Siam Kempinski Hotel Opens in Bangkok

[Guest beachlover]

Anyone tried this new hotel yet?

 

It's a big new 5-star hotel, which just opened next to Siam Paragon. Apparently Kempinski is Europe's oldest luxury hotel chain (I've never heard of it) and this is their "first" property in Thailand. I read they had one property before but it burnt down and never re-opened.

 

Looks interesting. Huge free-form pool. I like the look of the big bathtubs. Terrace suites get a private outdoor jacuzzi! More hotels should do this.

 

http://www.kempinski.com/en/bangkok/Pages/Welcome.aspx

 

Some shots from Skyscraper City Forum:

 

Interesting, the contrast between the tin sheds in the foreground and the modern buildings in the background! In many cities, riverfront real estate is generally highly valued. In Bangkok, many of the canals are lined with slum-type constructions. I wonder why this is.

 

Room shots from TripAdvisor:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Looks beautiful but those rooms sure do look small to me.

[PeterRS]

The hotel has been accepting guests since the summer. From the reports on tripadviser, looks like they opened well before the staff was up to scratch. Even this month there are reports of rooms not being clean on arrival. A month ago one guest was told they did not have enough housekeeping staff. And one honeymoon couple was promised when they made the reservation "a bouquet of red roses, leaves of roses on the bed and in the bathroom; fresh fruits; chocolate/petit four arrangement (in heart shape box); 1 Bottle of Wine". What happened? "When we arrived, we found there were no roses as promised, no wine as promised, just a small cake and some fresh fruit." That post was made on 23 November. That's disgraceful for a hotel in this brand and price range.

 

I agree the rooms look pretty small compared to those at the nearby Grand Hyatt and Four Seasons. Mind you, most of the Mandarin Oriental's room are also on the small side.

[Guest beachlover]

Looks beautiful but those rooms sure do look small to me.

Yeah but you usually stay in a suite or something right? I think the photos only show a "standard" or "deluxe" room.

 

I agree the rooms look pretty small compared to those at the nearby Grand Hyatt and Four Seasons. Mind you, most of the Mandarin Oriental's room are also on the small side.

IMHO, I think don't think Kempinski's positioned to compete with the higher end 5-stars like the Mandarin Oriental or Shangri La. It's more in the kind of marketspace the Sofitel or Le Meridien are in. And in comparison with these, the room size looks just fine. Not any smaller than I would expect for an ordinary deluxe room.

 

The hotel has been accepting guests since the summer. From the reports on tripadviser, looks like they opened well before the staff was up to scratch.

Ah, now that really sounds like poor form. Hope they iron it out.

 

Room looks good enough for me but what attracts me is the enormous pool. Looks like you could get a good 50 or 100 metre lap in it. I usually prefer a nice high-rise room in BKK though.

[PeterRS]

To put the Kempinski’s rates into context, I ran a check today on the lowest rate offered on its website. I then compared this to basic room rates on the Shangri La and Four Seasons sites, as well as the lowest rates offered on agoda. I selected a 3-day mid-week period from January 11-14 for single occupancy. The results were very surprising and definitely not what I expected.

 

Website basic rates in THB

 

Kempinski: 6,715 - special advance purchase rate

Shangri-La: 6.030 – special advance purchase rate

Four Seasons: 7,950 - special offer of 2 for price of 3 reduces to 5,300 (this also includes breakfast)

 

So the Kempinski is the most expensive. All rates exclude tax and service (17%). One big black mark against Kempinski. On the Guest Details page – the one before you press “confirm”, the total you pay is still quoted as 20,145 plus service and taxes. To find out how much you will really have to pay, you need to read the small print above and then work it out for yourself. Disgraceful!

 

Total for 3 nights (incl. tax and service) will therefore cost

 

Kempinski: 23,570

Shangri-La: 21,292

Four Seasons: 18,714 (inc. breakfast)

 

The Four Seaons is by far the clear winner for rooms during this period. This is even more true when you consider 3 breakfasts are likely to knock you back a total of around 2,500 in the other hotels. With the Four Seasons just one BTS stop away from Paragon, who would be fool enough to stay at the Kempinski, I wonder?

 

Agoda.com usually has very competitive rates. The real surprise to me is that agoda is MUCH more expensive for 2 of the 3!! Here are the nightly rates (inc. tax and service - but no breakfast)

 

Kempinski: 23,571

Shangri-La: 23,517

Four Seasons: 25,623

 

So book the Four Seasons on agoda and you will pay an estimated 9,400 Baht more than by booking direct with the hotel (if you also want the buffet breakfast)! The moral is always check hotel websites and the booking agent sites before you book. Unless you are a points junkie, however - (like some we know ) - because agoda bookings rarely qualify for points.

[Guest]

Holy Shit. The Four Seasons is a great hotel. I love it and have stayed there several times. But, I thought the price was way too high. The rates you quoted above are almost 2k baht less than the Intercontinental Hotel or the JW Marriott for when I was going to be in Bangkok in January. It looks like I'm going to go back to the drawing board. Thanks for all the info!

[PeterRS]

Delighted to help. I wonder if hotels in the Rajaprasong district are still having a tough time after they had to close during the Red Shirt demonstrations earlier in the year.

 

Only one point to be aware of. Chinese New Year is on February 3. I suspect rates may go up around that time.

[Guest beachlover]

To put the Kempinski’s rates into context, I ran a check today on the lowest rate offered on its website. I then compared this to basic room rates on the Shangri La and Four Seasons sites, as well as the lowest rates offered on agoda. I selected a 3-day mid-week period from January 11-14 for single occupancy. The results were very surprising and definitely not what I expected.

Thanks for doing a rate check.

 

Holy crap... Didn't expect Kempinski to be this expensive. Guess I didn't think too much of it because I've never heard of the brand before. Definitely a black mark. Looks nice and new and with a great pool but for that amount, I'd rather the Shangri La or some of the other options. I'm still restricted to about 5,000 baht/night though so that's still out.

 

I hate how most of them quote rates excluding taxes/fees. I wish Agoda would just show the total upfront without the click through.

 

Poster on another forum just mentioned Kempinski is actually majority owned by the Crown Property Bureau of Thailand... interesting.

[PeterRS]

I hate how most of them quote rates excluding taxes/fees.

Totally agree.

 

Poster on another forum just mentioned Kempinski is actually majority owned by the Crown Property Bureau of Thailand... interesting.

The land presently occupied by Paragon and the Kempinski was once part of a royal palace and so is Crown land. Before Paragon was built, it was leased to the company which built the first Intercontinental Hotel in the city. The hotel had wonderfully extensive gardens but was pretty run down by the time its lease was up in 2002. The Paragon and the Kempinski land is leased for 30 years. I assume (but do not know for sure) the Crown Property Bureau has no actual shareholding in the operating companies.

[Guest beachlover]

I wasn't aware of the status of the land, but I was surprised to hear the Crown Property Bureau was the majority shareholder in Kempinski Hotels too. Another forum member (SGT) mentioned this so I looked it up...

 

Kempinski Hotels S.A. is a hotel group. Kempinski Hotels...Today, Kempinski is majority owned by the Crown Property Bureau of Thailand.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kempinski

[PeterRS]

Interesting. I had no idea about the Crown Property Bureau having any kind of shareholding in the Kempinski Hotel Group. According to the Bangkok Post, the Bangkok Property -

 

is owned by Kempin Siam Co, whose shareholders are Al Manar Limited, an investment arm of the Bahrain government; the SET-listed developer Natural Park Plc; and Royal Wealth Holdings, a joint venture between Al Manar and CPB Equity Co, part of the Crown Property Bureau.

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/34604/siam-kempinski-ready-for-june-opening

 

I also thought Natural Park had gone bust! At one stage it was planning to build a major theatre behind Paragon and announced the engagement of heavyweight London producer Cameron Mackintosh (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera etc.) as consultant. That project certainly died. Presumably the company found a way to stay in business.

 

The Crown Property Bureau website lists it investments, including Siam Cement in which it has a controlling interest. But surprisingly there seems nothing there about a shareholding in either the Bangkok hotel or the Kempinski group as a whole. According to its Mission statement -

 

The Crown Property Bureau was established under the Royal Assets Structuring Act of 1936, 1941 and 1948. The Crown Property Bureau is responsible for protecting and managing the royal assets and property as well as supporting other activities for the benefit of Thai subjects and society.

 

http://www.crownproperty.or.th/en/about/obligation.html

 

If it owns investments outside Thailand, I guess it must be similar to a sovereign wealth fund.