Montien Riverside Hotel, Bangkok

I stayed in the Montien Riverside Hotel in Bangkok back in 2006. It has probably changed a little now but, all the same the information I can give will be useful to anybody thinking about staying there. The nightly rate at the moment starts at approximately £60 per room per night for a superior room type.

The location:
The hotel is set on the edge of the Chao Phraya river which is the huge river that runs through the city of ...
...areas and the main hub of the nightlife but, it has a stunning river location so obviously if you want this type of location then it is to be expected that you wouldn't be on top of other attractions. Overall though it only takes takes 10 minutes to get to Bangkok's main area for shopping and nightlife so not very far at all.
The hotel has been built on ground that is slightly raised so when driving up to the doors the driveway is sloped. ... more

I stayed in the Montien Riverside Hotel in Bangkok back in 2006. It has probably changed a little now but, all the same the information I can give will be useful to anybody thinking about staying there. The nightly rate at the moment starts at approximately £60 per room per night for a superior room type.

The location:
The hotel is set on the edge of the Chao Phraya river which is the huge river that runs through the city of Bangkok. It is a bit out from the main shopping areas and the main hub of the nightlife but, it has a stunning river location so obviously if you want this type of location then it is to be expected that you wouldn't be on top of other attractions. Overall though it only takes takes 10 minutes to get to Bangkok's main area for shopping and nightlife so not very far at all.
The hotel has been built on ground that is slightly raised so when driving up to the doors the driveway is sloped. It kind of gives the hotel and grand feel to it but I suspect it is more to do with the river being next to it!

The hotel:
The hotel is a 5 star hotel and is quite large with a good range of facilities on offer. It is quite a tall building as they have taken advantage of the location with brilliant views over the city which are truly stunning at night.
The hotel has the usual you would expect from a 5 star including a gym and conference rooms along with a variety of restaurants and bars. They also have a swimming pool which is quite unusual for city hotels but it is very nice with a location part way up the building and outside on a terrace. Perfect for cooling down when the heat gets too much!!
The hotel is very impressive in size and it does have that elegance about it that tells you exactly how upmarket this hotel is as you pull into the drive.

First impressions:
As I said it is obvious of the standard as you pull up and this is even more obvious the minute your car stops at the door. Within seconds the porters have off loaded your luggage for you and are escorting you to the reception to check in. The thing I noticed first as we pulled up was that the porters are all dressed in traditional Thai clothing and this really adds to the element of it. The greet you by bowing and smiling and overall my first impression of this hotel was 'wow!'
The lobby is equally impressive with the reception to the right hand side and a bar to the far left. The whole place is marbled and is lit by beautiful lights. Certainly impressive and again I was highly impressed when I saw the interior. The staff are very attentive and overall first impressions do count so this was a personal highlight for me.

The rooms:
On to the most important part as after all this is what you pay for!
The standard room type is known as a superior type and has all the amenities you'd probably expect a 5 star hotel to have - satellite TV, tea and coffee making facilities, separate bath and shower, desk and a choice of double or twin beds. The rooms also comes with 3 complimentary bottles of water daily and free use of the gym (except for massages or the tennis court). You also receive a daily turndown service too which I always think is a nice touch. The room has a lovely view over the river as do all the room types and so if staying in a superior room my suggestion, as long as you're not bothered by heights, would be to request a room on as high a floor as possible! The upgraded room types are all on higher floors anyway.
There are a variety of other rooms types available ranging from the next up which is a deluxe all the way up to a king suite which has a butler service. Some of the larger and more expensive upgraded rooms also feature windows on either side of the suite so that guests can have the sun in the room all day.

Facilities:
The hotel as I mentioned before has a range of facilities that you'd expect to find in a hotel of this standard and these include 5 restaurants, 1 main lobby bar and also a boat restaurant that cruises the river whilst gusts dine. The boat restaurant is the only one I ate at and it was very good. The area where you board the boat is all lit up by the lights in the trees and the boat is only small so it is quite intimate and ideal for a romantic meal. The meal consisted of 4 courses from a set menu and the dinner cruise is paid for in advance at the reception. It goes daily but, I would book as soon as you arrive if you can as it with it only being a small capacity it's not worth losing out on. The meal doesn't include drink costs and these are charged to your room bill. During the meal they have a Thai Dancing display which is a nice touch. The boat travels quite far up the river and then back to the hotel and it lasted roughly just under 2 hours - when we got back we found we were really tired which I think was due to the fact that we'd been on the water and the wind was blowing a bit but not so much that it was a problem during the meal. Overall I would highly recommend this dinner cruise as it only cost us £20 each not including the drinks and it was a really romantic way to spend an evening.

The hotel also has along with it's gym, a tennis court, badminton court, mens and womens steam rooms, an aerobic dance studio and Thai massages.
For business travellers there are meeting rooms with and a internet room and they can also do general secretarial services too should you need it.

The hotel can also arrange conferences and other large events - whilst we were there we saw a wedding party going on so this gives you an idea of the scale they can cater too. The hotel would certainly be a nice location for such an event.

Another thing worth noting is that the hotel runs it's own shuttle bus service to the main shopping area of the city which is complimentary. This is run at certain times of the evening and then also back again from a certain point. This is ideal if you were put off by having to pay for taxi's back and forth to the hotel because of it's location.

Overall opinion:
I really thought this hotel was stunning. The room we had was really nice and the facilities are great for those who would use them. the dinner cruise is an added bonus to what the hotel can offer and another thing I liked was that the rooms all had views of the river. I also like that in the corridors going to the rooms the other side of the building looking out to the city was floor to ceiling glass so this meant great views even on the way to the room - I'm fussy like that and prefer the simple touches!
Overall a good choice for those who don't want to be right in the heart of the hustle and bustle of the city but at the same time not being too far away from it. 

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