Have been to Bangkok for the past ten years, and had wanted to stay at the Pathumwan Princess because of the location and word of mouth last year, but it was booked out. Of course, the location is perfect, especially if you have time to shop, as it is attached to MBK. Excellent service, warm welcome and great rooms. The cafe in the lobby is excellent, and very reasonably priced. Held a function upstairs and the catering, service, facilities and price were very pleasing,

Planned to stay here for a few nights before we headed on to Phuket. I thought the location would be good since there were things around for everyone to do. Although being connected to MBK was nice, it wasn't worth the ridiculously inept service. Check-in was an atrocity. I understand that you get what you pay for and that this hotel is a far cry from the Peninsula (where I usually stay in Bangkok), but I am truly amazed how one hotel can make checking in an almost enjoyable experience and the Pathumwan Princess makes it like a visit to the dentist... after you haven't been to the dentist for 20 years. The rooms are incredibly dated yet spacious. The public areas of the hotel certainly do not match the interiors of the rooms. We had 2 suites that each had kitchenettes. I wouldn't even consider the guest rooms average; I'd have to say, slightly below average - at best. So far check-in has got us in a bad mood. We move on to dinner in one of the restaurants. The selection seems great and the food is tasty but again with the poor service. You can't even chalk up the ineptitude to the language barrier... it's just genuine bad service. The straw that broke our back was the doorman getting us a taxi. We tell the doorman where we want to go and he tells the taxi driver. The taxi driver then proceeds to take us to where HE wants to take us... probably some place that gives him a nice kickback. Well, after arguing with the driver, he takes us BACK to the hotel! He didn't want to take us where we wanted to go. We went into the hotel and complained, and they took us right back out to the SAME taxi driver... THEN they suggested that we take the sky train instead. I'm not opposed to taking the sky train, but we wanted to take a taxi. After that, we checked out the following morning and checked into the Lebua State Tower. On the way back through Bangkok from Phuket, we stayed at the Peninsula. If you're in Bangkok, stay at the Peninsula. You shouldn't have to deal with egregious ineptitude just for the benefit of being connected to MBK... stay someplace where customer service isn't a foreign concept.

The Pathumwan Princess gets a big tick due to the central location. However saying that, this is not so critical in Bangkok as transportation is plentiful and cheap; taxis, tuk-tuks, motorbike taxis, trains, buses etc. During my stay there the place was very busy so it is obviously one of the more popular hotels. I think it is a little over-priced though and there are much nicer hotels in Bangkok at 30 or 40 percent cheaper rates than this hotel. Saying that I found the service to be first rate, especially the restaurant and bars. The buffet breakfast by the pool was excellent with a varied selection of foods. I can recommend this hotel but I probably have three or four others that I would give preference to next time round.

I read a review on this site where the reviewer had stayed at this hotel and booked a Mercedes transfer from the airport to the hotel. I decided to do the same and it cost 1700 baht (about 60 AUD). I attempted to book this by calling the hotel directly, but that was a waste of time and money, so resorted to emailing them, which worked out just fine. The service was great, as was the car, however I hated the fact that the hotel's airport representative (the guy who receives you and takes you to the car outside) referred us to some lady who tried to sell us a tour of Bangkok. She wasted about 10 minutes of our time (after a long flight) and told us it was free, except we would have to pay 500 baht each for tax. I didn't realise what was going on until later. I told the woman I was not interested, yet she persisted until I was more assertive. Then she waved to the hotel representative, who was standing a few feet away and came to greet us only after she waved to him and told him she was finished with us. Obviously this was a set-up. I don't know for certain if the hotel is officially involved in this scam, but I was not happy about the fact that this guy, the hotel's official representative at the airport, did this to us. This was my first trip to Thailand and I realised a few days later that 1000 baht was way more that the going rate for a tour of Bangkok, particularly if you want to discover the place yourself, at your own pace, rather than having to keep to other people's schedules. Also, in my opinion the hotel wasn't 4* or 4.5* as they claim to be. The room and furniture were clean but worn out and in dire need of an update. The bathroom was old and mouldy and dusty. We only stayed there 2 nights (of the originally booked 6 nights) and they didn't even bother to ask why we were leaving. I voluntarily told them, and they did not bother responding. The staff are mostly rude and their english speaking skills are well below what one would expect from such a hotel, particularly at this price. I went to look at the Novotel (not far from Pathumwan) and for the same price (4900 per night) they had a fresh looking room with modern furniture, and importantly for me, a new and clean bathroom. However, I ended up staying the rest of our stay in Bangkok at the President Solitaire, where for 3800 baht per night (incl breakfast) we stayed in a 1 bedroom suite! Even though you need to take more taxis since it is further away from the city, it is worth it. Taxis are so cheap in Bangkok anyway, provided you avoid the crooks and dishonest drivers who will gladly charge you 5 times the usual rate for any journey if you give them a chance. Yes, Pathumwan's location cannot be beaten if you want convenience (it is attached to MBK mall), however if I wanted to be close to the action in terms of shopping I would choose the Novotel, which is under a 5 min walk from MBK, Siam Paragon and other malls in the area. One last thing, the breakfast at Patumwan Princess is an experience in itself. The staff are not friendly, will not assist you if they can avoid it, and you will know it is 10.30am (the time when breakfast finishes) when, without warning, they quickly begin packing away the buffet and cleaning up all around you. They will even take YOUR plates away, while you are still eating from THAT plate, unless you ask them not to! This is in contrast to other hotels I have stayed at where staff will politely come up to you and let you know that breakfast is finishing in 10 minutes time, or something along those lines.