Shangri-La Hotel Bangkok

What an amazing hotel! Very impressed. Booked a horizon club room & paid for an upgrade to a suite and could not be happier. The suite was large and spotless with universal charging points. Service was second to none and very impressed. It was wonderful sitting at the bar at the hotel & watching the river and changes from dusk to night. So many different boats with lights. The Horizon Club was fabulous & seat by the windows with excellent service and cocktails. Breakfast buffet was busy but a great spread. Wonderful hotel & worth the price!

Everything was great from check in to check out. Breakfast, Tea and happy hour included in our rate. Would highly recommend. Great food and fantastic service

Our stay at the Shangri-La Bangkok was absolutely exceptional from beginning to end. From the moment we arrived, the warm welcome and genuine hospitality of the staff made us feel truly valued and at home. The service throughout the hotel is flawless—attentive, professional, and always delivered with a smile. Our room was immaculate, beautifully maintained, and extremely comfortable. Housekeeping standards are outstanding, with a level of cleanliness that clearly reflects the hotel’s commitment to excellence. Dining was a real highlight of our stay. The Salathip restaurant offers not only delicious and refined Thai cuisine, but also a stunning riverside setting and impeccable service, making the experience truly memorable. The breakfast buffet is among the best we have ever experienced, with an impressive variety of high-quality dishes, fresh ingredients, and a wide selection of both international and Asian options, all served in a calm and elegant atmosphere. The Shangri-La Bangkok perfectly combines luxury, comfort, and heartfelt service. We highly recommend this hotel and very much look forward to returning in the future.

The Shangri-La Bangkok remains a truly high-end establishment, distinguished above all by an exceptional quality of service. The staff are generally attentive, professional, and genuinely eager to please, which greatly enhances the hotel’s prestige and the overall comfort of the stay. However, certain issues unfortunately detract from the experience. We repeatedly encountered problems with deactivated key cards, preventing access to our room. This required us to return to the reception desk each time, where waiting times were often long due to the high number of guests. Such recurring malfunctions are particularly disappointing in an establishment of this calibre. The breakfast is absolutely gargantuan, offering an impressive variety and excellent quality. That said, it is regrettable to observe the behaviour of some guests, who are not very respectful and help themselves in an excessive and disorderly manner. This occasionally creates a rather disheartening atmosphere, not fully in keeping with the elegance and refinement of the venue. Finally, one particularly disappointing point concerns the behaviour of certain staff members at the swimming pool. We unfortunately noticed that access to the best sun-exposed loungers sometimes appeared to depend on offering a prior tip, which is deeply regrettable — even shocking — in an establishment of this category. Such practices are not worthy of the Shangri-La’s reputation and deserve serious attention from management. In summary, this is a hotel offering exceptional facilities and generally impeccable service, but certain operational issues and isolated behaviours detract from the experience and should be addressed in order to fully live up to its renowned reputation.

I do not ordinarily leave a review of hotels on Tripadvisor unless I had a really bad experience which I would then feel compelled to share. This is going to be a long review which I hope would be useful to other travelers considering a stay. I booked the Krungthep Wing to stay specifically for the NYE fireworks (because Mandarin Oriental was fully booked :(). While the view was indeed what I paid for, the overall experience at this 5-star hotel was not very welcoming. Krungthep Wing is situated closer to Saphan Taksin BTS and Sathorn Pier, making it easily accessible to either the opposite (where IconSiam is) or Central Bangkok where I arrived from. Location wise, it is unbeatable and I much prefer this wing than the Shangri-La Wing which is crowded and smack in the action (think chaos). When I first arrived, I got weird stares from the bell hop. I don’t blame them because a 5-star hotel likely does not receive many guests arriving in just a backpack and dressed in the Thailand elephant tee (I am proud of the elephant tee which I got at Chiangmai btw). I only got the welcoming smile from the reception when I told them I was checking in. The check in was swift and I had my room well before the check in time which was a pleasant start. After a short rest in the room, I decided to check out the other parts of the hotel (kudos to reception on this though I am so sorry I didn’t get the name of the lovely female receptionist). However, it was strange that there were no signs in the lift to the pool or gym and I was also not informed by the reception of its whereabouts (not a problem to me). After wandering around the lobby, I finally found a sign that says “Pool” at the corner of the lobby. I was quite surprised at the pool crowd since many reviews said this wing was more exclusive and saw lesser people. I proceeded to take a photo of the pool for a hotel review when I was stopped by a chef in white uniform (I believed his name is Chef Stef - don’t mean to name names in my review but I just wanted to ensure the review is directed at the correct personnel). What happened next made me feel absolutely not welcomed (and baffling to a certain extent). He proceeded to ask why I was at the pool and to quote exactly what he said “this area is reserved for guests”. He then stood there with a questioning look even when I responded that I am a guest of the hotel. He only changed his tone when I pulled out my room key and he then proceeded to make a joke out of his behaviour “Now you can be assured that the security at this hotel is top notched”. To be honest, I do not think he had looked at me from a security point of view because this should have been undertaken by the appropriate personnel (there was already security at the entrances of Shangri-La checking bags before everyone enters). His words made a guest felt targeted just because I am not dressed to the tee unlike other guests. Having some service industry background in the past, I can accept service lapses (personnel may be on the job training), but definitely not such a targeted behaviour at a hotel, much less from a 5-star hotel. As a seasoned traveler and having stayed in other 5-6 star properties, I can say this is the first time I had experienced such an incident and it has indeed left a poor impression. I am just glad that I did not book to stay throughout at Shangri La for my week long trip in Bangkok. The other aspects of my stay were relatively average. There was nothing “wow” unlike the other hotel I am staying at in Bangkok where service was top notch. Overall, I was disappointed with the experience at Shangri-La and probably would not return. I am sure the Guest Experience will respond to this review with a generic “sorry for your disappointing experience, but rest assure we will take your feedback seriously and improve and hope to be given a chance to welcome you again blah blah” which to me does little to nothing to change the poor impression. What 5-star hotels really need to understand is guests will forever remember how you made them feel on that first time that they stay.