Country
Thailand
City
Bangkok
Hotel
Marriott International
Notes
The Good
- Modern rooms with lots of AC and USB power outlets
- M Club benefits for Marriott Gold & Platinum members
- This isn't your typical Marriott
The Bad
- Using the hotel's ATM attracts an $8.50 charge
X-Factor
- A well-equipped M Club lounge serves as a great place to work, dine or relax during your stay
Introduction
Opened just this year, the modern Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen's Park hotel now welcomes guests with a whopping 1,360 rooms and suites at-hand, a sizeable M Club lounge for business travellers, free WiFi, and one of the best-designed hotel gyms we've encounters across our travels.
Join Australian Business Traveller as we put one of Thailand's newest five-star hotels through its paces.
Location & Impressions
After arriving at Bangkok's main Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) – served by Qantas, Emirates, Thai Airways and Jetstar from Australia – you'll reach the hotel in about 45 minutes by car, being situated on Sukhumvit Road in downtown Bangkok.
Shopping, entertainment and business districts are all nearby, as is the Phrom Phong BTS Skytrain station if you prefer to catch public transport. As the name suggests, Queen's Park is also just behind the hotel.
But step through the front doors and you'll instantly realise this isn't any ordinary Marriott hotel – it's a flagship property with a luxe lobby to match...
... incorporating plenty of Thai design aspects in reflection of the hotel's location:
Check-in is swift and we appreciate that several banks of reception desks are operated to minimise queues, with separate counters for arrivals and departures and an extra space for processing large groups.
Room
The Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen's Park hotel offers standard rooms right through to Presidential Suites.
We'd booked an 'M Suite' – what many travellers would recognise as a junior suite – comprised of a bedroom and separate living area plus a large bathroom, which could be accessed without detouring via the bedroom: always preferred when hosting business meetings in the main room.
The bedroom itself can be isolated from the living space and bathroom for added privacy using solid sliding doors, and comes well-equipped with a second television and lounge chair, individual air conditioning controls...
... and easy access to bedside power with both AC and USB outlets at-hand above each side table.
The AC outlets accept a range of international plugs and can also be found over by a working desk in the main room, with Aussie plugs not requiring an adaptor.
Over in the bathroom: a walk-in rainfall shower and a separate bathtub, plus a shaving mirror and adjustable lighting (you can swivel the large vertical lights aside the main mirror to suit):
This is also where you'll find the closet, digital safe and luggage areas, with business travellers having plenty of room for both checked and cabin bags – or two separate cabin bags in our case when travelling light:
Also standard: complimentary bottled water throughout the stay, a Bluetooth-capable bedside clock radio (just hold down the Bluetooth button to pair with your phone), an iron and ironing board, slippers, robes, a mini fridge and a coffee pod machine
Work
WiFi comes complimentary with both upload and download speeds clocking in at around 19Mbps during our visit, which allows you to work from your room or roam throughout the hotel.
For a change of scenery, a modern business centre can be used by all guests...
... while travellers staying in M Club, M Suite, Grand Marquis Suite and Sky Suite rooms receive access to the hotel's spacious M Club lounge, as do Marriott Rewards Gold Elite, Platinum Elite and Platinum Premier Elite members booked in any room type.
Read: How to get Marriott Gold Elite status after just one hotel stay
We found the lounge a great place to set up and work from for the day, with access to power also available from many of the seats, including the quiet corner we'd scoped out as our temporary office:
Computers and printing facilities are also available within the M Club, which allowed us to print an early boarding pass for our midnight flight home to make the most of our lounge time at Bangkok Airport.
The lounge staff were helpful and great judges of mood: often coming by with fresh coffee and chilled water throughout the day when we looked more relaxed at our keyboard, but avoiding doing so when we were furiously typing.
A meeting room within the M Club lounge can also be used by guests at no added cost, while many other meeting spaces are available throughout the hotel, including 'The Apartment' - a laidback zone with a more home-like feel in place of the traditional 'meeting room' vibe:
The hotel lobby also proves an inviting meeting place, often boasting live piano music and again with attentive staff.
We sat down for a short moment while waiting for our (privately booked) driver to arrive, and it didn't take long for a staff member to come by and ask if we needed anything, such as a bottle of water or a cocktail.
Eat
Back in the M Club lounge, breakfast is served daily from 6am-10:30am (11am on weekends and public holidays), with all the usual suspects available plus an in-lounge egg chef and a variety of region-appropriate hot dishes...
... progressing to afternoon tea served to your table from 2:30pm-4:30pm – such as a duck sandwich with cake, scones, vegetarian samosas and sweets...
... followed by hors d'oeuvres from 5:30pm-7:30pm, which also included tasty, cooked-to-order beef sliders from the in-lounge chef...
... and then a variety of desserts from 7:30pm-9:30pm, plus an open bar including wine, beer and spirits from 5:30pm-9:30pm covering the entire evening service period. Drinks can be self-poured or delivered to your seat:
While there are some dedicated dining areas within the lounge, most seats allow for this and come pre-set with flatware and napkins:
If you're working here throughout the day and want something more substantial than the all-day nibbles provided, you can also ask for a room service menu (normal charges apply) for delivery in the lounge.
We ordered a chicken biryani (marinated chicken, basmati rice, pickle with yoghurt raita) and some vegetable samosas (also with yoghurt mint dip to complement the main) and enjoyed both.
Elsewhere in the hotel, Goji Kitchen + Bar is the go-to for breakfast with everything you'd want from barista-made coffee and healthy fruits and yoghurts through to pancakes, waffles and eggs...
... plus an array of distinct counters, each specialising in a different cuisine – so you can mix and match depending on what you feel like.
Nearby for meals later in the day, Soba Factory specialises in Japanese food with the delicious Gindara Misozuke Shishito (fish) our favourite from the menu...
... with the hotel also offering The Pool House for booking as an event and function space...
... where chefs can whip up almost anything you request: even if that happens to be a liquid nitrogen-frozen Bailey's ice cream:
Additionally, The Pagoda specialises in Chinese food, while for traditional Thai food, look to Siam Tea Room just off from the hotel lobby, with the lobby a mini-restaurant of its own with a menu of light dishes available.
All up, the hotel's range of dining options never left us hungry or wishing for something else, given the amount of choice and variety available.
Relax
Before or after a hard day's work, a sizeable and well-equipped gym stands ready with everything from machine weights and dumbbells...
... through to a line-up of modern cardio equipment that each has an HD screen attached with access to all the television channels normally available in the guest rooms, and with Bluetooth pairing for your headphones:
Going one better, the cross trainers here are also 'hybrid' – so as you work out and rotate your hands and feet, the turbine effect generates electricity which is used to reduce the machine's power consumption. At the end of the workout, the energy you helped save appears alongside your regular stats:
Just outside the gym is a pool area with a cocktail bar nearby – separate from The Pool House...
... but we keep coming back to the fantastic M Club lounge, which features an outdoor terrace in addition to the vast indoor space:
If it weren't so hot outside during the day, it would have been a great place to claim as our office as opposed to the table inside...
... but mid-year, it becomes more pleasant from around 6pm, with some great views of the city around you:
All things considered, it's hard to fault a hotel that gets almost everything right – from basics like bedside AC and USB power through to a great M Club lounge that offers the right amenities whether you're working or relaxing, and a well-designed, sizeable gym that's inviting to visit rather than fluorescently-lit and stashed in a corner somewhere, as is so often the case.
Our only gripe? The ATM in the hotel's lobby hits you with a 220THB fee per cash withdrawal (roughly A$8.50) atop any charges levied by your own bank, which is the highest international ATM fee we've seen in quite some time.
But even so, I think I've found a new 'favourite hotel' in Bangkok – and one that's not overly expensive to return to, with M Suites selling from just $300/night and standard rooms for half as much on the dates we searched, which is excellent value.
Chris Chamberlin travelled to Thailand a guest of Marriott International.
Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jul 2011
Total posts 1378
Almost every ATM in Thailand charges for foreign cards.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
31 Jan 2013
Total posts 26
Very swanky for a Marriott! I like the hot food option in the club lounges. Been to a few lounges where the only options were nibbles outside of breakfast hours.
Air New Zealand - Airpoints
06 Jul 2015
Total posts 15
I had the Buffet lunch at Goji and it was excellent, a huge range of choices along with lots of items cooked to order.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
23 Feb 2017
Total posts 9
It took some time to convert the old 4 star Imperial Queens Park Hotel to the Marriott Marquis but they sure did a great job in completely transforming a very tired group hotel to a standout. Marriott is now a big player (maybe the biggest) in Thailand and the Marquis has also beome my favourite.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
27 Sep 2017
Total posts 1
Looking forward to staying here over NYE - thanks for great review
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