Whether for business or leisure clients, the 4-star Mode Sathorn is a well located, “fashionable lifestyle” hotel in Bangkok city centre, complete with rooftop restaurant and a wide choice of room types, reports Neil Steedman.
Step out of Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain at Surasak station and you know immediately that the Mode Sathorn Hotel, directly opposite across the road, is going to be as ‘funky’ as you thought it would be: the tower that the hotel occupies is a strong purple.
Surasak station (S5) is just five stops along the BTS Silom Line from Siam (Central) Station and the BTS Sukhumvit Line, three stops from Sala Daeng (S2) and an interchange with the MRT underground, and one stop from Saphan Taksin (S6) and Chao Phraya river boats and ferry crossings. So most places are within easy reach by non-road public transport – always a good thing in Bangkok!
When arriving at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, the Airport Rail Link will take you to Phaya Thai station (N2) on the BTS Sukhumvit Line, seven stops from Surasak, or the hotel offers an airport limousine transfer for 1,200 Baht (€31) – but a taxi should cost around half that.
Hotel Facilities
The Mode Sathorn, which opened in May 2015, describes itself as a “fashionable lifestyle hotel”, which is immediately apparent in the ground floor lobby, where the reception desks are island stations rather than normal counters. If your client has a debit card rather than credit card then reception will request a 2,000 baht cash deposit.
The average occupancy rate is 80%-90%, so the hotel has certainly become popular. The hotel designers seem to have been influenced by French designer Philippe Starck and the funkiness continues in The Social @ Mode Sathorn restaurant, the outdoor infinity pool with pool bar and loungers on the 11th floor, and The Roof @38th restaurant on, you guessed it, the rooftop 38th floor. This provides great views of the city, the Chao Phraya river and Bangkok’s thunder and lightning displays – if they get too close everyone scuttles back down into the restaurant below.
There is also a ‘Biz Zone’ (yes, they just had to call it that!), fitness room and spa on the 11th floor, as well as meeting rooms and breakout rooms on the 17th and seventh floors – plus a new larger meeting room on the ground floor.
The Borisud Pure Spa on the fifth floor, complete with infrared sauna, Jacuzzi, steam bath and chill shower, offers a wide range of massage and body treatments, with massage being expertly given by Wi and Nang.
Accommodation
The hotel’s 201 guest rooms and suites provide a choice of six sizes and four styles and are located on floors 14 to 36.
They range from 21 sq m Business studios and 30-40 sq m Deluxe Mode rooms (in four styles: Multicultural Facet Eastern or Western, Metropolitan Chic, and Urban Stylish), to 49.5 sq m Executive Mode rooms, one-bedroom and two-bedroom suites, and the 185 sq m Presidential suite. You can choose a particular style of Deluxe Mode room but this is not guaranteed – you get one if available when you check in.
The Multicultural and Metropolitan rooms have open-style bathrooms and WCs, so if you are booking clients who are not on such ‘intimate’ terms, I recommend an Urban room, which has twin beds and a separate WC. There are six smoking floors.
Several comments on TripAdvisor refer unfavourably to the low-level lighting in the guest room corridors, but these are overstated. The in-room hotel guide is particularly good, as is the free wi-fi, and there is an international socket beside the bed and another at the narrow work desk – but difficult to find behind the TV.
Breakfast, Mini Bar and Room Service
Breakfast is taken in The Sathorn restaurant on the 10th floor, where there is a good choice of buffet items including bread pudding with vanilla sauce and pancakes with honey – and even full fat and low fat milks – but the orange juice would be better made from fresh oranges and the food could have been hotter (except for the bread pudding, which was excellent). My signature test of any hotel breakfast, requesting a hot chocolate, brought the response: “It will take three minutes and cost 120 baht extra”, but on arrival it was not the best.
The mini bar prices are surprisingly reasonable: for example, soft drinks 35 baht, juices 50, and beers 70. So too are the 24-hour room service prices: appetisers, soups, salads and desserts 120 baht, pizzas, sandwiches, burgers, pasta and Thai dishes 150, and main dishes 180, including 10% service charge and 7% VAT. However, do not expect huge portions – my small bowl of Tom Yong Kung had only two prawns!
Overall, the Mode Sathorn is a well-located, stylish, value for money hotel. The website offers a ‘HotDeal’ discount of 29% so that prices are currently 3,482 baht (€90) for a Business studio, 3,943 (€102) for a Deluxe Mode room, and 4,573 (€118) for an Executive room, including breakfast and taxes.
Top Tip: For a wide choice of restaurants, bars, shops, massage, etc, go round the corner to the left and walk up Pramuam Road to Silom Road, where you will also find the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple.
