The SO/Bangkok on the southern edge of Lumphini Park is a stylish design-forward
hotel with lots on offer. See if it's a good pick for your next trip to Bangkok, coming up.
I’ve been wanting to stay here for years and honestly don’t know why I didn’t sooner.
The design and the story are what drew me to it, but these views
are the impression that it left. Let’s take a very quick look at where we are.
The hotel is located at the northern tip of Sathorn, a major commercial and office
district in downtown Bangkok, but that’s not to say it’s not convenient to other areas as well.
It’s well placed with multiple MRT stations close by as well as a BTS station on Silom Road. As you
already imagined there’s easy access to a litany of 7-Elevens and of course plenty of Starbucks and
Boots around as well. Look at the corner in the bottom left. Five Starbucks at one intersection!
The hotel, with 238 rooms, opened in 2012 has two entrances. One on Rama IV Road and the other,
which is primarily used for hotel guests on North Sathorn Road. The entrance is very non descript,
the doors looking like they may have come from a penitentiary.
As we step inside, you will immediately see this is not your average city hotel.
SO/ properties, originally known as SO/Sofitel are owned by Accor and in their words are, get ready
“a vivid cocktail of luxury, sophistication and style. An audacious burst of local energy with an
unmistakable playful twist. An edge that sets the experience apart. Fashionable and social,
it’s the place to be and be seen, connecting the like-minded.
Each SO/ property is developed in collaboration with a fashion designer.
Kenzo Takada and Karl Lagerfeld have left their mark on other properties while the SO/Bangkok was
designed in collaboration with Christian Lacroix. Which I suppose explains the styling in general,
but especially the ornate silk uniforms of some of the staff that you might catch a glimpse of.
The ground floor also has a cafe and a dessert lounge.
We are going to head up a few floors to the actual reception area. This is one of those hotels where
you need to take two elevators to go to your room. The lobby and bar here is stylish and
festive though especially at night those giant LED monitors were very loud, visually speaking.
There’s also a decent sized business center off to the side.
For copyright reasons I can’t let you hear, but all throughout the property there was
tasteful Christmas music playing- no loungy ambient music like I was probably expecting.
Up on the 25th floor is the Club Signature where my check in took place as it was
already quite late by the time I arrived. The cocktail on arrival was a welcome surprise.
The lounge itself is colorful to the extreme but I will say very honestly- in person never did any of
this design feel overdone or tacky or gimmicky as it might read on camera. The combination of
the colorful spaces directly next to darker cave like areas gave it some sort of balance.
And if you notice some of the manikins around,
those are real uniforms worn by the staff. But again, just some staff- there’s a balance.
The terrace gives us our first taste of this fantastic view,
this direction facing south. The 10th floor is essentially their party floor with this
large lawn on the south side ready to be setup for cocktail parties and receptions.
Through the corridor to the other side we have the beautiful pool overlooking Lumphini Park.
The pool spans almost the full width of the building and has plenty of seating around.
Just in the distance we can see the multitude of cranes busily working on the huge One
Bangkok development. This hotel will surely get a boost when that eventually opens.
On the far side there is a small pool bar named The Water Club
as well as the fitness center cleverly named SO/fit.
As is expected for a business leaning hotel, the gym is large and well equipped.
Now we will head to the 24th floor for a quick tour of my room.
Remember, I arrived late at night and like to film before I muck up the room,
so the lighting might not be the best. The design of the hotel rooms falls into one of
four element categories. Earth, water, wood and metal. Each design becomes the theme of the room.
I got the room which I hoped for, which is an Earth room. The remaining element,
fire, is the basis for the design of the common areas and restaurants at the hotel.
Again, in their words, “Rather than the brown tones you might expect,
the designer instead opted for cool, cobalt blue to create the sense of aura and enrichment.
The open-plane space evokes tranquility and light airiness that takes away the weight of
the element. Sweeping archways are reminiscent of primeval Thai cave dwellers from the Northeast,
and additional homage is paid to these important ancestors
by reimagining their indigenous art style with modern flair to adorn the walls.” I’ll admit,
I have no idea what I just said. I just think the room is pretty. When booking,
I would just suggest not requesting a Wood themed room as… they just look like normal hotel rooms.
All of that design language out of the way, I really like the layout for a few reasons.
First, love that the lounging chair has a laptop table with it,
second, the work station has another surface that you can pull out to increase the surface space,
you’d think the layout would make the room feel cluttered and small- or at least I would,
but it doesn’t, especially with the dark walls it feels incredibly cozy.
This light orb thing is probably the only true gimmicky part of the room.
And of course there are plenty of outlets throughout the room,
but they are not universal- only fitting EU Pin and North American plugs.
There is of course a sliding door to separate the bathroom as well.
I’m not quite sure how art deco blends with cave dwellers,
but here we are. The unique bathroom layout gives you quite a bit of extra space,
which does eat into your closet area, though. But there’s still plenty of space for storage.
When
I checked in I was told everything in the mini bar was free- that’s exciting. But then you
open the fridge and a bit less so. Illy coffee was provided, but just one pod with caffeine
and that machine was the most confusing pod machine
I’ve ever seen, especially when you haven’t had any coffee yet.
The toilet and shower rooms were both fairly oversized and the shower was stocked with bulk
bottles. I like that there were sets of the products at the tub, the sink
and the shower. Too many places think it would be fun to make you take them back and forth.
A nice early morning view of the park, looking north towards Siam and Sukhumvit.
Breakfast was chargeable at 900 baht and was just ok. Probably not worth the price if it’s not
included in your rate. The Red Oven restaurant also has a small terrace which apparently they
don’t use. The buffet has a selection of Thai, Japanese and Western dishes with an egg station
as well. The only thing I truly didn’t like here was the gloves. You are required to
wear gloves when using the buffet. This is the only place I was at in Thailand that did this-
and I’ll tell you why it’s a ridiculous thing. Everyone wears gloves and goes on about their
days. It doesn’t make anything more sanitary. Perfect example, after I sat down at my table,
I took my gloves off and put them on the table. The hostess took them to throw away,
but she didn’t then change her gloves. So, what’s the point? I’m all for
anything and everything for health and safety, but not silly things like this. Ok, rant over.
On the other side of the building you’ll find the other restaurant, So/shi.
I’ll admit hanging western utensils off of the
lamps in a sushi restaurant was a little odd. Maybe, it was meant to be ironic.
Just down the hall was a reception area for the many meeting rooms the
hotel has- and they seemed to be super busy at all times with them while I was there.
And finally, we have this. No words, really.
Now onto The Flip Flop Score. The room was exactly as expected and the condition was really good for
a hotel approaching ten years old. Service wise, nothing was bad- but it did seem the more staff
there were on hand the less attentive they were, a seven. The common areas are all well laid out and
designed with full points. For the location, it’s good, but might not be right for you if you’re
just looking for a shopping hub. Cleanliness at full points with the F&B venus getting a nine.
For amenities, I’d like more than one coffee and connectivity was good at 55mb download.
Tip, don’t pay for the premium wifi. Finally, convenience was about as good as you can get
at a nine. Overall a solid 86/100. If this is the specific location you need to be in
or you’re commuting on the MRT, the SO/Bangkok might be a great option. I hope you enjoyed this
video and liked it and subscribed to see two new hotel and flight reviews every week. See you soon!