After spending 4 nights at the Conrad, I am off to check out another property in Bangkok. I will be staying at VIE Hotel Bangkok, a property under the Accor MGallery brand. The MGallery Hotel Collection features boutique hotels, each with its original design and unique stories. I got a super good deal and kind of almost unbelievable deal. This is the main reason why I choose to stay here. Looks like I will be trying out a new hotel without status for the first time in a long while. I will be doing just a one-night stay to extract the best value out of it. This will be my first ever stay at a MGallery hotel. VIE Hotel is located near the Siam enclave of shopping malls as well as the Platinum shopping district where people love to go for bargain buys. The Ratchathewi BTS station is right outside the hotel. This is quite a good location to base yourself in Bangkok.
Booking Process & Pre Arrival
I book an Accor STEP rate for this stay. For my 1 night stay, the base level standard room cost 147 SGD including taxes. This is an extremely good rate and too good to be true since you get a 100 USD credit which more or less covers the nightly rate that I paid for this stay. I immediately jump upon the rate and made the booking. It will be a good opportunity to review another property in Bangkok. By booking a STEP rate from a luxury travel agent, it allows me to enjoy some further benefits and these come in handy since I do not have any status with Accor. The STEP rate is pegged to the flexible rate and I will also enjoy extra benefits such as a 100 USD credit, breakfast, early check-in and late checkout. Pre-arrival liaising was bad, I wanted to get some information on the hotel and the restaurant but my email was sent without response. This hotel has a high amount of suites and most of the accommodations here are in the suites category. There should be quite a high chance of getting a suite assigned for elite members. This would be a good place to stay if you would like the space. All of the 153 rooms and suites here also come with a Bathtub. They are spread across 9 categories.
| Rooms | Piano Club Access | Bathtub | Room Size | No.of Rooms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deluxe | No | Yes | 38 – 41 Sqm | 66 |
| Vie Family Suite | No | Yes | 81 Sqm | 10 |
| Deluxe Suite | No | Yes | 76 Sqm | 33 |
| Executive Suite | No | Yes | 81 Sqm | 35 |
| Duplex Suite | Yes | Yes | 125 Sqm | 4 |
| Grand Duplex Suite | Yes | Yes | 145 Sqm | 3 |
| Vie Penthouse Suite 3 | Yes | Yes | 90 Sqm | 1 |
| Vie Penthouse Suite 2 | Yes | Yes | 114 Sqm | 1 |
| Vie Penthouse Suite 1 | Yes | Yes | 420 Sqm | 1 |
Checking In
I arrived at around 12.45pm. It was a short distance away from the Conrad where I was staying before but took around 30 mins given the heavy traffic. The staff came over to help me with my bags as I pull up to the driveway. The lobby looks modern and luxurious with a touch of french flair given the chain branding. There is plenty of seating by the lobby like a luxury apartment and I love the lights on the ceilings. The lobby is chic and luxurious. You can find one of the hotel restaurants by the lobby too which also acts as the club lounge. Checking in took a long time. The staff are entirely clueless about the STEP rate and all the details are missing. An upgrade is not offered, no mention of breakfast and they do not know what I am speaking about when I enquired about the 100 USD credit. Clearly, there is a miscommunication or error somewhere, either the hotel, my travel agent or Accor. I was open to leaving if they are not honouring the rate and thankfully I have all the confirmation and screenshots. I also informed my travel agent to get in touch with the hotel.
Finally, after some liaising and checking, the hotel decided to honour the rate after I showed the confirmation and the associated benefits. The front desk then confirms the information including breakfast and an upgrade to the next level which is the Deluxe Suite. the 100 USD would be converted to 3422 THB in local currency. That is quite a good rate and close to the spot rate on the day. You can use it anywhere in the hotel. The staff command of English is very bad here.
Deluxe Suite
I was assigned a deluxe suite on the 24th floor, suite 2404 to be exact. It is just a short walk away from the lift. I am unsure if the hotel recently undergoes remodelling or renovation but there was this super strong paint or nail polish smell in the elevators and common areas. This is unpleasant! With the highest floor of the hotel being 26, I am looking forward to checking out the view from this suite being this high up. Upon entering, the first impression I got was how spacious the place is. Measuring 76 Sqm, the deluxe suite is almost double the size of the base level rooms. Together with the open concept, the place felt a little sparse and under-furnished. It could definitely use a cabinet or so by the side of the entrance. The look of the suite is on the dated side and it is much older than the common areas. I’m surprised that the suite doesn’t come with a half bath given that this is a full suite.
The living room is rather squarish in configuration and to the left, you can find a working desk and an armchair. I really wish they have equipped the room with a proper office chair that will be much more suitable for working. Outlets are within reach of the desk. The wifi however was disappointing. It is weak and slow, there is a struggle to even get the connection with my credentials and I had to call the front desk for a general code. What a cluster mess!
The minibar setup is separated into two areas in the living room. On one side you can find a coffee machine as well as some capsules.
On another side, you can find a mini fridge left empty for use as well as two bottles of drinking water.
My favourite part of the entire suite got to be the living room, especially around the sofa area along the window. This suite would be good for a party with all the space. Two sofa wraps around the walls and right behind it is a good view of the surrounding area. It is rather lovely given how high up with are. You can easily sit 6 to 8 people comfortably here. I love that there are plenty of pillows for the sofa.
Opposite the sofa, the TV is mounted on the wall in the middle of the two double doors that leads to the bedroom. It is of fairly good quality but the size is on the smaller side, especially given how spacious this suite is. There is a selection of cable TV channels such as Fox Movies as well as some sports channels.
Doors on either side of the television bring you to the bedroom, The bedroom is better designed than the living room. I love the feature wall behind the bed, together with the lighting, it emits a relaxing and homely feel. The plush king-size bed is comfortable and I had a good rest! The mattress was to my liking and the pillows were great with neck support.
On both sides of the bed, you can find power outlets. Weirdly, only one side had nightstands. It does feel like something is missing on the other and the staff did not put back the nightstand from the looks of it and the power outlets location. This looks awkward. Controls for the lights can be found on the side of the nightstand. I would love it if the blinds are electronically controlled as well. You can certainly see that the place is showing its age and there are some wear and tear around the place.
There is another design myopia in the room. The power plug design doesn’t make sense at all. You might as well call it a single plug as once you use one, you can’t fit anything else into the other socket!
The luggage storage area and the wardrobe are installed on the right of the bedroom and either side of the entrance to the bathroom. The spacious luggage storage should fit most suitcases. Inside the wardrobe, you can find the usual amenities that you need from bath slippers, a safe and bath slippers. In the bedroom, you can find another television which is a replica of the one in the living room.
The bathroom comes with both a separate bathtub and a standing shower. The bathtub is spacious and with the tap in the middle, this is conducive for a soak with your other half. The double sinks would be great when you are getting ready in the morning. All sorts of amenities are provided and toiletries are house branded and in large pump bottles. They are quite good and have a lovely scent.
The standing shower comes with both a rainforest shower head and a handheld one. The water pressure and temperature control are good although those previous era knobs do mean that you get to experiment with them to get your ideal water temperature just like in ancient times.
Fitness Centre
Also known as the Vie Signature Club, the fitness centre is open 24 hours. The gym is located on the 10th floor. It is super spacious and well equipped. I am really impressed with the facility. This might just be the most “professional’ gym that I have seen in a hotel. You can find all sorts of equipment that you would like and there are multiple sets of them. It is a huge facility. It is a great place to work out for more food in Bangkok.
Pool
The pool is located on the 10th floor of the annexe building. It is linked to the main building via the gym. The pool is on the smaller side and measures 1.39m in depth. It doesn’t look too welcoming and there was barely anyone using it. It is certainly not one that you come for to relax or spend time. The regular size makes it good for doing laps. There are a couple of sunbeds and cabanas by the side of the pool. Towels and bottles of water are provided.
YTSB Restaurant
The Yellow Tail Sushi Bar is the hotel’s signature Japanese restaurant. It is open for lunch from 12pm to 3pm and dinner from 5pm to 10pm. It is a rather intimate restaurant and on the smaller side so do make advance reservations if you would like to dine here, especially for dinner. It has about 10 seats on the sushi bar, a private room and perhaps 2 to 3 dining tables. The restaurant serves both an omakase menu and ala carte. I came here for dinner during my stay to spend the credit.
Service is excellent here and I was warmly welcomed and seated at the sushi bar. They do serve a 16-course (5000 THB) or 21-course (7000 THB) omakase menu. I went for ala carte and created my little omakase menu.
The restaurant was full when I was down for dinner. The dining environment is comfortable and I love how they fold the napkins to the shape of the sushi chef uniform. I ordered a couple of sushi, sashimi and hot dishes. It comes up to a total of 9 courses. I will let the pictures do the rest of the speaking. I got green tea (85 THB) to go with the meal and this is refillable.
I first got Tai sashimi (380 THB) to start with. It tastes super fresh and you can get how crisp the fish is. It was served slightly char at the top which makes the flavour of the fish oil even more intense.
Next up was the foie gras sushi (380 THB). This is one of my favourite dishes of the night. It simply melts in your mouth. The buttery fatty flavours go so well with the teriyaki sauce and Japanese pepper.
I was then served a trio of sushi, otoro (399 THB), shima aji (180 THB) and chutoro (350 THB). Since when does otoro disappoint!
Then another trio of hirame (150 THB), ika (80 THB) and hottate (200 THB).
Last but not least, I got the black cod (850 THB) for my main. It was alright, well cooked and flaky but compared to the rest, it is quite lacklustre. The whole meal took about 1 hour-ish. I did feel that they are not very consistent with the pace throughout the meal. Everything comes to a total of 3595 THB, mostly covered by the credit.
Breakfast at La VIE Bistronomy
Breakfast is served at La Vie on the 11th floor from 6.30am to 10am on weekdays and till 11am on weekends. It is a very intimate restaurant. They are also open for lunch on certain days. The restaurant looks very new and boasts a great view of the surrounding area. I do wish that I can see the same updates in the rooms. The restaurant is one of my favourite places in the hotel. I love that there is a ton of natural light and everything looks very welcoming. I love the finishes of the furniture as well as the floor-to-ceiling windows. The place comes with a French flair. I was welcomed in and shown to a table and drinks orders were taken. And this is probably where the good things end.
I came back from the buffet to find that my table was taken up by someone else and my drinks orders as well because naturally these got sent over. Note that this is a table that the staff assigned. They simply shifted me to another table without any apologies or anything. I would have expected them to at least take the initiative to shift my drinks orders over and prepare a new one for me but instead the response I got was what drinks do I want? Holy heck, I have never experienced such a distasteful breakfast service out of all the hotels I have visited. This is ridiculous and unbelievable from a five-star luxury international chain hotel.
The food is actually pretty good and you can find a good selection of both Asian and Western selections as well as a cold station. Fresh juices are on offer as well. Here are some pictures of the buffet.
You can also order made-to-order pancakes and waffles. There is also an eggs station where you can have freshly made eggs to your liking. I got scrambled eggs and it was really good. The pastries don’t disappoint as well which I am glad to see here, after all, it is a French hotel brand. While the food was good, I did not enjoy the whole meal as the bad experience earlier was left lingering.
Conclusion
I doubt that I will ever be back again unless there was a killer rate. The whole experience was a mess and I did not feel welcomed at all. Everything was super disorganised and you need to ask for everything that should be given. Even the breakfast experience wasn’t smooth and the staff’s bad command of English makes it even more annoying. This is something I would have expected as basic when staying in an international chain hotel. The time spent checking in to sort things out didn’t help things further. While I took it as paying for the Japanese meal rather than the room itself, the meal wasn’t particularly fantastic as well. With the rate hovering around 3500 THB, without the STEP rate benefits, you are easily better off elsewhere. The hotel did have the most impressive gym I have ever seen. Checked and chalked off. This place might great for Accor members who want something in the area and the proximity to the Platinum mall might attract those that love this area. It might be the most worth it stay but it certainly isn’t smooth.
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