Conrad Bangkok - a serious business hotel with a playful attitude

So picture this. I am languishing in a huge bathtub, bubbles foaming up to near the ceiling, when I spot a little blue plastic elephant. I find that when I submerge him in the water, he fills up and you can use his trunk like a water pistol. Squiiiiiiiiiiiiiirt! Great fun.

Suddenly I am 4 years old again, sharing a tub with my giggling siblings. But wait a minute ...

I am a professional, fully grown (some would say over-grown) man, with a mortgage, the weight of the world on my shoulders, a monkey on my back, and my nose to the grindstone. Yes, you see, our modern business lives are nothing but a cunningly disguised game of Twister!

But this little frivolity -- a blue plastic elephant, made in China probably -- allows me to forget that for a little while.

And that brings us to the magical difference of The Conrad Bangkok. It has been voted Bangkok's best business hotel already in its rather short history. But it never forgets that, at heart, we are all human. Additionally there is a red silk elephant placed on my bed, a little leaflet explaining it's made from traditional southern style fabric design, and explaining a little about its southern temperament.

And then there's the PlayStation 3 in all their suites.

When it comes to business, though, you'll find the Conrad pushing the envelope. Try Thailand's fastest hotel internet speed, 50 mega-kilo-bitty-widgety-somethings of raw surfing power. Free in all rooms, and most areas of the hotel. How fast? So fast your emails are sent before you even write them, jing jing.

And the executive lounge, bristling with Macs with screens that would make ground control at NASA envious ... and I'm sure some of those space cadets would surely envy the array of yummy hors d'ouevres freely for the taking in the executive lounge too. (Er, Houston, we have a problem ... it seems like some travel writer guy has eaten all the smoked salmon.)

As for location, it is nicely located near the BTS line in downtown Ploenchit (lower Sukhumvit Road embassy and business area), with shuttles running frequently to the station.

Not that you'll be in a hurry to leave your room, mind you. Each is artfully and tastefully done out with Herman Miller desk chairs, and Thai finishing flourishes; dark woods, silk fabrics, and ... well, elephants. Squiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirt!

The fastest hotel internet in Thailand? That'd be Conrad Bangkok.

One of Conrad's 22 meeting rooms

As someone who virtually lives on the internet for work (yes, this IS work, jing jing) this news release is something that will have business travellers to Thailand whistling while they work ...

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The Conrad has made a decisive step toward being the best business hotel in Bangkok by upgrading its internet bandwidth line speed throughout the 391-room hotel to 50Mpbs.

“High-speed connectivity in business is an absolute necessity these days, and the Conrad wants to make sure our tech-savvy guests enjoy the best technology facilities that this city can offer,” says Manfred Pieper, General Manager.

This is the second time since he came on board in August 2008 that the hotel has undertaken an across-the-board speed upgrade. In January 2009, the hotel moved up to 30Mpbs.

“30Mbps was a big deal back then, and this underlines how fast the technology is changing. We have to anticipate those changes and invest in them on behalf of our guests to exceed their expectations. Information is sometimes confusing to guests because some devices’ capacity is advertised, not actual line speed. And others have a fast line speed but it is a shared line, not an individual one. Anyway, at 50Mbps our internet service is now two to three times the speed of some of our competitors.”

The hotel has invested in state-of-the-art Ruckus ZoneFlex 2942 wireless systems, considered to be the world’s smartest 802.11g access points, with no configuration required by guests.

”This smart system automatically steers your wi-fi signal to the best route to avoid any signal interference and maintain high-speed integrity without dropout,” says Pieper. “Our guests will also be pleased that it is available on a complimentary basis in all our executive rooms, suites, executive floor lounge, hotel lobby, swimming pool, and all our restaurants and bars. That means it’s free in around two thirds of the hotel.” In public areas, the complimentary time limit is one hour.
Elsewhere throughout the hotel the top-speed wireless can be enjoyed on a chargeable basis.

This technology upgrade bolsters Conrad Bangkok’s aims of being the city’s first choice business and meeting hotel. (It has previously won the Business Traveller Asia-Pacific ‘Best Business Hotel in Bangkok’ award.)

With 22 meeting rooms covering more than 20,000 square feet, its facilities are best-in-class, especially their audio-video conference facilities, including teleprompters, and video conferencing."

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So maybe the tin cans and string the sales guy sold me as state-of-the-art are not quite up to speed. State of the ark, more like. Time for me to upgrade to thicker string me thinks ...