The fabulously old school Bangkok hotel with proper Thai hospitality
Amari Bangkok hotel review: impressively fresh thinking from this Bangkok hotel entering its fifth decade
Walking into the Amari Bangkok, you enter into a spectacular atrium where there is dozens of storey’s worth of space above your head. Here in the lobby, there are five staff to every guest and check-in – this is Thailand, after all – is efficient. This is old school grandeur, but not old, old school: mid-eighties. The Amari Bangkok was built in 1984 and has that – dare I say it – Trumpian opulence about the place (No I don’t like him; yes, I do think The Trump Tower and some of his NYC skyscrapers are fabulously high camp).
There are plenty of eighties-style hotels around the world, although many have been bulldozed as the aggressive nature of hotel trends demands perpetual newness. But there are a diminishing number of these legacy hotels that maintain such a high standard.
If the Jason Isaacs, Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood entanglement has inspired a visit to Thailand, or perhaps The White Lotus itself, then you’ll rest comfortably at the Amari knowing I could envisage Isaacs’ Timothy Ratliff marching in here, family in tow. He’d be pleased with the rooms: mine, a Club Premier Room, renovated in 2021, was a generous double with properly blackout curtains, great for jet lag, plenty of in-room workspace and a massive bed.
There are four restaurants, including the new ChomSindh, where I dined. Ask for a table with a view of the open kitchen, from which there is one of the deepest explorations of authentic local food I’ve found in a property of this scale (the Amari has a large business clientele). I was amazed by the quantity and diversity of the food, which specialises in the bounty of the Thai seas.
In the Ratchaprasong district of downtown Bangkok where the Amari is located, the area is famed for shopping malls and markets, so there are plenty of exciting streetside vendors from which to eat great seafood. But if somewhere with air-conditioning and comfier chairs sounds appealing after a long day of exploring, there are no corners cut here. Other restaurants span buffets, Indian food and French cuisine.
Halfway up the building there’s a sprawling swimming pool with amazing city views. It’s a great antidote to heaving, chaotic Bangkok eight floors below.
Rooms start from £108. For further information or to book go to amari.com/bankgkok.
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