If you’re looking to do heaps of eating and shopping while in the Thai capital, you might want to know more about Moxy Bangkok Ratchaprasong.
Location
Slightly set back from busy Ratchadamri Road, and just a few minutes walk from the perpetually occupied Sukhuvmit Road, the hotel is in the heart of Chit Lom, one of the main modern commercial areas of the city. To wit, you’ve got Central World across the street, Pratunam a short hop north and west, and MBK and Siam Paragon slightly west down Sukhumvit. If you’re not familiar with the city, know that Central World has an obscene of food options.
I can’t speak to taxis/rideshares since I have completely sworn them off in Bangkok, but if you’re coming from the Chit Lom skytrain (BTS) station, the property is also accessible by pedestrian bridge. On the other hand, it’s a sweaty 20-minute walk south from the Ratchaprarop Airport Express station.
Or just do you and take a rideshare, see what I care.
First Impressions & Check-in
This Marriott property only opened in February 2024; unfortunately, it follows the trend of not having check-in on the ground floor. In other words, to get to one’s room, it requires transferring elevators– that’s a major pet peeve of mine.
In any event, the hotel brand name “Moxy” didn’t stand out enough, so I wasn’t quite sure where to go. Then, when I saw the floor directory, I had no idea what “The Welcome” meant. Was it a lounge? Discotheque? Why wasn’t check-in available at “The Arrival Lobby?”
No, it’s for checking-in. And more. Just wait.
By the way, the elevator at the mezzanine level — that is, where one can more easily reach the sky train/Central World — also stops at the Ground Floor. And there’s only one mezzanine-level elevator. Have fun taking bags into that one.
Use the Ground Floor elevators; those just stop on the 9th Floor.
Speaking of the 9th Floor..it’s all about entertainment. Billiards, air hockey, foosball, Thai movies, local artwork, games, music (including live music at night), popcorn. It’s all there.
My check-in representative was friendly, and offered me a choice of welcome drinks. The one with rum is called the Moxy Flirt, but it also has a virgin…version.
Given how much stuff one can do on the 9th Floor, I wanted to avail of my early check-in to take photos without other guests around.
Without hyperbole, the 9th Floor is the hub of activity. Of note was a lack of laundry facilities; instead, there was an ironing room.
The 9th Floor is also where Moxy Bar & Restaurant can be found, but we’ll get to that later.
Room
Not wanting to squander Bangkok wandering time, I headed up to the room to throw down the luggage.
In total, the Moxy Bangkok Ratchaprasong has 504 rooms; among these are the Moxy Queen, which was my room, Moxy Twin, and Moxy Loft, a good choice for young families. Some are also accessible rooms.
Given the popularity of the location, I wasn’t surprised to find the room a bit smaller than my usual fare. However, that’s why the luggage rack and chair were foldable, even able to be placed on hooks.
The room was clean and polished looking, had neat views of Pratunam and Baiyoke Sky, and ample places to charge devices.
However, where’s a practical desk? So much for being productive, right?
Well…I just used the luggage rack as the desk, and placed my bags by the window.
The air conditioner worked great, the numerous hooks served their purpose for laundry, and the fridge, albeit small, obviously came in handy.
As for the bathroom, the shower had good pressure, and had a little cubby to place my towel and music player. Towels were in good supply, and the refillable soap/shampoo containers were sufficient.
Food
Until the rooftop bar opens around Q4 of this year, Moxy Bar & Restaurant is the sole place to get a bite or drink while in the hotel.
My first night at the Moxy Bangkok Ratchaprasong, I had dinner with a colleague.
My colleague was vegetarian, although options were limited. Nevertheless, she enjoyed the wraps with falafel and cheese, as well as the mushroom soup.
I quite took to the fried chicken with tom yum flavor, and the braised short rib in massaman curry. Come to think of that, that curry would’ve been a neat dipping sauce for fries.
Of course, I couldn’t resist having the mango sticky rice, but the pavlova both lacked meringue, and a means to counteract the sweetness.
Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted photos of the drinks. There was a good mocktail with grapefruit and lemon, and a cocktail with peach liqueur, and butterfly pea to tint the drink violet. Most interestingly, the latter cocktail was topped with a couple of slices of Bengal currants, drought-tolerant, and popular in ayurvedic medicine.
Albeit not a very busy time to eat, service was nevertheless friendly, if neglectful when glasses of water were almost done.
But you want to know about the buffet, right? It’s a Southeast Asian city, so they’ve got to have some sort of fun breakfast buffet, no?
In addition to the papaya, pineapple, passion fruit, and mango, there was also a papaya and pandan jam. I added some sliced ginger to the papaya spread, since that’s what I had almost daily during my time in Mexico.
The first (of two) days I had breakfast, Seegem (not sure of spelling), the supervisor, was really the only helpful chap. On the second day, staff was more interested in looking at their phones.
Regardless, both days saw quite the crowds, so I gave up, and on the second day, enjoyed my food on the terrace. Go early enough, and it won’t be so hot…relatively speaking.
Tables inside have little paper slips wherein you can write down your preferred egg order. Good luck finding someone to bring you your order.
In any event, there was the “English” breakfast section with grilled tomatoes, sausage, and beans, a congee (rice porridge) area, and on the second day, donburi (Japanese bowl of rice with toppings). Next door to the donburi were a pretty good green curry, and minced pork dish.
In the central check-in area, there were salad fixins’, cheeses, and corn.
Drinks included water, tea, coffee, and juices such as pandan, apple, orange, and guava.
Verdict
Moxy Bangkok Ratchaprasong has quite a good location if you’re looking to be in the thick of food, shopping, and public transportation, not to mention check-in/cleaning staff are nice. As for the room, I’m more of a pragmatist; give me a smaller room, but if there’s a desk, that’s more important.
I also liked being able to shoot some pool, and losing hard at foosball. But I could’ve done without the pop music blaring while I ate, and took the elevator.
Disclaimer: In exchange for a hosted stay, I have written this review.
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