137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok Review

The name comes from Chiang Mai, where the Borneo Company built teak houses for its northern headquarters in the 1880s. The grandest, from 1889, passed to the Bain family, and since a Lanna house is measured by the pillars it stands on, Jack Bain counted his: 137. The Wongphanlert family restored it and opened it at the turn of 2012 as 137 Pillars House. Bangkok followed in early 2017 and took from Chiang Mai the idea of a few suites looked after by butlers and two names, Baan Borneo Club and Jack Bain's Bar, though none of the teak. The tower is by Palmer & Turner, with interiors by P49 Design & Associates in timber, blue velvet and black lacquer: handsome, a little sombre and very much of 2017. It stands 800 metres up the soi from Phrom Phong station, about ten minutes on foot, and a free shuttle runs to EmQuartier every half hour. Because the lobby serves 179 apartments as well as the suites, it has something of a residence about it. The hotel belongs to Small Luxury Hotels of the World and holds One MICHELIN Key.

There are 18 Ayutthaya Suites, of 95 square metres, and it is the first category with a proper living room. Ours made a strong case for itself, and the plan is the reason. Two rooms change a city stay: the living room has a dining corner, a curved banquette around a round table, that works for breakfast, for a laptop or for an evening in, while the bedroom, the walk-in wardrobe and the marble bathroom stay out of sight beyond it. A pantry with the Maxi Bar and a guest bathroom complete the sense of an apartment. The bedroom faces west, with floor-to-ceiling glass, so the sun goes down in the middle of the window. The circular bathtub, set into the marble floor of the bathroom, is the hotel's signature. The balcony runs along the facade with a rocking chair and a daybed, and we made good use of it. The decoration is the suite's weakness. Charcoal walls, black lacquer, dark timber and a chevron carpet date it to the hotel's opening. Nothing was worn and everything worked, but it is a dark scheme.

The rooftop pool is the clearest difference between the two halves of the building. It is open around the clock to the 34 suites and to nobody else. We swam there, and it is the strongest argument for the suite floors. Baan Borneo Club, on the 26th floor, is the other. It is a corner room with glass on two sides over the skyline, open from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon, and on rates that include breakfast you can take it at any hour in between. Breakfast there was a real pleasure, for the view across the city and for the à la carte dishes, which range from Western to Asian, with vegetarian and vegan pages. The buffet is very limited; the menu is where the kitchen shows what it can do. A room-only rate brings the club's refreshments and afternoon tea but not breakfast. Each suite also has a butler around the clock, and an evening drinks hour is poured at Bangkok Trading Post or the Pool Bar. The residences are apartments, from studios of 40 to 45 square metres to two-bedroom units of 91, with kitchens, washer-dryers and balconies. Their guests have the 27th-floor pool, the gym, the spa, the golf and the shuttle, but not the rooftop pool, the butler or the club, which residents may add for a daily charge. A couple should book a suite; the 70-square-metre Sukhothai is the least expensive way into every privilege. A family of five should weigh the Rattanakosin, the two-bedroom suite, against a two-bedroom residence: the roof, the butler and the club against a kitchen and a washing machine. Book a residence expecting the suite privileges and you will be disappointed; book it knowing the difference and it makes a sound long stay.

We booked a massage at Nitra Serenity Centre, the spa on the 28th floor, whose menu is built around what the hotel calls the seven pillars of wellness, with Sleep by Design, a 90-minute treatment aimed at rest, as its signature. We also trained in the gym on the sixth floor, which is open around the clock and has cardio machines and a strength corner. The same floor has a putting green, a short driving range and a golf simulator, unusual for a city hotel. For a swim with company, the 27th floor has a second infinity pool with a jacuzzi and the Pool Bar, open to everyone in the building. Nimitr, the Thai restaurant beside it, serves dinner à la carte or as a set menu with a GranMonte wine pairing; Bangkok Trading Post is the all-day bistro on the lobby floor, and Jack Bain's Bar, on the 28th floor, opens in the evening.

137 Pillars rewards the guest who books the right half of it. On the suite floors it is a small hotel with large suites, a roof of its own and a club breakfast with a view, and the service was attentive and consistent throughout. Against that are a dark palette from 2017, a very limited buffet and a ten-minute walk to the Skytrain, eased by the shuttle. For the right client, we would book it: a couple who want a full suite and a private roof, or a family who understand the difference between the two-bedroom suite and the two-bedroom residence.