By the time you’re closing in on 140 years old, you’ll surely have picked up a trick or two.
In the case of the Mandarian Oriental, Bangkok, what it has learnt is to adapt while at the same time preserving the core of its identity.
That core is customer service and the adaptation is a series of changes that will extend the hotel’s offering, for both business and leisure travellers, over the coming three years.
Right now the hotel is renovating its Authors’ and Garden wings. The target for completion is mid-December. The renovation will add 14 suites to the Oriental’s current mix of 393 rooms and 35 suites.
The bigger change is on the opposite bank of the Chao Phraya River. Across from the hotel's main building, work has begun on a 52-storey tower with 146 private residences, with sales beginning in September and opening scheduled for 2018. It will be next to what is being touted as South East Asia's largest shopping mall, Icon Siam, expected to open in 2017.
The Oriental’s current guest mix is 70 per cent leisure and 30 per cent business.
When I was there the hotel was hosting 100 top sellers, plus spouses, from a Chinese outfit that makes hinges and knobs. That company must be selling a lot of hinges and knobs, because rack rates at the Oriental start from about 15,000 baht (Dh1,577) a night, including breakfast but before the 17.7 per cent combined tax and service charge. Top rate is 150,000 baht for the 295-square-metre Royal Oriental Suite (rates vary by season.)
As with any luxury hotel, the little touches make the biggest impression.
My daughter left a pair of shoes lying around while we went shopping amid the stalls of Chatuchak market. When we returned, the shoes had been shined. Newspapers, rather than being left at one’s door, were delivered via a sliding pigeonhole. The stationery at the suite’s desk had my name embossed in gold lettering at the bottom.
For executive travel, the Mandarin is a strong candidate as a venue for a regional gathering of senior staff (its boardrooms have space for up to 20 people, while ballrooms can be used for larger groups) or as a motivational trip for top performers, with a mix of seminars and leisure activities.
q&a service with a smile
How did the hotel begin?
The Oriental opened its doors in 1876 as a place for seafarers to rest up. Many of them were foreign traders doing business in what was then Siam. The hotel became the Mandarin Oriental after in effect merging with the group that owned Hong Kong’s Mandarin hotel in 1974.
Is the hotel near the SkyTrain?
Yes. The Oriental has a teakwood shuttle boat that takes guests the short distance downriver to the SkyTrain’s Saphan Taksin station. Bangkok’s street traffic is insanely congested, so the SkyTrain, as well as the canal and river boats, are often the best way to get around.
What is cab fare from the airport to the hotel?
It should be about 350 baht, although at peak hours cabbies can become fussy and might insist on going off-meter. In those cases you could negotiate a fare around 450 baht.
Is there a mosque near the hotel?
Haroon mosque, more than a century old, is within a five-minute walk.
What was the high point of your stay?
Our flight from Abu Dhabi had been delayed on the tarmac for 90 minutes, and the taxi queue at Suvarnabhumi airport had been slow. So I was tired upon our late-night arrival at the Oriental. But then the doorman smiled, a porter took our bags, the elevator operator had a lift waiting for us. The receptionist accompanied us to our room for check-in, the luggage arrived within a minute, and we were free to have a late-night pomelo salad and tom kha hed on the veranda by the river. Most restorative.
rmckenzie@thenational.ae
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