[Hotel Review] - Cape House Service Apartments (1-Bedroom Suite), Bangkok, Thailand (6 - 9 Nov 14)

Location

Cape House Service Apartments is located within downtown Bangkok. It is about 5 minutes walk from the nearest BTS station (Chit Lom), which is one stop away from Siam Central Station. The property is also within 6 mins walk from the famous 4-face buddha shrine - Erawan Shrine. It is within walking distance to major shopping malls such as Central World, Siam Paragon, Siam Square,  Central Embassy. The Platinum shopping mall is within 15 minutes walk from the hotel. There are no lack of 24-hour convenient shops (7-Eleven) near the property. There is one just right opposite to the hotel and one more nearer to the main street. 

Hardware

There are 3 configurations of rooms available in this property, namely studio suite, one-bedroom suite and two-bedroom suite. I was informed that the two-bedroom suite is leased out for long term guests leaving studio suite and one-bedroom suite available for short terms stays. The suite that I stayed in is the one-bedroom apartment suite. The suite can be segregated into 4 main sections, namely the kitchenette, the living room, the bedroom and the bathroom.

The kitchenette is situation to the left side of the suite upon entering from the main door. This small kitchenette features a mid-size 2 compartment fridge, an electric stove and microwave ovens. There are also kitchen sink installed here in the suite. The suite comes with full range of utensils, allowing patrons to host up to 4 guests. There are also pots and pans available in the suite for guests to do some cooking. A front loader washing machine is found in this part of the suite. A clever use of a bar stand separates the kitchenette from the living room. The kitchenette, despite its small size, is sufficient for one to do some cooking. 2 to 3 persons can work comfortably in the kitchenette without bumping into each other.

Kitchenette in the Suite

Directly ahead of the kitchenette, in front of the main door is the living room. The contemporary and comfortable living room is the largest area in the suite. This area can be further segmented into 3 sections. Directly in front of the kitchenette is the dinning table. The table is tucked in one corner of the living room, making clever usage of space within the suite. The table is large enough to seat 4. Next to the dinning area is the work desk. The window facing work desk is not intrusive and the way the hotel lays out the work desk makes it functional, yet not cluttering the space with unnecessary furnitures. The work desk has a separate lighting and wired connections for internet. The hotel also provides free wifi throughout the hotel. The other segment of the living room is the couch area. The two-seater couch faces a large LED TV. There is also a single seater armchair and a large cushioned stool in this area of the room. There is also a coffee table in the centre of the seatings in the living area, decked out with in-house magazines and some other business magazines. To add to a sense of spaciousness, the designers of the hotel made use of the floor to ceiling window in the living room. The view from the suite that we were being assigned is not fantastic, as it faces another apartment building next to the hotel.

The dinning area and the work desk

TV in the living room, facing the dinning area and work desk

Cosy Couches for one to laze on

Further into the suite, to the right of main door is the entrance to the bedroom. Separated from the living room with a door, the contemporary bedroom screams of comfort and cosiness. It is of a right size, neither too big nor too small. The bedroom features a king size bed, placed in front of another floor to ceiling window. I kept the curtain here closed most of the time as I can see directly into someone else's apartment opposite. The sleep quality on the king bed is excellent. One can almost immediately fall asleep on this bed, which is neither too soft nor too hard. The pillows are also just right for my liking. Next to the entrance of the bedroom is a 2 panelled wardrobe. The wardrobe is rather huge as it occupied almost the entire length of the bedroom. The huge wardrobe allows guests to comfortably stow away 2 weeks of clothing for 2 persons. An in-room electronic safe is also tucked away within the wardrobe. There are also a couple of bedside tables being placed on each side of the bed. There is another smaller TV, tucked aways to the side of the  bedroom, in the same area  as the make up area. The make up area is located next to the wardrobe and has a separate lighting.

Comfortable King Bed

View of the bedroom and the doors leading to the living room and bathroom

Make up area and another small TV in room

The bathroom spans across the bedroom and the living room. Accessible from either of the rooms, the spacious bathroom decked in marble floorings and table tops has a rather large bathtub tucked in one corner of this area. There is a separate walk-in shower located at the other (living room) end of the bathroom. A sink and the toilet bowl is located between the bathtub and the walk-in shower. The hotel provides the standard range of toiletries with the exception of toothbrush and toothpaste. Patrons staying in this hotel are reminded to bring their own dental kits. There are also a couple of racks found on the walls of this room for patrons to hang their wet towels. This is a plus as most hotels lacked area for one to hang towels for drying.

Bath tub and sink area in the bathroom

Toilet Bowl and Walk-in Shower

Bath amenities

Guests in the hotel are entitled to free access to the lounge. Located on 15th floor of the property, the spacious Executive lounge is a great place for guests to hang out. Decking out in white theme and wooden flooring, the lounge has several couches for relaxation. There are also business magazines and daily newspapers for guests to browse through whilst at the lounge. There are an assortment of complementary pastries available all day for guests to enjoy, however only coffee, tea and plain water is available for guests. Smoking is allowed in the lounge within its enclosed smoking room. The view from the lounge is much better than that from the suite I was assigned to. Other facilities such as outdoor jacuzzi, swimming pool and gym are also available on the property. However due to my short time stay, I did not visit these facilities.

Finger food on offer at the Executive Lounge

Executive lounge decked in White and wooden floorings

Magazines and the reception area in the Lounge

Nice view from the lounge

Smoking room in the lounge

Heartware

The staffs in the hotel are generally very helpful. There are always a warmth welcoming smile whenever I approach them at the lobby. They are not stingy in offering information on the whereabouts in Bangkok should they be approached. There are also no lack in greetings whenever a guest walk past. These ambassadors of the hotel are very welcoming, truly embracing customer service and the friendliness of the Thais. The same is said of the bellboy. They are always alert whenever guests approaches the main door of the hotel. They would leave no guests having to open the main door themselves. There are no instances where greetings are not being accorded to by these staffs at the main door whenever I walk through these doors.

The same, however, cannot be said of the staffs at the No. 43 Italian Bistro. This is the place where one would have their breakfast daily. The staffs here are a little cold and getting a smile from them seemed to be an uphill task. It seemed to suggest that they are only interested in their function, to clear the plates and ensure the food is being topped up. Despite that, food is rarely being topped up during breakfast service. These staffs seemed to be hiding away from the sight of patrons most of the time, which leaves plates uncleared and food untopped up. There egg station do not seemed to be staffed at all times, and one would be expected to wait up to 10 minutes for anyone to appear at the egg station.

No. 43 Bistro where breakfast is being served

Breakfast

Breakfast

Breakfast

Breakfast

Breakfast

Breakfast

Breakfast

Overall

The hotel is an ideal location for one to be at whilst in Bangkok. Its close proximity to the shopping malls in downtown Bangkok as well as amenities such as the BTS station and 7-Elevens makes it a great place to stay whilst in Bangkok. The well appointed suite that I was assigned, apart from the depressing view, is very cosy and comfortable to stay. The air conditioning of the suite is efficient and powerful enough to cool down guests from the heat of Bangkok. Service wise is a mix comparing to the staffs in the restaurant and the rest of the front line staff. I would not hesitate to stay here, given the price and the location and the size of the suite, the next time I visit Bangkok.