137 Pillars has been on my radar screen to try it at some point but the price level is significantly in excess of the top hotel in each of the 4 hotel chains where we normally stay at: Park Hyatt (Hyatt), Waldorf Astoria (Hilton), St.Regis (Marriott), and Banyan Tree (Accor). That said, 137P is an all-suites property so prices must be compared to booking a suite outright at the big hotel chains and when doing so the price difference is not as big as it appears to be at first glance. I thought if I was to try 137P, what better time to stay there than when most hotels in Bangkok are full which is during Chinese New Year, because I would be unlikely to receive a generous room upgrade at the big chains so no upgrade at 137P would not be any worse, and if I want to avoid the big crowds in big hotels not to mention subpar service due to overworked staff, I could take refuge in the much smaller 137P during that time of the year. I was not disappointed with and I will certainly return.

The location of 137P is not the best and a bit away from the city center (Park Hyatt / Grand Hyatt for example). It is a 15-minute walk from 137P to Phrom Phong BTS station but to mitigate the location issue, 137P offers a free shuttle bus to the EmQuartier shopping mall which is next to BTS.

I booked the entry level room which is the Sukhothai suite and unsurprisingly by the time we checked in, the hotel was fully booked according to SLH.com so I did not expect any upgrade despite having dual elite status with SLH’s loyalty program. To my surprise they upgraded us to the Ayutthaya suite which is moderately larger than the Sukhothai suite (95 square meters vs 70 square meters). In fact we ended up seeing two versions of the Ayutthaya suite; the room we had the first night had a much larger living room but only one bathroom therefore no second toilet. That room was in the corner of the top floor (32nd). The layout of the building on that floor is such that all rooms are on the same side and on the opposite side the wall had windows on the full length of the corridor so the drawback was that during the day the sun was beaming in there and the short walk from the elevator to the room was very hot. Fortunately the AC worked great in the room itself. The advantage of only having rooms on one side of the corridor and being at the end of the hallway is that there was never any foot traffic in the hallway outside our room; in any event there were only 5 rooms on our floor so very quiet anyway.

The quality of the hardware is on par with luxury hotels in Bangkok and the room was beautifully decorated except perhaps the zig zag pattern on the carpet which is not my favorite. In that regard I prefer the hardwood floors at St.Regis and Waldorf Astoria. Overall the room quality is a notch above St.Regis, definitely above Park Hyatt, and perhaps comparable to Waldorf Astoria which is a newer construction, minus some of the little details such as the curtains and blinds which are controlled by an electronic panel at WA but not at 137P. Also 137P has a Toto toilet with heated seats and the lid which automatically lifts up when you walk into the toilet enclosure so that’s better than what StR and PH have to offer, but the WA toilet is marginally better with more features such as auto flush. The one advantage that 137P has over other hotels we tried in Bangkok is the terrace which is a nice place to relax and enjoy the view in the evening, although perhaps less so during the heat of the afternoon. I have read a comment before about someone complaining of low water pressure in the shower – it was not my experience. Water pressure was fine in both rooms we had.

I noticed that there was no mouthwash in the bathroom which would be an easy fix to offer a more complete amenity set. Interestingly the amenities were in a hand-made bag which was designed by autistic children; the bag itself is available for purchase with the proceeds going to a charity fund. Regarding soap, shampoo and body wash, I realize it’s a matter of personal preference but at 137P they had Harnn brand products which were available in dispensers rather than small bottles. They were ok but not my favorite, I personally prefer Salvatore Ferragamo from Waldorf Astoria.

Wifi reception in our first room was intermittent and due to the same root problem, TV reception was on and off as well. A technician came to the room and was unable to quickly fix the issue so we were offered to move to another room which was somewhat surprising if the hotel was full. As mentioned above the second room was the same type (Ayutthaya Suite) but it had a powder room off the entrance so it was more convenient for a couple, at the expense of having less space in the living room; the overall size was the same. The powder room was quite long and far bigger than most hotel’s powder rooms, however the toilet there was standard rather than a Toto toilet which was only in the main bathroom. Due to the different layout of the room, the shower was adjoining the bedroom and you could either pull the blinds down for privacy or open them to have natural lighting in the shower.

The hallway on the floor of our second room (24th floor) had rooms on both sides so no windows and no heat problem although it was a bit dark.

Guests in the suites (not residences) have access to the Baan Borneo Club on the 26th floor. Despite high occupancy in the hotel, every time we went there it was quiet relative to traditional club lounges of hotel chains - there is no comparison possible. The club was a peace haven and we had the whole place to ourselves one morning.

I have seen lots of great breakfasts in Bangkok and the one at Waldorf Astoria is at the top of my list but in some ways 137P can be seen as even better. First of all the views from the club are great, the atmosphere and décor are nice, and having a quiet and cozy place is important to us; none of the other luxury hotels in Bangkok have anything near this experience, especially not StR with the chaotic breakfast restaurant. How 137P distinguishes itself is not only with the venue, but also with the extensive a la carte menu to go along the small buffet. No other hotel we have been to in Bangkok has so many a la carte menu choices – Park Hyatt can hold its own but there are even more options at 137P. You can order as many items from the menu as desired from 6-11am and I thought there were several attractive choices such as a crab omelette, wagyu steak, salmon fillet with miso soup (Japanese breakfast), etc. At the buffet there were also sushis, pastries, fruits, veggies and salads, and not just boring salads, for example one morning they had squid salad, shrimp salad, mozzarella and tomatoes, etc. To cap it off they also have free flow mimosas and Cava available for a truly luxury breakfast. None of the top hotels we have stayed at in Bangkok have free-flow bubbly for breakfast now that Athenee has cut it from the Club Lounge. In a lower hotel category, Le Meridien is the only other hotel that I know which still has sparkling wine for breakfast (for Platinum guests and above) among the main hotel chains. One more note about breakfast and how 137P distinguishes itself from the competition: if you happen to miss breakfast in the morning, you can still go to the Club any time from 11am to 11pm and order one item from the a la carte breakfast menu. How awesome is that – it reminds me of the all-day breakfast at Park Hyatt Tokyo, the only difference being that breakfast at 137P must be in the Club, not room service.

Happy hour 5-7pm is on par with Athenee and Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit (Luxury Collection) for drinks quality, but definitely better than Athenee for the venue due to the privacy at 137P. For comparison purposes, St.Regis only gives one drink per person per day during happy hour (Platinum or above), Waldorf Astoria only gives 1000 THB food & beverage credit to Diamond guests, and Park Hyatt has one hour free-flow drinks rather than 2 hours. Banyan Tree has a lounge with 2 hours but lower quality drinks and that place is loud and busy, therefore 137P easily tops them all in that regard. Regarding food it’s not a traditional lounge however – only nuts and crackers for happy hour.

As an alternative to the Borneo Club for happy hour, we could also get drinks in the Jack Bain bar a couple of floors above. The bar is fairly small and only has a few tables and chairs inside, and there are also some extra seats outside the bar in an area overlooking the main pool.

Service was great during our stay and in my experience the butler service was even better than at StR. First of all there seemed to be more staff available relative to the number of guests, and with the hotel being so small it felt like all staff could quickly know all guests in the hotel so it felt more personal. In addition there was a phone available in the room for guests to take out of the hotel during the stay. You can call anywhere in the world with the phone and it also has an internet connection which can be convenient for some folks – no need to buy a SIM card at the airport. In addition you have the butler on speed dial programmed in the phone plus a chat feature with the butler so it feels like any time you need help the butler is always there to assist even when not on the hotel premises. In my experience a good time for a butler to connect with guests is during breakfast and some resorts execute this well for example StR Bora Bora and StR Maldives, but in large city hotels such as StR Bangkok, I have not seen our butler in the restaurant before. At 137P I suspect staff in the Club communicates with the butler team downstairs to inform them which guests have arrived for breakfast because our butler came upstairs to greet us in the restaurant and either take our order and/or serve us our dish, before giving way to the staff of the Club for the rest of the breakfast. This is a great way to keep the butler service personal without being overbearing.

Having to change rooms after settling in our first room was probably a fail on behalf of the hotel and some hotels would probably upgrade to a better room type as compensation, but with high occupancy I am not sure it was possible anyway. All I can say is that the move was handled well. A few other notes regarding service, one positive is that you get housekeeping done twice a day at 137P which is a nice perk. On the downside however, there is no laundry or pressing benefit which pales in comparison to StR giving 4 free pieces of laundry per day for a couple. I think 137P could possibly provide something in that regard if they wanted to up their game. Another minor item which would be an easy fix is during breakfast staff did not replace cutlery when we ordered a new dish.

To provide a complete assessment of service at 137P I would probably need to return a few times and see how they handle repeat guests. I have stayed a few times at WA and StR during special occasions such as birthdays; this is not something that I can compare with 137P yet.

The main swimming pool on the 27th floor is quite nice to begin with and has plenty of chairs either in the shade or in the sun, depending on preferences. However the crown jewel of this hotel is the infinity pool on the rooftop which has fantastic views of the city and is not accessible to residence guests so it’s very private. I am usually not much of a fan of swimming pools in big cities such as Bangkok and I would rather use the pool in beach destinations such as Phuket or Koh Samui (if in Thailand), but I made an exception with 137P. Icing on the cake is that the pool is open 24/7 which almost no hotel in Bangkok has, besides the W hotel among those that I am aware of. Near the roof-top pool there are also a couple of cabanas with views of the city and some greenery for people who do not want to stay in the sun.

Wifi in the second room worked ok without interruptions, but speeds were perhaps not the best in town; I measured around 8-15 Mbps.

Overall 137 Pillars is a great hotel – very private / peaceful club, excellent a la carte breakfast, generous happy hour relative to other luxury hotels from major hotel chains, arguably one of the nicest roof-top pools open 24/7 to boot, all of this with a spacious and upscale suite with nice decor. Last but not least the butler team works with a limited number of guests due to the size of the hotel, which paves the way to provide superior personal service. I can highly recommend this hotel – it’s one of the very few independent properties in a major city that I would book despite competition from big hotel chains who are generous with suite upgrades.