JW Marriott, Bangkok

JW Marriot is a world-famous chain of hotels; the one at Bangkok easily meets the high expectations. The rooms are very comfortable and the hotel offers many extra services. The spa in particular comes highly recommended!

Service
The service in the Marriot is very friendly and professional. At the door I was received with a wai (the traditional Thai greeting) and a warm smile. Although this is pretty much custom in Thailand, I ...
.../> Location and activities
JW Marriot is located at Sukhumvit Soi 2 in downtown Bangkok. From the airport it's half an hour by taxi, although it can take quite a bit longer in traffic. In the vicinity of the hotel, there is plenty to do, like shopping in one of the many shopping malls, like the MBK or the Siam Paragon. The nightlife is pretty crazy: at Soi 11,Soi 13 and Soi 19, there is an abundance of clubs and bars. If you're looking for ... more

JW Marriot is a world-famous chain of hotels; the one at Bangkok easily meets the high expectations. The rooms are very comfortable and the hotel offers many extra services. The spa in particular comes highly recommended!

Service
The service in the Marriot is very friendly and professional. At the door I was received with a wai (the traditional Thai greeting) and a warm smile. Although this is pretty much custom in Thailand, I couldn't help but notice how helpful the staff was. Everything happened a little faster than elsewhere in Thailand.

Suite
Our suite had a sizeable living, connected to the bedroom. The room was decorated very stylishly, in a modern asian style. Actually, it felt preciously littlelike a hotelroom, and more like a house: it offered a 32 inch flatscreen LCD TV, a workstation with many different connections for my laptop and other electronic gadgets. Other than that, there was acorner with coffee and tea, but I didn't use this myself.

Bathroom
The bathroom seemed very new, spacious and spotless. The bathtub actually had waterjets, which provided a welcome relief before and after a day in hot and sweaty Bangkok!

Amenities
De 7th floor had a large and very clean swimming pool, with a juice bar for some drinks. The palmtrees and chairs nearly made me forget that I was staying in the middle of a metropolis. On the same level, there was a spa and health club. Several instructors stood by to help anyone motivated enough to go workout. Many lessonswere offered, from yoga to Tai Chi. The machines certainly were state of the art: All treadmills had their own LCD-tv and connection for a headset, making the self-inflicted torture just that much more bearable.

After sweating it out, or relaxing at the pool, the spa proved to be a rejuvenating experience. Luckily the massagerooms were just around the corner of the health club, meaning that I could even crawl there with my sore body, if needed. I can say I've been to quite a few spas in Thailand, but the quality and level of service offered here were remarkable. I felt well and truly pampered, and the massages themselves?. Divine! One word of caution: if you are not used to Thai massage, be sure to let the therapist know to use light pressure, otherwise the massage might not be too relaxing after all. Another option is aromatherapy, a more tender massage using scented oils. In my experience, the combination of Thai massage followed by a soft oil massage works best.

Apart from the massages, beauty treatments are also offered. My girlfriend was quite enthousiastic about the hair treatment, which were very professional and very affordable nonetheless.

Restaurant
For me, I am a great fan of the many foodstalls on the side of the streets inBangkok, but I can imagine the hotel offers more than enough options for the less-adventurous: The New York steakhouse, the Japanese restaurant Shu-nami, the Chinese Man Ho and the exclusive Thai restaurant White Elephant. It is a good idea to book a seat ahead of time, since I've seen these places get quite crowded at night. Myself, I enjoyed the Japanese restaurant quite a lot: it's split into a tepan-yaki restaurant and a sushi/sake bar. The sushi must still have been swimming earlier that day, as it tasted so fresh!

Travel agency
If you wish to see something of Bangkok, this is a pretty good one-stop shop: trips to the floating market, the crocodile farm, shows or nearby towns like kanchanabure and Ayuthaya can be booked here.

Location and activities
JW Marriot is located at Sukhumvit Soi 2 in downtown Bangkok. From the airport it's half an hour by taxi, although it can take quite a bit longer in traffic. In the vicinity of the hotel, there is plenty to do, like shopping in one of the many shopping malls, like the MBK or the Siam Paragon. The nightlife is pretty crazy: at Soi 11,Soi 13 and Soi 19, there is an abundance of clubs and bars. If you're looking for a different type of entertainment, you can have a look at soi Nana, which offers everything that Bangkok is famous (feared?) for.

However, if you want to see some of the touristic highlights of Bangkok, you should head to the old town, where you can find the Grand Palace and the Wat Pho tempel. Even though it might take as much as 45 minutes to get here, it is well worth the time!

Transport
The main problem in Bangkok is traffic: there's plenty of transport, in fact, there might be too much of it! Traffic jams are everywhere, but these can be avoided by a death-defying ride in a tuktuk. Another option is the Bangkok Skytrain, which stops some 50 meters from the entrance of the Marriot. An excellent alternative to the taxi, although it won?t get you all the way to old town.

Conclusion
JW Marriott offers all you need to a very, very comfortable stay. The rooms are excellent, but the amenities are exceptional. The surroundings are great if you love the bustle of Bangkok, although it might not be your thing if you are looking for some peace and quiet.

 

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