Hotel Royal Bangkok - Deluxe Room @ Chinatown (Yaowarat Road) in Thailand

Yaowarat Road is famously known as the face of Chinatown in Thailand's capital and for my most recent trip in February 2023, I decided to stay in that area; at Hotel Royal Bangkok (red arrow), which used to be called White Orchid Hotel. 

Right smack in the middle of the action, and just about 200 meters away from Wat Mangkon MRT station; this is one very convenient hotel that I would strongly recommend, although it might not be suitable if you prefer an area with many fashion / high class shopping options like Pratunam or Asok. 

Lobby lounge on the ground floor that's only open from 1.00 to 8.00 pm. Should you be looking for a place with view and alcoholic drinks, I would suggest the rooftop pool bar (shall share more later in this post).

Checking in with the reception; personally, I think customer service could be better as most of them weren't friendly and definitely failed to maintain that million-dollar smile. I encountered much better service from the friendly housekeepers throughout my week-long stay.

Room

1106 - deluxe room on the 11th floor at 30 square meters, with windows. Frankly, it's not my first time staying at the hotel as I had stayed at least two or three times before it was renamed from White Orchid Hotel, and renovated, but it was around 10 years ago.

Back then, the hotel was 3-star and things were more rundown, and design wasn't as modern as now. A few abstract paintings should be hung to liven up the room though. 

View outside the room, with an opportunity to catch the setting sun. I always prefer windows as the lack of them would make the room too dark, and I am super imaginative when night falls.

Aside from local power socket, we were pleased to find 3-pin options! Nowadays, I would bring my laptop when I am overseas and it's much easier to have a local plug that aligns to the 3-pin power plug that I will bring along.

Small television; I am too accustomed to the 65-inch TV at home. Frankly, I don't really watch much television when I am in hotel rooms. Whether there is cable or not doesn't matter so long I have good Wi-Fi to surf the web, watch videos on YouTube / Facebook etc.

3-pin plugs, plus options for USB charging and HDMI connections to the television. 

Wardrobe with umbrella and in-room safe. While I am aware that hotels do have overriding key to open up the safes, I see this as a necessity as it's still a layer of protection over valuables like laptop. p.s. the umbrella came in handy on the last morning as it was raining cats and dogs!

Mini fridge, electric kettle, complimentary bottled water etc. I am neutral on the need for mini fridges although I will make use of it if I am staying for a few days, by putting in items like yogurt drinks etc.

Washroom - a bidet spray is always welcome.

Vanity top and old school, complimentary toiletries.  

Hair dryer was attached to the wall. 

No bathtub but there's a rainfall shower! As you can see from the picture, the grout was yellowish although overall still pretty clean. I am not complaining for a room that cost me only about S$52 a night.

Gymnasium 

Open daily from 7.00 am till 10.00 pm, the gym room had no windows; with quite a number of equipment, it felt pretty cramped, and there was a sweaty smell in the air. Access via your room key. 

Royal Sky Lounge

We didn't opt for breakfast, which was separately charged at Hotel Royal, but Alex was up there, on the 14th floor, on quite a few occasions to chill, including for breakfast. I did on the last morning, given the rain, although I had visited a few days earlier for a cocktail and night. Click here for more information! 

Swimming Pool

15-meter lap pool on the roof of Hotel Royal, and definitely a good spot for some sun-tanning. It's also a great location to catch the sunrise, without having to travel to another spot near the Chao Phraya River.

Pool rules.

Rooftop Bar

Great view of the surroundings. My advice would be; if you are scared of the Bangkok heat, please proceed to royal sky lounge. If not, this rooftop bar would be perfect for a drink, away from the noisy, squeezy night market at the street level. 

Misty, rainy morning on my last day.

Secret Hideout / True Rooftop

This passage might seem to be either a dead end or one that is inaccessible to non-staff members but trust me; you need to be braver, and push open the seemingly unwelcoming door.

A relaxing area beckoned; decked out with artificial turf and randomly placed bean bags! Correction, relaxing only at night as the day was simply too hot and suffering!

Towards the end was another staircase bringing you up to the true rooftop of Hotel Royal Bangkok! As mentioned in my previous paragraph, it's super nice in the evening and at night, with the vintage light bulbs all activated. If you are lucky enough, there might even be a cooling breeze.

I even brought my mom and sister to check out the space!

Day and night; while it wasn't a surrounding 360-degree panorama, you can still find iconic sights like  Wat Traimit (solid gold Buddha statue housed within), King Power Mahanakhon and the night food street right below us! 

This obviously didn't reflect the usual bustle of the night food street at Yaowarat! Purpose was actually to show you the proximity of Hotel Royal Bangkok and Ha Kee Lim Jing Heang, the shop where I will patronize every single trip to Bangkok! 

View of the swimming pool from the top level.

Could you spot ICONSIAM from the above photo? 

Apart from ICONSIAM, could you spot the Sathorn Ghost Tower? Being a fan of the paranormal, the tower's reputation has intrigued me for years although I doubt I will want to check it out now that I am no longer as young (and as daring) as before.

Training your eyes here.

Try to spot Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn!

Love this panorama that stretched with skyscrapers from end to end. The view from the other side was way tamer, since it's pretty near the Grand Palace. Tallest building appeared to be the Bangkok River Park Condominium.

Here's Bangkok River Park Condominium, against the backdrop of the beautiful sunset, taken over a few days. As expected, the rooftop bar was filled with people who would want to have a drink with the beautiful ball of fire going into its slumber.

Even I also can't resist although I did it on the true rooftop. Frankly, it seemed that many were either unaware that they could access this level or that it's just way more convenient to order, eat and drink at the rooftop bar. 

Time-lapsed video; one taken from the true rooftop and the others from Royal Sky Lounge. There's another one of sunrise I took from the swimming pool but it didn't turn out well. 

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Address

409-421/4, Yaowaraj Road (Chinatown)

Bangkok 10100, Thailand

Map

As above.

Website

http://www.hotelroyalbangkok.com/

Pricing

Deluxe Room - S$315.98 for six nights

Additional Information

Operating hours as above.