Tag Archives for Bangkok.
He caught the eye of authorities because of “the unusually large bulge in his pants that was wiggling around.” The man was scanned and then strip searched, “revealing the two Asian small-clawed otters and a prairie dog that he had tried to hide in his underwear.”
Thailand is technically open to visitors, but even with a negative Covid test there’s a 14 day quarantine requirement and the idea of being stuck inside a hotel room that long hasn’t been popular. It’s attracted only a few hundred tourists per month to the country.
However people will go to greater lengths to visit friends and relatives than they will for just a vacation long enough to justify the quarantine period. I saw on social media that the owner of my favorite Thai restaurant was back in Bangkok, in the middle of his quarantine period at a hotel with his wife. He was gracious enough to share his story and some photos.
Your year-long Bangkok City Center stay is in a club room, so you get club level benefits including breakfast, light snacks, evening hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. Think of it like rent, without having to pay extra for utilities for housekeeping, and meals thrown in. You even get complimentary parking. And they throw in club lounge meeting room use, too, so call it your office.
They rebate 20% of the price (200,000 Thai Baht) as a statement credit for use in the hotel’s restaurants and bars, or for room service and even hosting events. That’s over $6500 in room service, on top of the club lounge food.
They even throw you a birthday party.
Thai Airways has opened a refurbished Royal Orchid business class lounge in Bangkok. It’s an international departures lounge on level 3 of the Suvarnabhumi airport E concourse. It’s a strange time to be making capital investments and opening a lounge when the airline is not generally selling international flights leaving the country.
The airport chief “was disheartened by refusal from other agencies” including immigration, health and the military, to provide cooperation in screening passengers. Indeed, reports are that face masks intended for workers screening passengers have been taken away from the airport and given to other government agencies.
Two and a half years ago Thailand’s military junta came out wanting to ban Bangkok street food. The worldwide response was swift and firm. This idea is insane. They claimed to back off but the truth is they’ve been moving in that direction – and continue to push out street vendors.
The Thai Airways first class lounge that most people are familiar with is on the airport’s D concourse and it’s right across the corridor from the airline’s spa.
Qatar Airways arranges lounge access through Thai, but their flight departs from the E concourse. As a result they arrange first class lounge access in the E concourse first class lounge — which is basically a big deserted room inside the Royal Orchid (business class) lounge.
Bangkok is city where it’s difficult for me to pick hotels. Most everything is above average. Even the Holiday Inn Bangkok, at Gaysorn Plaza, is attached to the Intercontinental and practically the same hotel.
On the other hand there are very few properties that are so good they’re clearly better than all the others. It’s not a city where I stick to Hyatt, either, because while the Grand Hyatt Erawan is fine I don’t find it special.
The St. Regis was priced extremely reasonably for my dates and although the hotel is known for being great with suite upgrades, I decided not to just chance it or use a Suite Night Award but to pay for the suite. Long odds, as reported by others, but I hoped for a further upgrade.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
