I had long wanted to experience the Chinese New Year in Bangkok's Chinatown. I finally booked a stay at the Shanghai Mansion, in the heart of the action right on Chinatown Road, for the Chinese New Year of 2016.
Hotel: Shanghai Mansion.
Address: 479-481 Yaowarat Road, Samphantawong, Bangkok, Thailand, 10100
Contact: Tel -- 66 (0) 2221 2121; email -- inquiry@shanghaimansion.com
Website: https://www.shanghaimansion.com
Rating: Excellent.
Reservation & Check-in: I reserved via the hotel's own website, which offered better rates than online booking services. I booked a 4-night package for the Chinese New Year period several months in advance, selecting the cheapest room type, the Mei Hua (superior) room. As of the time of this writing, Mei Hua rooms are available on the hotel's website for 2856THB/night, which is about 81USD or 76EUR.
The package deal included a 1-way airport transfer, of which I availed myself when I arrived. I find that a hotel pick-up, if available, is always worth it if I'm arriving on a late flight that lands after the airport express train from Suvarnabhumi Int'l Aiport has stopped running. I reached the hotel at about 2am, but the night clerk at the front desk took excellent care of me and efficiently checked me in.
Building: The building is quite historic. It was built in 1892 as a trading house before being converted into a Chinese opera house in 1908, then it was briefly Thailand's stock exchange, and finally served a spell as a department store. It had fallen into disuse by 1998, when it was bought by the Burasari Group to be renovated as the hotel we see today. And what a renovation! The anchor of the space is the soaring atrium (pictured below), which most of the rooms open onto. The decor of the whole establishment is on the theme of 1930s Shanghai, which it evokes very successfully with countless period details.
Room: My Mei Hua-type room was not accessed from the atrium. Instead, it was down a hallway (pictured below) towards the front of the building. There was no window on the Chinatown Road side of this floor, so I can't be sure, but I think my room must have been near the street. There was, however, no audible noise.
Although the Mei Hua rooms are the cheapest and simplest ones, my room was beautifully furnished with a Chinese-style canopy bed (see the picture below), which was not only picturesque but also quite comfortable. Most of the other furniture was either antique Chinese or a very good replica. Wifi was free and unlimited, and worked very well. A mini-bar, TV, DVD player, and hair dryer were among the electric appliances that I remember.
There was also a spacious, attractively tiled walk-in shower in the bathroom. The sink was in the bedroom -- an arrangement that I've never cared for.
Facilities: There is a spa, a jazz bar, and 2 restaurants onsite. The breakfast restaurant is called Cotton (the exterior sign is pictured below). It was originally a jazz bar, but that function has been transferred to the ground-floor Terrace Bar, which, as the name implies, is open to the street. The other restaurant, Red Rose, is behind the Terrace Bar. There is no pool, nor any parking that I could see, other than on the street. I didn't try the spa, so I have nothing to report on that front.
Food & Beverage: The Terrace Bar offers a limited menu of snacks and light meals. During the Chinese New Year there was a special holiday menu featuring BBQ. My friends and I mainly just had beer, which was affordably priced by the pitcher.
The breakfast at Cotton is very good. There is a buffet, but a la carte is also available. I found the hot and cold selections of the buffet more than adequate to start the day. Pictured below is a vignette from a corner of the Cotton dining room.
Red Rose serves Chinese food, as you might expect. My friends and I reserved a table for New Year's Eve, for which we ordered Peking duck in advance. We were pleased with it. I note, though, there are so many places to eat in Chinatown that eating in the hotel is not really necessary.
Service: I thought the service was uniformly excellent. As mentioned, check-in was very efficient. All the staff I encountered were capable, polite, and friendly. The staff are also willing to go 'the extra mile.' For instance, my friends and I wanted to have Peking duck for our New Year's Eve dinner, as explained above. Now, Peking duck is on the regular menu, but there was a special menu for the holiday period. Nonetheless, the staff put in a special order for our duck. I think it helped that I requested it the day before, once I realized that the regular menu was not available.
Location: For me, the location couldn't be better. Shanghai Mansion is about a 10-minute walk from Hualomphong Station, where you can catch both the regular train for upcountry destinations or the MRT for central Bangkok stops. Ten minutes in the other direction will take you to Ratchawong pier, where you can catch express boats upriver to the Grand Palace area, or downstream to Thaksin bridge for BTS (skytrain) connections. Of course, to experience Chinatown, the location is ideal. All the major restaurants, markets and temples of the area are just minutes from the hotel. When the new MRT extension opens, there will be a station about 3 minutes away.
Recommendation: You should absolutely stay here if you want to experience Chinatown. I loved it.
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