Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok

Last updated
Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok
Mandarin Oriental Bangkok Bang Rak.jpg
View of Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok
from the Chao Phraya River
Thailand Bangkok location map.png
Red pog.svg
Location within Bangkok
General information
Location48 Oriental Avenue, Bangkok 10500, Thailand
Coordinates 13°43′25″N100°30′52″E / 13.72361°N 100.51444°E / 13.72361; 100.51444
Opening1876
Management Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Other information
Number of rooms393
Number of suites35
Number of restaurants8
Website
MandarinOriental.com/bangkok

Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok is a five-star hotel in Bangkok owned in part and managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Located on the Chao Phraya River, the original structure was the first hotel built in Thailand when it opened as The Oriental in 1876. Today, the hotel is one of two flagship properties of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.

Contents

History

When Siam opened to foreign trade after the signing of the Bowring Treaty, the sailors that crewed the ships though Bangkok required accommodation on shore. To meet this demand, Captain Dyers, an American, and his partner J.E. Barnes, opened a hotel called the Oriental Hotel. This burnt down in 1865. [1]

Several years later, a partnership of Danish captains opened a replacement hotel. [2] In the 1870s, the board of the Oriental Hotel decided the opening of the new River Wing in 1876 as the official establishment date of the Oriental Hotel.

H. N. Andersen

In 1881, 29-year-old Hans Niels Andersen, a Danish businessman, bought the premises. [3] His various business ventures led to him becoming a much-respected member of the Western community in Siam. Andersen identified a need for a respectable hotel with good accommodation, a bar, and a western menu to meet the needs of travelers and businessmen visiting Siam.

Encouraged by Prince Prisdang Jumsai, Hans Niels Andersen formed a partnership with Peter Andersen and Frederick Kinch to build a luxury hotel. Designed by Cardu & Rossi, a team of local Italian architects, the Oriental was the first luxury hotel in Siam. The hotel opened on 19 May 1887 with 40 rooms and features which at the time had never been seen in Siam outside a royal palace: a second floor (during a time of single-storey bungalows), carpeted hallways, smoking and ladies' rooms, a billiards room and a bar capable of seating 50 patrons. [4] To ensure the success of the restaurant and a satisfactory level of service, the owners lured the chef and butler from the French Consulate away to work at the hotel.

The first major event that the hotel hosted was a grand banquet on 24 May 1888 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. [5] After personally inspecting the hotel’s facilities in December 1890, King Chulalongkorn decided the hotel was up to the standard necessary to host visiting royalty. The hotel's first royal guests were the entourage of Crown Prince Nicholas of Russia, (later Tsar Nicholas) in April 1891. [5]

Marie Maire took over ownership of the hotel in 1910 and immediately set to work renovating it. She sold the property in 1932, but during WWII, it was leased by the Japanese Army and used as an officer's club (under management by the Imperial Hotel of Tokyo). Once WWI ended, Allied prisoners who thought the hotel still belonged to Japan occupied and vandalized it. [2] [6]

Germaine Krull

The original 19th-century Authors' Wing Oriental Hotel Author's Wing (33113516105).jpg
The original 19th-century Authors' Wing

At the end of the war, a six-person partnership each contributed US$250 to buy the hotel, badly run down from its wartime service. The partnership consisted of Germaine Krull (1897–1985), Prince Bhanu, General Chai Prateepasen, Pote Sarasin (prominent businessman and lawyer) and John Webster and Jim Thompson, two Americans who had served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and who had stayed on in Thailand. Krull took the position of manager in 1947, despite no prior experience in the hotel field. Born in Germany, she had been best known as a photographer during the 1920s before service in the Pacific as a war correspondent for Agence France Presse. The hotel's restoration and restocking offered Thompson an opportunity to put to use his architectural and artistic abilities.

The hotel reopened for business on 12 June 1947. Krull turned out to be a natural hotelier and during her reign restored the hotel to its position as the premier hotel in Thailand. Thompson soon left the partnership over a plan to build a new wing, though he stayed on in residence at the hotel for some time. To compete with popular clubs and a new local bar called Chez Eve, Krull established the Bamboo Bar, which soon became one of the leading bars in Bangkok. [7]

In 1958 the ten-story Garden Wing was built. It featured the city’s first elevator and was home to the Le Normandie Restaurant. [2] In 1967, fearful that Thailand would fall to the communists, Krull sold her share to Italthai which at the time was well on its way to becoming one of the country’s most significant mercantile groups eventually totaling some 60 companies involved in almost all aspects of the Thai economy.

Italthai

Italthai had been founded in the mid-fifties by Giorgio Berlingieri, an Italian born in Genoa, and Dr Chaijudh Karnasuta, a Thai. Berlingieri felt that the Oriental had begun to rest on its laurels and had dropped behind its competitors. He wanted to develop the Oriental into one of the best hotels in the world. Too involved with his various businesses to devote time to the project, Berlingieri in November 1967 appointed 30-year-old Kurt Wachtveitl (1937– ), at that time manager of Nipa Lodge (a hotel that Italthai owned in Pattaya), as general manager of the Oriental.

In 1972 the hotel acquired an adjacent property upon which it erected the 350-room River Wing. [2]

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok

The Group began with the opening of its flagship property, The Mandarin, in Hong Kong in 1963, which soon built up a reputation for luxurious service. In 1974, Mandarin International Hotels Limited was formed as a hotel management company. The Group's intention was to expand into Asia and operate hotels with a standard of service comparable to their property in Hong Kong. [8]

In 1974 the company's hotel interests expanded further through the acquisition of a 49% interest in The Oriental, Bangkok. Through the management of both The Mandarin in Hong Kong and The Oriental, in Bangkok, the Group was in an unusual position of having two "flagship" hotels. In 1985, the Company rationalized its corporate structure by combining these two properties under a common name, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. [8]

The hotel opened its renowned Oriental Spa in 1993 and finished a complete renovation of its rooms and suites in 2003. In 2006, The Oriental, Bangkok celebrated its 130th anniversary. [9] In September 2008, the hotel formally changed its name from The Oriental, Bangkok to Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok.

Hotel

The hotel has contained 331 rooms, including 60 unique suites. The two-story Authors' Wing, the only remaining structure of the original 19th-century hotel, houses suites named after Joseph Conrad, Somerset Maugham, Noël Coward and James Michener. The River Wing contains deluxe two-bedroom suites named after former guests or personages associated with the hotel, including Barbara Cartland, Gore Vidal, Graham Greene, Wilbur Smith, John le Carré, Jim Thompson, Norman Mailer, Thai author Kukrit Pramoj. [10] Other suites are named after ships associated with the early Bangkok trade, such as Otago (once captained by Joseph Conrad), HMS Melita, Vesatri and Natuna .

Sala Rim Naam restaurant and terrace Mandarin Oriental Bangkok Sala Rim Naam restaurant.jpg
Sala Rim Naam restaurant and terrace

Awards [11]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ O'Nell. Page 176.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Warren & Gocher. Page 120.
  3. ↑ , Augustin and Williamson.
  4. ↑ O‘Nell. Page 178.
  5. 1 2 Wenande, Christian (2016-09-01). "The Copenhagen Post". The Copenhagen Post. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
  6. ↑ O‘Nell. Page 181.
  7. ↑ Samuels.
  8. 1 2 "Press Kits - Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group". Mandarinoriental.com. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Press Kits - Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group". Mandarinoriental.com. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "Press Kits - Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group". Mandarinoriental.com. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "Bangkok Hotel News - Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok". Mandarinoriental.com. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "2009 World's Best Hotels - Travel + Leisure". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  13. ↑ https://www.top50hotels.com
  14. ↑ https://www.cntraveler.com/hotels/thailand/bangkok/mandarin-oriental-bangkok
  15. ↑ https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g293916-d301411-Reviews-Mandarin_Oriental_Bangkok-Bangkok.html

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group</span> Hong Kong hotel investment and management group

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group International Limited is a multinational hospitality and management group focusing on luxury hotels, resorts, and residences, with a total of 34 properties worldwide, 20 of which it wholly or partially owns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandarin Oriental, Singapore</span> Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group

Mandarin Oriental, Singapore is a luxury hotel located in Marina Centre next to Marina Square Shopping Mall and near Suntec City, home to one of Asia Pacific's largest convention centers – the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the city's financial district. The hotel includes 527 rooms and suites, 6 restaurants and bars, and a Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shangri-La's Mactan Resort & Spa, Cebu</span> Hotel in Cebu, Philippines

Shangri-La Mactan is a 5-star resort owned by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts located on the island of Mactan, Cebu, Philippines. The hotel measures 13 hectares, has 530 guest rooms and suites, a 6-hole golf course, two outdoor swimming pools, a private man-made beach cove, and a 6-hectare marine sanctuary with over 100 kinds of fish and corals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Peninsula Tokyo</span> Building in Tokyo, Japan

The Peninsula Tokyo is a 24-story luxury skyscraper hotel located in Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The hotel is operated by The Peninsula Hotel Group, and is the only Peninsula branded Hotel in Japan. It is owned by Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels. In January 2012, the Peninsula Tokyo was awarded as the second best hotel in the world by American travel magazine Travel + Leisures annual '500 Best Hotels' List, only being beaten by the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo, also in Japan. The Spa at the hotel was also awarded the 2011 Readers Choice award for favourite Spa in Japan by Spa Finder USA. The hotel is also the first free-standing luxury hotel to be built in Tokyo in more than 10 years with direct street access, and it is described as 'international in design, but Japanese by inspiration.' The hotel is involved in Breast Cancer awareness and proudly supports the Japan Breast Cancer Screening Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas</span> Luxury hotel in the United States

The Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas, formerly the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, is a 47-story luxury hotel and condominium building in the CityCenter complex on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is managed by Hilton Worldwide as part of the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts brand. It is owned by Tiffany Lam and Andrew and Peggy Cherng.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River City Shopping Complex</span> Shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand

River City Bangkok, The Anchor of Arts & Antiques (RCB) is the premier hub of art, antiques and cultured lifestyles center in Bangkok, Thailand. It is on the Chao Phraya River on the Si Phraya Pier near many large hotels. It is accessible by car or boat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Imperial, New Delhi</span> Hotel in New Delhi, India

The Imperial New Delhi is a historic luxury hotel opened in 1936 in New Delhi, India. It is located on Janpath, close to Rajiv Chowk. It was New Delhi's first grand hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ananda in the Himalayas</span> Building in Uttarakhand, India

Ananda in the Himalayas is a luxury destination spa in Narendra Nagar, Uttarakhand, set in the Indian Himalayas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandarin Oriental, New York</span> Hotel in Manhattan, New York

Mandarin Oriental, New York is a five-star luxury hotel located in Manhattan's Deutsche Bank Center at Columbus Circle in New York City, managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. A part of the multi-use Time Warner Center development, the hotel opened in December 2003. In addition to its 248 guestrooms and suites, the hotel provides services for 64 residences. The Mandarin Oriental is located more than 280 feet (85 m) above ground in the north tower of the Deutsche Bank Center, a 2,800,000-square-foot (260,000 m2) mixed-use development at Columbus Circle. The Mandarin Oriental has received many national and international awards, and operates one of only two Forbes Five-Star spas in Manhattan.

Ramada Asia-Pacific is the regional arm of the Ramada International hotel chain operated by the Wyndham Hotel Group. The Wyndham Hotel Group franchises hotels and provides property management services around the globe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandarin Oriental, Miami</span> Building in Miami, Florida

Mandarin Oriental, Miami is a hotel on Brickell Key in Miami, Florida, overlooking Biscayne Bay, opened in November 2000 and managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. It is on the southern tip of Brickell Key, a 44 acres (18 ha), a man-made island built in 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandarin Oriental, Paris</span> Luxury hotel in Paris

Mandarin Oriental is a five-star luxury hotel located in central Paris. The 135-room hotel joined the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group of managed hotels in June 2011. The hotel has 3 restaurants and bars, and a cake shop lead by Chef Thierry Marx.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok</span> Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand

Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok is a 5-star resort hotel owned by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand. With a quarter of a mile of river frontage, the two towers of the property face the Saphan Taksin BTS Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minor Hotels</span> International hotel operator

Minor Hotels is an international hotel owner, operator, and investor headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, with more than 530 hotels in over 55 countries across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe, and the Americas. Minor Hotels operates as a subsidiary of Minor International, one of the largest hospitality and leisure companies in the Asia-Pacific region. The group operates hotels under the brands of Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, Avani Hotels & Resorts, Elewana Collection, Oaks Hotels, Resorts & Suites, NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow Hotels, and Tivoli Hotels & Resorts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iconsiam</span> Mixed-use development in Bangkok, Thailand

Iconsiam, stylized as ICONSIAM, and ICS is a mixed-use development on the banks of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand. It includes a large shopping mall, which opened to the public on 9 November 2018, as well as hotels and residences. The ฿54 billion project was jointly developed by Siam Piwat group, a Thai retail developer, MQDC Magnolia Quality Development, and Charoen Pokphand Group. The complex includes the tallest building in Thailand: the 70-floor Magnolia Waterfront Residences,and the country’s sixth tallest building: the 52-floor Mandarin Oriental Residences.

The Sukhothai Bangkok is a hotel in Bangkok, located in the city's Sathorn neighbourhood. The hotel opened in 1991, and is managed by Sukhothai Hotels and Resorts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Asiatic Building</span> Historic building in Bangkok

The East Asiatic Building is a historic building in Bangkok's Bang Rak District. It sits on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River, opposite the Oriental Hotel on Soi Charoen Krung 40 and adjacent to the Catholic Mission and Assumption Cathedral. The building was built c. 1900 in Renaissance Revival style to designs by Annibale Rigotti, and served as the headquarters of the East Asiatic Company (Thailand) until 1995, receiving the ASA Architectural Conservation Award in 1984. In 2023, Asset World Corporation announced plans to renovate the building into a hotel under the Plaza Athénée brand, in partnership with Nobu Hospitality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandarin Oriental, Macau</span> Building in Mandarin Oriental Macau, China

The Mandarin Oriental, Macau is a luxury hotel on Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Sé, Macau, Special administrative regions of China. The hotel overlooks the Outer Harbour and Nam Van Lake, and is part of the One Central development connected to the MGM Macau and immediately to the south of the Wynn Macau. The Mandarin Oriental has 213 rooms and is managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandarin Oriental, Taipei</span> Building in Taipei, Taiwan

Mandarin Oriental, Taipei is a luxury hotel located in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan, close to Taipei Songshan Airport, Breeze Center and Taipei Arena. The hotel, opened in May 2014, is managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. The hotel includes 303 rooms and suites, 6 restaurants and bars, and the Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Taipei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotels in Thailand</span> Hotels in Thailand

Due to the large significance of the Thai tourism industry, hotels play a key role in tourism and accommodation. In 2022, Thailand contained around 60,000 registered hotels, with the most being in the South, whilst the North experienced the most demand.

References

13°43′25″N100°30′52″E / 13.72361°N 100.51444°E / 13.72361; 100.51444

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.