My wife and I have been using the CentrePoint
Chidlom for almost 15 years — from when it was still known as
“CentrePoint Langsuan.” At first, we put our friends and colleagues who
visited us from abroad there, but after we moved from Thailand, we
started using the hotel. We’ve tried other hotels several times, but we
ended up always moving to the CentrePoint Chidlom every time. For the
price range, no other hotel can beat the service, amenities, and comfort
provided by the CentrePoint Chidlom. Even the five star Bangkok hotels
we’ve used (even the one used for a POTUS visit) did not match up for us
because we found that their staff was not as friendly as the staff at
the CentrePoint Chidlom.
I’ve noticed that some of the less than satisfactory reviews by other
people here on tripadvisor could be associated with miss-communication
and incorrect expectations. My wife and I have always made it clear our
needs to the hotel’s sales office before we book, and we’ve never been
shy about complaining about every little “nit-noi” problem we find to
the staff, and in every case, the hotel staff always go out of their way
to provide us with what we need or what we’ve requested.
The hotel’s location is a good balance between convenience and
calmness in my opinion. The hotel is located about midway into a
relatively quiet road — it is about a 15 minutes’ walk to the large
Lumpini Park where you can see elderly people practicing tai chi in the
morning. It is a 10-minutes’ walk to the closest “sky train” (BTS)
station — or you can take the free hotel tuk-tuk to go between the sky
train station and the hotel. There are several good restaurants just a
few minutes’ walk from the hotel, yet the street is not as busy as
“Sukhumvit” or one of the other heavily-crowded roads.
The breakfast at the hotel is just perfect in my opinion. I grew up
in an Asian home (neither Thai nor Chinese), and I really appreciate the
hotel serving what I would consider to be “Asian comfort food” that the
CentrePoint makes available at breakfast every morning. This is in
addition to typical western breakfast food (sausage, bacon,
made-to-order eggs or omelette and milk-and-cereal) — but whereas most
other high-end hotels in the area might serve ONLY the western
artery-clogging food, the CentrePoint takes into consideration its Asian
(and Asian-American) guests as well. (My little six-year-old son
appreciated being able to get his misso soup every morning for
breakfast.)
Although the hotel has been at its current location for a long time,
it has done a great job maintaining and keeping its facilities
up-to-date. The covered (but still open to the air) pool is a lot more
relaxing and child-friendly now than it has ever been. The hotel lobby
and library are very relaxing places to just sit and watch people or to
read. Even the golf putting green they’ve installed is very well done
and makes the stay at the hotel that much more comfortable. The rooms
have been updated with comfortable furnishings and amenities. (The
two-bedroom apartment we stayed in had 3 modern LCD TVs, comfortable
king-sized beds with memory-foam pillows, fast internet — and a toilet
that cleans your rear end for you!!!!) Our apartment was both
comfortable and quiet. The housekeeping staff were very quiet; they were
able to keep our rooms immaculate, yet we never hear them working in
any of the other rooms on our floor.
As much as we love the amenities and the rooms at the CentrePoint
Chidlom, the biggest reason why my wife and I (and now with our
children) have always returned to the CentrePoint Chidlom is the
customer service. My job of close to 30 years puts me on the road quite a
bit. I’ve stayed at hotels of all levels of service and of a wide range
of prices all over the world — from hostel-like places in South America
to bed-and-breakfasts in England and continental Europe to resorts in
Las Vegas to five star hotels in India, Japan and almost a hundred other
countries. The friendliness and service that the staff at the
CentrePoint Chidlom gives to me and my family every time we’ve stayed
with them surpasses that of any other hotel I’ve ever used. (Again, I do
think that communication is important if you want great service: The
hotel caters to people of different cultures from all over the world,
and for the most part, they’ve done a great job at anticipating their
guests’ general needs. However, they’ve also been able to go beyond what
we’ve expected from other hotels whenever my wife and I have asked.)
Our last stay at the CentrePoint Chidlom was for a 2-week vacation
that started in early July. As our van drove up to the hotel, my wife
and I turned to each other and then we said to our kids: “We’re home!” —
The hotel staff did not disappoint us.
Room Tip: Communicate with the hotel. We’ve always been given higher floor rooms, and we’ve always be…
