The Ratchaprasong intersection at the heart of Bangkok is a frenetic mix of shrines, shopping and traffic. The streetscape is one of the city’s most dynamic, transforming in appearance once every decade or so—likewise, the mosaic-like hospitality scene in the area with the Grand Hyatt, the Renaissance, and the InterContinental in close proximity to each other.
But what happens when an ‘old’ hotel becomes new again, as in the case of the 381-room InterContinental Bangkok? We’re not talking merely a few new licks of paint and a change in upholstery. The 23-year-old property’s monumental refit of both its public spaces; restaurants and bars; rooms (starting at RM1,100 per night); and vast outdoor pool and terrace is a wonderful addition to the Thai capital’s already vast stable of pedigree hotels. For New Year weekend breaks and beyond, a stay here comprises the benefits of its location at the centre of it all paired with elegantly refreshed rooms.
For one, the hotel’s lobby, built at a time when real estate in the city wasn’t as coveted as the present, is all about the grandest gesture of all—space. As in the past, the InterContinental Bangkok has gone all-in with the luxury of wide entrances and a ballroom-worthy distance of a walk to the reception desks, while other properties, constructed later, might decide on a more discreet entrance or might lump several food and beverage outlets into the lobby space.
Design tropes here and in the rooms display flowers as their underlying motifs, as evidenced in the sculptural shapes and the curves, highlighted by well-positioned sources of natural light. Rooms, too, share similar visual poetry with their retro-modern bed headboards, golden ratio-proportioned seating, snow-grey wooden flooring, and marble bathrooms with spotlights galore. So, in many ways, the property takes on a new and completely different personality, eclipsing its earlier incarnation’s dowdy and dated business hotel environs. Guests who previously stayed here prior to the hotel’s transformation will be excited by the Bangkok-based P49 Design’s interiors that are at once sophisticated and embellished without going too over the top.
When it comes to restaurants, the new kid on the block here is SoCal, a Californian bistro with a 50-strong wine selection from the Sunshine State, along with weekday taco specials, flame-fresh pizzas and pastas, as well as an app called Vinu that works as a tech-sourced sommelier. To dovetail with the past, the hotel’s established dining players such as Cantonese restaurant Summer Place, Fireplace Grill and Bar, and all-day-restaurant Espresso—all of which now feature stunning open kitchens—impart a sense of familiarity with its chefs and staff. Oh, and in case partygoers are wondering, the legendary must-do-on-the-‘One night in Bangkok’ bucket list, Mixx Discotheque, located in the hotel’s annexe, remains one of the city’s most lively spots to conclude a night spent making moves on the dance floor tiles.
