Park Hyatt Bangkok Review

A skybridge runs from Central Embassy to the BTS at Phloen Chit, and a covered walkway on the mall's second floor reaches Central Chidlom, so the Skytrain and two shopping centres are a lift ride from the room rather than a walk along Phloen Chit in the heat. Siam is two stops west on the Skytrain, Asok two stops east, and the luxury floors of Central Embassy are directly below. In a city where the traffic decides how much of the day you keep, that is the hotel's most useful asset.

Park Hyatt Bangkok names its rooms by their beds, so the room we had is called the 1 King Bed Deluxe, which tells you nothing. At 55 to 70 square metres it is a little larger than the entry room, and the extra space has gone into the plan. Ours had a lounge area at the window, a walk-in wardrobe and a powder room as well as the main bathroom, and glass screens divided the desk from the bed. For two people sharing, a second toilet and a wardrobe you can walk into do more for the stay than another ten square metres would, and the screens let one of you work while the other sleeps. Only some of the Deluxe rooms have the powder room, so ask for one when you book. The bathroom has a soaking tub as well as a rain shower, and in ours the tub stood at the window. We found nothing to fault. If the view matters more than the layout, the 1 King Bed Corner, 68 to 85 square metres, looks over 180 degrees of the city, adds a study and has the powder room in every room. With qualifying bookings, the Park Executive Suite and higher categories include the Executive Retreat in The Living Room, with lunch, afternoon tea and evening drinks. Eligibility depends on how the suite is booked, and upgrades may not qualify, so we confirm it with the hotel before you book. Breakfast for two comes with any eligible Hyatt Privé rate.

We trained in the gym, which is open around the clock and lit by daylight, with the pool terrace in view below its windows, the nearest thing the Park Hyatt has to a garden. Anyone travelling with a serious strength programme should know that the Fairmont and the Kimpton have the two best-equipped hotel gyms we know in Bangkok. The pool, two floors below on that terrace, is 40 metres of saltwater with a 25-metre infinity-edge section for laps, and Hirotoshi Sawada's sculpture Naga stands between the water and an indoor waterfall. The spa, PAÑPURI WELLNESS, shares the gym's floor and is run by the Thai wellness house independently of the hotel.

Breakfast at Embassy Room offers the full range, a buffet alongside an à la carte menu, and the kitchen executes both with care. We had poached eggs on avocado toast with grilled tomatoes, coriander and lime, simple and very well made, with a pastry crowned in spun caramel and ham with a grissino alongside. It was one of the pleasures of the stay. Penthouse Bar + Grill fills the top three floors of the tower: the grill and a chef's table on the first, a double-height cocktail bar with live jazz from Wednesday to Sunday on the second, and an open-air bar on the roof. The kitchen, under Tomoya Sugizaki, who spent more than twenty years at Park Hyatt Tokyo, cooks over organic charcoal, and our steak on the bone was a confident piece of grilling. The dining room was almost empty on the evening we were there, and it lacked a little of the life a room at the top of a tower can have. That was the luck of a quiet night rather than any failing of the restaurant, and the cooking stood well on its own.

The Park Hyatt's strengths are quiet ones. The Skytrain and two shopping centres are reached without going outside, breakfast is done properly, and the Deluxe is laid out for two people sharing. What it does not offer is extensive, resort-style grounds; for those, Siam Kempinski is two stops along the Skytrain. The natural rival is Rosewood, a few hundred metres along Phloen Chit, and the choice between them depends on the traveller. The Park Hyatt has the mall under its roof; Rosewood has the stronger restaurants, Nan Bei above all. For a stay built around the shops and getting about by train, we would book the Park Hyatt. For one built around dinners, Rosewood.