With slick, minimalist lines, sophisticated guest rooms and suites, and an enviable location, Park Hyatt Bangkok has everything today’s luxury traveller needs.

Once the scene of elegant garden parties hosted by the British Ambassador for Thai Royalty, this prime corner plot in the heart of Bangkok was converted into one of the city’s leading luxury hotels in 2017. The Park Hyatt Bangkok retains its youthful persona thanks to architecture by AL_A, the London-based studio founded by Amanda Levete, with help from Bangkok-based architects Pia Design.

The hotel and its adjacent Central Embassy luxury shopping mall are bound together by a loop that connects the structure’s plinth and tower. Drawing on motifs and patterns found in traditional Thai architecture, the eye-catching façade is clad in extruded aluminium tiles, creating a shimmering moiré-like pattern. Quickly becoming an iconic part of the city’s skyline, the luxury hotel’s modern, futuristic exterior offers a tantalising sense of what’s to come for arriving guests.

First Impressions

It’s a Park Hyatt so you know the vibe – intimate, contemporary, oozing with sophistication and subtle, intelligent, modern touches. Guests arrive at upmarket Phloen Chit (Wireless Road, no less) and are whisked up to the hotel’s 10th floor sky lobby for spectacular urban panoramas.

The hotel itself occupies the ninth to 35th floors, and is approximately 45 minutes from Suvarnabhumi International Airport. In the lofty lobby, young but immaculately uniformed and razor efficient front desk staff checked me in and directed me to a bank of elevators for the ascent to my King Corner Room.

The Room

The first thing you notice when you walk in is that view – so mesmerising you could be forgiven if you found yourself forgoing your most pressing engagements and perching on the sofa to while away the evening people watching.

Once you drag yourself away from the floor-to-ceiling vistas, you’ll start to appreciate the efforts of Toronto and New York design firm Yabu Pushelberg, whose portfolio includes the celebrated Park Hyatt New York. The multi award-winning studio dressed the hotel’s 222 rooms and suites in calming neutral tones, accented by statement artworks. Aesthetes should take a peek in the ballroom, home to Japanese artist Hirotoshi Sawada’s awe-inspiring Pagoda Mirage, which is composed of thousands of small, conical copper lamps suspended in a swirling mass, majestically evoking the reflection of a pagoda on water.

The room itself featured a king-sized bed, 180-degree city views that can be kept at bay with electronic blinds, an ample work space, a separate dressing room with plenty of storage space, a living room with L-shaped sofa, and a sumptuous bathroom with Le Labo skincare products. There’s the all-important Nespresso machine, an ornate minibar, and a 55-inch widescreen television.

I personally loved the bathtub and the work desk, which allowed me to catch up with the real world once I was done soaking away a long day of pounding the pavements of Bangkok.

Other stand-out guest spaces include the 55sqm King Deluxe rooms, and the luxurious Diplomat Suite, which offers an inspiring retreat with soaring views, a generous lounge and office area, a full pantry and dining area, and a powder room, set in a spacious 115- 122 square metres.

Dining

In keeping with that oh-so-cool urbane persona, the Park Hyatt Bangkok is also home to the chic Penthouse Bar and Grill, designed by the innovative AvroKo firm from New York. The four-floor venue is home to an intimate chef’s table, a standalone cocktail

bar, a separate whisky room, and an exclusive rooftop bar that’s famed for its rare spirits collection. Here in the Penthouse, service is intelligent and refined yet approachable, and menu highlights include Sloane’s Pork Chop with candied cashews and orange and a tamarind barbecue sauce; Hua Hin burrata with dehydrated tomatoes; Wagyu beef vol-auvent; and Canadian lobster linguine with bacon and chives.

Downstairs, you’ll find The Embassy Room, an elegant space overlooking the hotel’s expansive outdoor swimming pool that serves leisurely à la carte breakfasts with local touches – think Thai-style eggs with Chinese pork sausages.

Alternatively, The Living Room serves one of the best high teas in the city, as well as light meals, evening cocktails, and canapés, while The Bar – a dark, sexy, brooding space – specialises in Old World wines and small plates of perfection for your pairing pleasure.

Facilities

You’ll also find a 40-metre pool, the perfect respite from Bangkok’s balmy days, and a 24- hour fitness centre, which is worth the lack of sleep to explore. For something a little more pampering, the Panpuri Spa features eight treatment suites, a whirlpool, a silver-lined steam room, and a menu laced with all-natural products