From US$365 including breakfast
– Full river view from the room;
– Very poor service;
The Peninsula sits on the bank of the Chao Phraya River, and each of its elegant 370 rooms and suites has a full river view. Many of the rooms have balconies, allowing you to sit and take in the view of the traffic on this busy river, from hotel boats zipping back and forth to barge and dinner cruises. Taking the hotel’s pagoda-shaped boat across the river is a highlight of a stay here.
Our deluxe room was spacious with a walk-in dressing area and dual vanity bathroom with separate shower and tub. The large desk was unhelpfully positioned so that light from the lovely floor to ceiling windows hit my laptop screen and necessitated working with the curtains closed for much of the day.
The gym was small but adequately outfitted to work up a bit of a holiday sweat and the long three-tiered swimming pool a very pleasant environment to relax in afterwards. The hotel does movies by the pool where you can sink into a bean bag and sip a drink while recovering from a busy day of site-seeing.
Unfortunately, the Peninsula’s service standards simply don’t live up to expectations. The staff appear distracted and poorly trained, and from restaurant staff to housekeeping and more senior staff, most we came into contact with didn’t appreciate the concept of basic customer service. The hotel has the potential to be very good, it’s a very nice property, but let down by poor service, it doesn’t deserve its five stars.
