrast with some competitors such as Park Hyatt which coincidentally just a few days after my stay at WA, I booked the entry level room at PH and was upgraded even beyond the standard suite level. Then there were a few other irritating issues where a luxury hotel such as WA is shooting itself in the foot with an overly complex set of rules which not even all staff follows the same way regarding Food & Beverage credits. In my humble opinion luxury hotels should focus more on the overall experience of the guests rather than have an overly accounting-focused view … it gives an overall impression of counting pennies which I did not witness before. Another hiccup is that in our previous stay we went to The Loft bar with our baby no problem and never stayed late because she needs to sleep, however on our latest stay we were told that babies are not allowed and we were made felt unwelcome by a host we had never seen at the hotel before (new staff?). Unfortunately the bar was one more thing which they argued has not changed, which is not the case. Another thing that changed: I pay with a Hilton branded Amex credit card and and earn 14 points per dollar at any Hilton chain hotel worldwide. It used to be the case at WA BKK as well, just like anywhere else. Well in my stay in November 2021 and then again in March 2022, I was only credited 3 points per dollar which makes no sense. After many enquiries with Amex they found out it’s because the hotel coded the expenses as “other” rather than “lodging”. I have been asking WA BKK to clean this up for several months. With a spend of over $2500 USD back in November I got stiffed by roughly 30k Hilton points with still nothing resolved to this day. Overall I made my views known to hotel staff and I cut my stay short because I was not very pleased about how things were going. There was simply no meeting of the minds because in their opinion everything was fine and dandy with nothing changed from the past, and the hotel let an unsatisfied guest go, also there was no post-stay follow-up. Oh well. Bottom line, I cannot say that I will not come back because the hotel has lots of strong points, however to remain #1 in a city with so many great luxury hotels you need to click on all cylinders and WA is no longer at the top of my list not even close, because they have disappointed on a number of fronts recently. I cannot even keep them in my top 5 anymore...

It was my first time staying at this hotel but it certainly wont’ be the last time. The reason I didn’t choose to stay at Waldorf were:

The entire complex is a tall rise but the rooms are all in lower floors. The location could be too touristy

I have visited Bangkok many times and tried a lot of luxurious hotels. My usual go-to hotel was under renovation plus I want to try somewhere more central so I secured a good deal with Waldorf. This outstanding hotel proves that my perception of lower floor rooms and touristy locations was totally wrong.

We arrived at the hotel after a long 2 hour journey from BKK airport so we were exhausted. However once we entered the hotel lobby we felt calm. We were escorted to the 15th floor lobby where we were greeted by open view, high ceiling and very elegant interior. Gift, who checked us in, was extraordinary. She explained everything well to us with a big smile, and asked us if we would like to wait in the lobby or at the spa/pool when the room was being cleaned. We chose to stay by the pool to enjoy the sunset in Bangkok and Gift came up to check on /update us and offered more welcome drinks. When the room was ready she escorted us to the room and gave us a good orientation. We had an entry level room with park view. The view was stunning and it’s nice to see some greenery in a city full of skyscraper. The room, as advertised on the website, was 53 square meters. The bedroom did not feel large but the bathroom and wardrobe area were of good size. The interior was tastefully done – just like the public area of the hotel it was very elegant with a lot of high end marble and wood. There is a control panel by the bedside where you can control the light, curtain and air con.

The bathroom is definitely the highlight. It was nice to have a shower with a full view of Bangkok. Also the hotel provides Aesop amenities which enhance the shower experience. F&B options at the hotel were also world class. Breakfast was really good. Everything was freshly cooked and the juice/smoothies were probably the highest quality juice I had throughout my travel. Service during breakfast was super attentive. The staff worked hard but always wore a smile. We also visited the roof bars few times and again service was great plus the cocktails were wonderful.

As we only stayed for 3 nights (which was a mistake in my planning – could easily stay here for a whole month), we spent a lot of time by the pool. The pool is indeed not large but during our stay we had absolutely no problem finding sun lounges, and the pool remained empty most of the time. Pool service was great – Chai, in particular, was very helpful. The ladies worked at the Spa receptions (KP and her colleagues) were all super friendly which made the visit to the pool an experience itself. Bangkok is a noisy city so at the pool you could definitely hear the construction next door as well as some heavy machinery noise nearby plus the traffic.

There are numerous negative reviews about the construction site next door. I had a room directly facing the construction site and the noise did not bother me at all when I am in room.

All in all this is my new favorite city hotel in Bangkok and perhaps in South East Asia. I cannot wait to return to this beautiful...