Newly rebranded Grande Centre Point at Terminal 21 offers eco-friendly Thai hospitality in the heart of Bangkok.
by Percy Roxas.
You walk from the Asoke BTS sky train toward Terminal 21 but you turn right prior to entering the shopping mall’s entrance. You head for the side door and take the escalator down, straight into the embrace of a tasteful high-ceilinged, well-lit lobby. Here you can bask among décor and furnishings that are seemingly always awash with cheerful natural lighting, and you feel like you’re in your second home. This is the preliminary welcome everyone gets at Grande Centre Point Terminal 21, a city hotel that puts you right where the action is in Bangkok.
Grand Centre Point Terminal 21 (88 Sukhumvit Rd (BTS: Asoke.MRT: Sukhumvit) // Tel: 02 681 9000 // www.grandecentrepointhotels.com) is the youngest of three hotels within a brand aiming at the upper midscale market. Recently rebranded as a full-scale hotel, the 498-room property was built in 2011 by L&H Hotel Management to provide the best of Thai experiences for both business and leisure travelers.
“The hotel boasts a distinctively Thai ethos of hospitality, privacy, and service,” says Suwanna Buddhaprasart, director and senior executive vice president of L&H Hotel Management. “The perfectly located property provides you with space, luxury, functional simplicity, dedicated services, and a signature well-being program aimed at healthy living.”
In fact, even before you enter the property, you sort of already get a symbolic welcome – with its conspicuous architecture that is already some kind of a landmark on Asoke Road. So what’s new with the welcome that Grande Centre Point Terminal 21 provides since its opening in 2011? Nothing obvious. The hotel has retained its uber luxurious mien indeed, and the contemporary design that has been used throughout-from the guestrooms to the meeting areas and the spa-gives you a five-star feeling. Everything seems “grand” indeed, and it’s not even officially ranked as five-star.
It is the “Grande” appellation in the hotel’s name that gives us a clue of what the hotel offers. The premium emphasis is on space, for one: the rooms-in all categories-are spacious, with high ceilings, have a definitive uncluttered look, and are equipped with some of the cutting edge gadgets that even other five-star luxury brands in Bangkok do not yet provide. Most of the rooms offer great views, thanks to the hotel’s interior construction design, which was inspired by the blooming lotus.
Similarly as one explores its facilities, it is easy to acknowledge that Grande Centre Point puts very strong emphasis on the Thai experience, and health and green tourism. They have created eco-friendly spaces with luxury trend-setting Thai design in the heart of the city.
There is sprawling garden greenery on the 8th floor that makes the guest feel that he or she is not in a highly-polluted urban center. The clean, green living and the well-being program means that no alcohol is sold on the hotel premises, not even in the lone restaurant on the 5th floor, which is outsourced. But it doesn’t stop there. Guests are encouraged to be part of the conservation initiative from their rooms, which is a division of the green program that aims to set new environmental standards for Thai hotels.
The “green” emphasis continues on all fronts, including in the facilities and services for business travelers. And once your work is done – their meeting facilities are ideal, whether for power seminars and workshops, for small breakout sessions, and for parties and celebrations, by the way — there is a range of activities to enjoy at the hotel. Tennis courts, fully equipped gyms, jogging tracks, and he infinity pools are all meant to assure that travelers can remain healthy and fit, even when they are on a business trip.
Perhaps, the fact that they don’t have as many F&B venues as other major hotels — they only have one restaurant, as we have mentioned earlier – is also part of the clean, green, healthy living concept.
And the location is “grande” as well, and leisure guests will surely love it. I mean, with the hotel directly linked to the sky train and subway stations, and Bangkok’s best shopping, dining and entertainment areas all within easy, no-fuss reach. The adjoining Terminal 21 is a destination in itself, but if you want to venture out a bit farther, Soi Cowboy is just across the street, and Sukhumvit 11 is just a stone’s throw away, among the many options you can choose from.
We all have our favorite hotels – classic or boutique — and often, it depends on what we want and need at the moment. For some, Grande Centre Point may not be the perfect hotel. But if I’m coming to Bangkok for just a few days and don’t want to miss any of its unique energy and spirit, I’d stay at Grande Centre Point. It’s one of the best places to stay whether you’re in Bangkok for business or leisure — and you’re also going to get a great value hotel at that!
