I guess that's one of the funny things about running a blog on beauty. It's just kind of... ... you feel like you can't unpack the bag until you have blogged about it. hahahaha. If you too are a beauty blogger, do you have this same feeling?
Anyhow, I thought I'd make the Bangkok experience more comprehensive by continuing with hotels in this post, since I feel it may be useful information to have for the future.
Choosing a Hotel in Bangkok - Review Kingston Suites
(Disclaimer: This is not an all-rounded guide to hotels in Bangkok. I will leave the job to a professional travel author. I am blogging based on my experience, and in particular, from the point of view of my stay at Kingston Suites, along Soi 15, Sukhamvit, Bangkok.)
There are a few things to consider, as below.
Factor 1 - Purpose of Travel --> Will determine location of hotel.
Some people go Bangkok to walk around and sights some take it as a relatively affordable destination for sweet couple trip, most will however go there specifically for shopping. I was there for shopping, so what is top priority when choosing a hotel is definitely accessibility to shopping destinations.
This Kingston Suites that we chose is a 3-5 minute walk from the main road that is the Orchard Road of Bangkok, known as Sukhamvit. The hotel is at Soi 15 (Lane 15), where the "MRT" station called Asok is at. The Asok station is just 3 minutes walking distance from Sukhamvit station, pretty much like Singapore's Orchard station and Somerset station, just a lot nearer to each other. So this pretty much makes my hotel on the Orchard Road belt of Bangkok.
The pretty and helpful receptionist at Kingston Suites.
Being on Sukhamvit means that you are in the middle of all the activities in Bangkok, because the famous Platinum Shopping Mall is along the MRT, at Rachathewi station, and only 50 Baht by taxi from my hotel. The morning market, Chatuchak is also along the MRT, right at the end, kind of like Boon Lay station in Singapore. And all the other attractions like King's Palace, temple, and night street Khao San, are on the opposite end of Chatuchak, and only about 300 Baht from my hotel.
My room was on the second floor, at the front, where I could see the Kingston Suites sign from my window.
There are many other hotels along Sukhamvit road, and they range from the ultra expensive, with LV built underneath, to places like Furama, which is in one of the lanes, like my hotel.
Factor 2 - Who You Travel With --> Will determine standard and characteristic of hotel
If you travel with kids or parents, you may tend to be a little more budget, since you may be paying for 5-6 people, but you will still choose a good enough hotel for safety reason. As such, you'd probably go for 3-4 stars.
If you travel with friends, you normally make do with sharing a big room with say another three people, or at least, you would get the twin room to share the cost. With friends, things get a little more budget, so you really may opt for a 3 star or lower hotel.
If you travel with spouse or a partner, you tend to want a little more quality and may go for at least 4 stars. I have a couple friend who went for 5 stars in Vietnam as their motive really was just to relax, enjoy the hotel and nothing much else.
We opted for the 4 stars one, and chose Kingston Suites in particular because it offers the country-living experience due to its decor. Kingston Suites is more like a cosy yet pretty high-class condominium along Sukhamvit, so the whole location feels less crowded, and more private. Also, we did our research, and reviews say the service is excellent. And that's what we wanted - a place with great service, so that nothing funny can happen to spoil our holiday.
The country feel, being a cosy condo style hotel in a little lane.
View of the little road from my room window.
I happened to get the room with a good inflow of sunshine, and if you make videos, then rooms like this are just perfect to film those makeup tutorials, FOTDs, and OOTDs in.
Factor 3 - Research and Reviews
We did a search on Trip Advisor, to find this hotel. We shortlisted this together with another hotel with theme rooms, but decided on this one because it is cheaper as the hotel is new, has a theme too - country style, and still fulfils our need for great service and decent room utilities.
From this experience, I realise that Trip Advisor is very accurate. Our hotel is actually a high 4.5/5 stars on the website. Better than a few others that honestly look better on the outside, that we saw along Sukhamvit, with just 4/5. So it's like although Kingston Suites is small, only 7-storeys tall, it ranks really well.
That's all for the three different factors affecting how you choose a hotel. Do leave a comment if you consider more factors before choosing a hotel.
From here, I will move on to the review with the help of lots of photos.
Kingston Suites is really a place that is neat, cosy, yet still classy enough that I feel like going back should I visit Bangkok again.
This is the restaurant where we had our breakfast daily.
The variety of food is not fantastic (don't compare to Shangri-La Hotel), not exactly international, only Thai and Western, but as a Singaporean Asian, it suits my palate just fine! I am a huge fan of Thai food, and eat a lot of Thai food even in Singapore. Not to mention, in Singapore, you pretty much grow up westernised. The taste however, is good enough.
Here comes the country-style room.
Sofa I saw the moment I stepped into the door.
The room is surprisingly big. I was expecting to open the door and see the bed. LOL, but no, there was ample space for a coffee area, and to put my slippers.
The big coffee table where you could sit down to have dinner at.
As seen in the photo, we shifted the coffee table from in front the sofa, to in front of the bed. There is so much space in the room for the move. That TV console you see in the top left is quite far away, so when we watched football from the bed, it didn't have that glaring feel.
I really liked the bed lamps because they were mounted on the wall, so that doesn't takes up extra space on the bedside table. That tiny black knob under the lamp is the switch, so I could turn them on individually, and not from some central console.
Simple yet efficient lamp.
You can see the bed head from here, and I liked the quilts. So warm and cosy, like a Mama Bear's bed in Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
And these were the drinks and food provided. I liked the kettle because it is new and working, and not full of stones and stain like a hotel I went to in Jakarta.
The standard fare.
And there is the pretty mini fridge! First time I see a see-through mini fridge in a hotel. It looks pretty, but it really tempts you to drink and eat the food inside at night!
I was so pleasantly surprised that this hotel has powerpoints for different countries! First time I didn't have to use my own travel adaptor.
There are some more powerpoints at the bedside, for other countries. The Singapore 3-pin plug could fit in here. So that was where we plug the laptop and charge our handphones.
Now to the cupboard!
Normally, cupboards in hotels are dusty, but this one is not!
The space was quite standard, but I think because the in-built lights were working, it made the cupboard look more spacious.
The safety deposit box is the standard size one you normally see in hotels, unless the hotel doesn't have it.
In the clothes section, there is enough space to sit three standard size luggage at the bottom. The one in this photo is a Samsonite. And then we had brown hand-carry luggage sitting on that ledge, and our clothes hanging from the hangers provided.
These are the hangers.
Two bathrobes are provided. I like it! They are very soft and comfortable to wear, and will fit men about 1.8 m. I think it will fit all the way to 2 m tall men as well.
Such bathrobes can be bought at the top floor of Platinum Fashion Mall for around 300 Baht each. You can bargain if you buy in bulk.
And what I really like about this is tadaa!
An emergency torch!
It is designed to stay off when on the hook, and turn on as soon as you pull it out. So convenient!
I am one of those people paranoid enough to bring a pen torch in my carry-around bag, so you can imagine how happy I was to find a torch provided. I am not sure I have seen any hotel with such thing, not even at Shangri-La Resorts Singapore.
Okie dokie! Let's move on to the bathroom.
Look how spacious it is!
I love that 1200W hairdryer. It's really a life-saver when hotels have hairdryers, because I for one, refuse to pack my own hairdryer. I love it even more because it's automatic, meaning you pull it out from the holder, and it starts blowing. Some kind of awesome, isn't it?
1200W is really strong, and got my long hair dry in minutes. At home, my Philips one is humongous and is 1800W.
And I needed to take another photo to show you that pull out little mirror on the left wall. LOL.
I normally dry my face with the new towel (that they replace everyday), and hang it on the mirror arm there to dry my hands.
There is the little organiser tray they have to hold the hotel shampoo and bath gel, a shower cap, and whatnot, and the soap on the soap holder.
One thing to note about Kingston Suites is that they do not provide toothbrush and toothpaste. They also do not provide bedroom slippers.
However, for the price, I'd gladly exchange these for that pretty 1200W hairdryer that other hotels may not have, huge shower head, and pretty cupboard.
In the photo, I took the glass from the pantry area for my tooth-brushing water, and there are my contact lens lotion and face lotion, and the Josie Maran wipes at the back.
And because this is a beauty blog, I specially photographed what my husband brought too! Hehe, so this is a sneak peak of some guy stuff.
From left in the background, there is Bio Essence Face Lifting Cream, Listerine, Lush Tea Tree Toner, Neutrogena Moisturiser, Bio Essence 24K Gold Eye Serum, Nivea lotion for sunburn, Nivea deodorant spray, some vinegar spray I bought from Isetan, OXY Mentholatum SPF50 PA+++ Sunblock Lotion, cream, toothpaste, brushes.
We brought toothpaste and toothbrush because we weren't sure if the hotel would provide, because really, you never quite know which hotels will and which hotels will not, unless you stay at a 5-star one.
Then there is the toilet and bath area pass the wash basin. The whole place is very, very spacious. Honestly, this bathroom is about the size of a bedroom in tiny HDB flats in my country, Singapore. So I really appreciate all the space.
Big shower head means the water comes out in larger area and softer.
But I also like to have the movable one.
I particularly like the warm water system in this hotel because it is warm (or hot or cold) as soon as you turn the tap on.
We put those little bottles of shampoo is that little holder in the corner. The big tubes are my husband's Hugo Boss body gel that came with the Hugo Boss perfume.
For some reason, there is a seat in the bathroom, which we do not use. I use it to put all that bath stuff.
Notice the wallpaper looks like Gucci already? haha, but it's not.
It's really just a wallpaper.
And with this, I end my review of Kingston Suites in Bangkok. I hope it has given you some idea of what how to choose a hotel if you're going overseas!
Anything I missed? Do leave a comment. =)
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