Hotel Review: InterContinental Bangkok (Updated 2020)
Home » Hotel Reviews » Hotel Review: InterContinental Bangkok (Updated 2020)

Hotel Review: InterContinental Bangkok (Updated 2020)

Hotel Review Intercontinental Bangkok Cover

InterContinental Bangkok is a five-star luxury hotel in the heart of the city – a perfect choice for first-time Bangkok visitors.

Booking

InterContinental is the crown jewel of the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) chain, so IHG Rewards Club members can enjoy the elite benefits based on the tier level. Compared to Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors, the elite benefits of IHG Rewards Club are less attractive, and unfortunately, InterContinental Bangkok is not listed on Virtuoso or American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts directory.

If you want to maximize the extra benefits, you might want to take a look at St.Regis Bangkok (Marriott) or Waldorf Astoria Bangkok (Hilton).

I’m InterContinental Ambassador member, which is a loyalty program with special benefits, for example, a free weekend night voucher. This year I decided to use my voucher at InterContinental Bangkok and booked the room directly through their website.

Location

As mentioned, the hotel is located in the center of downtown, on busy Phloen Chit Road, near the famous Erawan shrine junction.

Hotel Review Intercontinental Bangkok 019
InterContinental Bangkok entrance

In fact, InterContinental Bangkok is probably the best-located hotel in the city, especially if you are interested in shopping, dining, and sightseeing (and don’t know your way around the town).

The hotel is few steps away from the Chit Lom BTS Station, and within walking distance from CentralWorld, which is a huge shopping and dining complex.

Check-in

After stepping into the vast lobby area, the front-desk receptionist guided me to the elevator and instructed that the check-in process will be completed in the Club InterContinental Lounge on the 37th floor.

At the lounge, my reservation details were checked, and I was upgraded to a Corner Suite (which is one of the InterContinental Ambassador program benefits). While waiting for the check-in process to be completed, I decided to enjoy some afternoon tea in the lounge.

Hotel Review Intercontinental Bangkok 015
Afternoon tea with a fantastic view over the city

The Room

The 67 square-meter InterContinental Corner Suite consists of two rooms. There is a separate lounge area, with a sofa and one big screen TV.

On the other end of the suite, there is a big bedroom with another TV screen. The bathroom is located between these two rooms.

Hotel Review Intercontinental Bangkok 013
The view from the hotel room window

The spacious bathroom had a separate bathtub and a shower.

Hotel Review Intercontinental Bangkok 008

The bathroom products were from Agraria San Francisco.

Hotel Review Intercontinental Bangkok 009

During my stay, I had a few minor problems with the housekeeping. They were cleaning the room very late, one day I had to call them around 4 pm when the room was still intact.

90 second video – InterContinental Bangkok Corner Suite tour:

Food and Drinks

For breakfast, I had the option to eat it in the Club InterContinental Lounge or at downstairs restaurant. During my 3-day stay, I had a chance to test them both.

Hotel Review Intercontinental Bangkok 023

Club Lounge is definitely the more relaxing option, but the menu is limited. There is a made-to-order breakfast menu with Western and Asian options to choose from. There is also a small buffet of other items, like salad, cold cuts, smoked salmon and juices.

The restaurant, on the other hand, had many different food stations and there is even a separate juice & smoothie bar. The downside of the restaurant buffet was the atmosphere – it was crowded and really noisy, people were wearing beach gear and generally not behaving in a 5-star hotel way. As a side note, the majority (I’d say about 90%) of buffet guests were not from western countries.

The only exception to excellent service in InterContinental Bangkok was the breakfast buffet. Maybe it was because of the crowds, but it was VERY slow and on both mornings the coffee I ordered never appeared (until I asked again).

But back to the good stuff and the Club InterContinental Lounge. In addition to breakfast, you can have afternoon tea and happy hour there. During the tea time, a kind of “tapas” tray is offered alongside the drinks. And during evening happy hours, wine and drinks are complimentary, and there is a small hors d’oeuvre buffet of sushi, smoked fish, cold cuts, salads, and various dessert items. The quality of food was excellent, they were so good that I actually skipped dinner one night and stayed in the lounge sipping wine and tasting these small bites.

If you don’t feel like eating in the Club Lounge, there are four restaurants (Fireplace Grill, Theo Mio, Espresso and Summer Palace) inside the building and hundreds of more in the walking distance.

Pool, Spa, and Gym

The pool is located on the top of the building, on the 37th floor. It’s nicely decorated and cozy but very small – much smaller than for example in Millennium Hilton, JW Marriott Bangkok or Conrad Bangkok. Surprisingly the pool area was rather quiet, and there were plenty of empty seats available.

The service was top-notch also at the poolside. Towels and cold water were delivered immediately after sitting down on the sun lounger.

Hotel Review Intercontinental Bangkok 014

The 24-hour gym is located one level below the pool. So there’s no excuse to skip training sessions even if you wake up at 4 am. The gym area was big and very well equipped. In addition to traditional gym training, there are also some group exercise classes available. And after the sweaty training session, you can relax in a jacuzzi and sauna.

Conclusion

  • Friendly and attentive service, especially at the Club InterContinental Lounge
  • Fantastic Lounge, with afternoon tea and evening happy hour
  • Excellent shopping and dining possibilities within walking distance
  • Mixed feelings of the breakfast buffet – great offering but horrible atmosphere
  • Some housekeeping issues

In my opinion, InterContinental Bangkok is an excellent choice for city travelers, especially if you can get access to the Club InterContinental Lounge. If you want the same location, but the budget is limited, there is a highly-ranked Holiday Inn Bangkok just next door. Another luxury option would be InterContinental Hua Hin, which is about four-hour taxi drive away.

Read more InterContinental hotel reviews:

Join the discussion