It might share the same name and brand, but The Peninsula Bangkok is a very different creature from the original. There's no fleet of Rolls-Royces and no queues snaking around the block for afternoon tea. Rather, this is a distinctly Thai destination, from its cuisine to its spa treatments to its setting, overlooking the Chao Phraya River. With direct flights and a 40-minutre transfer from airport to hotel, it's also extremely handy for a Friday to Sunday weekend getaway from Hong Kong - and, with relatively low occupancy rates in Bangkok because of the political turmoil, you shouldn't find yourself within sight of a queue inside or outside the hotel.
No. In contrast to the Hong Kong property, with its bustling Tsim Sha Tsui setting, this hotel is on the wrong side of the water from most of its city's big shopping centres, temples and other attractions, which does put some party-loving visitors off. There's a regular and rather classy Peninsula boat service that crosses the Chao Phraya, but the hotel itself does feel a little cut off from the rest of Bangkok - which is fine if you're happy to spend your weekend luxuriating in a hotel that has a pretty spiffy, meandering outdoor swimming pool with all sorts of bridges and channels.
Most definitely: it's a five-star hotel and the prices in the restaurants and bars emphatically reflect that. One British guest complained recently on TripAdvisor that a small beer cost him the equivalent of nearly £10 (HK$125) once tax was added. But the food is exquisite, the staff are terrific, the setting for the riverside restaurant is stunning - and, in fairness, if you fret over the price of a beer, you shouldn't really be booking into The Peninsula in the first place.
