Stay Report: InterContinental Miami (Miami - January 2016)

Stay Report: InterContinental Miami 
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In planning a vacation in Miami, the place to stay is on or near South Beach.  In looking for a hotel near South Beach, I found a good deal at the Intercontinental Miami.  The hotel is located across the bay from South Beach thus provided great views.  Overall, it’s a very nice hotel with lots of amenities and is always crowded; and being that crowded seems to sometimes overwhelm the hotel.

The hotel itself is very large and sits at the edge of the water.  The hotel is connected to a pedestrian park and walkway that stretches along the waterfront and leads to a shopping mall.  The downtown location of the hotel makes it very convenient to access shops and services.  The entrance to the hotel is to on the side street, so that makes the entrance very crowded.  Additionally, all the parking is valet-parking as self-parking at the hotel is not available.  Given that valet is the only option, the hotel should be a bit better at the parking situation; there were delays on both the drop-off and pick up of the car.  Once you drop off your car, you walk up the steps into the lobby.

The lobby of the hotel is very grandiose and large, and is a cross between lobby and a lounge.  As you enter into the lobby, straight ahead are chairs and couches to lounge and relax.  The chairs are part of the lobby as well as part of the bar which is behind the chairs, and the bar has a DJ playing live music in the lobby.  On the left hand side down the hall is the concierge desk, the check-in desks, the ‘business center’, as well as the guest elevators.  On the right hand side down the hall is the coffee shop (in-house Starbucks), a FedEx center, the hotel restaurants, as well as access to the meeting rooms.  Because of all the services, the lobby is a hub of activity for the hotel and constantly seemed full of people. 

At the check-in desks, there were long lines for both checking-in as well as checking-out.  Even though check-in time is at 2pm, when we arrived at 3pm our room was not ready.  This apparently happened to a lot of people as I noticed many instances of this occurring in my short stay.  The hotel was nice and provided some nice compensation, but it took almost 3.5 hours after check-in for us to receive our room.  The hotel acts like a resort, and similar to a resort they have a mandatory resort fee.  The fee covers the following: internet access, access to the sauna, the fitness center, the pool, and many other amenities.  While the amenities were nice and really large, I am not sure the fee was justified as internationally these amenities are provided without the fee. 

After finally receiving our key we went to our room and this is where the hotel excels.  The room was massive and EXTREMELY spacious.  As you entered into the room, you went down a long hallway to get into the room.  The entrance to the bathroom was in this hallway, and at the end of the hallway was a nook for the coffee maker.  The room itself was very spacious with 2 double beds, a night stand in between, a TV stand with drawers underneath, a desk, plus a chair next to the window.  Even with all the items, the room felt very open and large and there was plenty of room to move around.  The beds were also spacious and comfortable and provided a nice and relaxing sleep.  There were plenty of outlets all around the room to charge all the electronic devices.   Right next to the bed were switches which would automatically bring down the shades to make the room darker, as there were windows which stretched along the wall and provided a nice view of the sea and the city.

The bathroom was equally large and spacious.  As you entered into the bathroom, straight ahead was the sink while to the right, along the wall, was the closet and a shelf that housed towels and other bathroom items.  The sink itself was also very big, and next to the sink was the toilet and next to that was the tub.  The bathtub had a shower hooked onto it that seemed like two individual showerheads put together – so they provided an alright shower; and again the water pressure was not that good.

Given I was only there for a short time, I was not able to experience all of the hotel’s facilities.  The facilities I did experience were the wifi and the business center.  The wifi was decent and provided good speed for basic internet browsing (considering it was part of the ‘resort fee’, I expected faster speeds).  The business center was located across from the check-in desks, and were basically two rooms each with a Mac computer and a printer (there was a FedEx shop located on the other side of the lobby).  The hotel had other facilities which I was not able to experience, including the outdoor pool, the fitness center, the sauna or the spa.

Overall, the Intercontinental is a nice hotel that is conveniently located downtown and provides a nice spacious room.  The parking rate is a bit high, and chaotic; not sure if the resort fee is worth it; and the check-in seems a bit chaotic as well.  The hotel does provide a lot of amenities and great views.

Stay Report: InterContinental Tokyo Bay (Tokyo, September 2015)

Stay Report: InterContinental Tokyo Bay
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When I was looking for hotels in Tokyo, IHG was providing discounts for their hotels in Aasia so I found a good deal at the InterContinental Hotel Tokyo Bay.  Overall, the hotel is decent with nice rooms and good customer service.  The rooms are a bit small and the additional hotel services are there but not great.  The hotel is on the outskirts of the city so it was not my first choice, but the hotel is near a transit station and has amenities near it.    

As I said, the hotel is located somewhat on the outskirts of the city, right on Tokyo Bay so it provides great views from the room.  The hotel is about a 5-10 minute walk from the train station, depending on your walking speed, and they do have shuttles available.  The entrance to the hotel is very nice and from the outside the hotel looks grand.  Upon entering into the hotel, straight ahead is the check-in counter, to the left is the restaurant and sitting area, and to the right are the elevators to the rooms.  

As I entered, I went to the desk to check-in but since I had booked a Club Room, I was sent to the Club Lounge on the 20th floor where check-in took place.  The service in the Club Lounge was very good and check-in was quick and efficient; I sat and enjoyed a nice snack while the check-in processing was taking place.  Once everything was done, I received the key and proceeded to the 23^rd floor to my room.    

The rooms themselves are small - and I know Tokyo rooms are generally smaller - but these small rooms had large furniture in them making them feel small and cramped.  Upon entrance, on the left hand side was the bathroom while on the right hand side was the closet with an ironing board and safe (along with slippers and a robe).  The bathroom itself felt a bit more spacious and had a sink, a European-style shower, a tub, and a Japanese-style toilet.  There were also plenty of bathroom toiletries available on the sink and in the tub. 

Proceeding further into the room, on the left hand side, were the beds.  I had requested a room with 2 beds and these two beds were placed right next to each other (literally no room in between the beds).  While the beds were comfortable, the spacing of the beds meant that there was no room or separation between you and your sleeping partner.  On either side of the bed were nightstands and reading lights. 

Across from the beds, next to the closet, was a place to put your suitcase.  Next to that was a chest with drawers on the bottom and a TV mounted on the wall followed by a desk.  There was a very large window which provided some nice views of the bay, and in front of the window were a large couch or two large chairs.  While the additional furniture was nice, the largeness of the furniture contrasted with the smallness of the room so I am not sure why these were needed.  Also, the chairs faced the room and not the window.  What made the room also feel smaller was the décor of the room.  The room was decorated very differently than to other InterContinental hotels I have stayed at; this décor was ostentatious and dark and made the room feel even smaller.

As InterContinental hotels are full service, there were a lot of hotel amenities.  The hotel offered a 'business center' and a fitness center.  The 'business center' is located in the hallway leading towards the lobby restrooms in which two computers are placed were the phone booths used to be (not very convenient) and a login is required (which can be received from the front desk).  The 'fitness center' is located on the 8th floor next to other rooms and is two rooms combined (828 and 829) with treadmills and basic equipment.  It is not large fitness center and the room decorations are kept the same as all the other rooms, but basic fitness equipment is available.  The hotel also has a spa, but I did not have time to access it. 

Other amenities include the Club Lounge and Club Floors.  The Club Lounge is very good and

provides really nice breakfast, cocktails, and light dinner.  The service in the lounge is also very good.  The hotel also has a concierge service which was also decent.  They were able to provide good information and answered all the questions, but did not expand beyond the questions with any suggestions.  The hotel does provide wifi, complimentary to guests and with decent speeds.  The only amenity the hotel does not have on site is an ATM machine

Overall, it was a decent stay at the InterContinental.  While the rooms were smaller and, in my opinion, poorly decorated, they were comfortable and provided a good night’s sleep.  The service in the Club Lounge was very good but the Concierge service could have been better.  It’s a bit further away from the city, but the easy access to transportation plus nice views of the bay make it a nice stay. 

Stay Report: InterContinental Dar Al Hijra, Madinah (April 2017)

Stay Report: InterContinental Dar Al Hijra, Madinah
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In my previous trips to Madinah, I had stayed at the Hilton which was located very close to the religious area but the rooms were not good and looked like they had not been updated since 1990.  Because of this, I looked for other hotels and found the Intercontinental – there are two InterCons located in Madinah; one was right next to the religious area while the other was a bit further away.  The reviews for the one next to the religious area were not good so we decided to pick the one that was a bit further away considering previous guests had given it high marks.

From the outside the hotel looked decent enough but on the inside the hotel looked older and had a really small lobby.  As you entered into the hotel, on the left was the concierge desk and straight ahead was the check-in desk.  Further towards the left was a seating area for both the lobby and small café.  Next to the café was the business center and further down were escalators which led to the second floor dining room.  As with the hotel in Makkah, this hotel was also booked as part of a tour package but I had emailed the hotel and was able to locate my reservation and add my IHG number.  For this reason, when I checked in I was greeted as an IHG member, given a welcome letter, and there was fruit and sweets located in the room.  Even though I had emailed the hotel about the reservation, it was a very long and complicated checkin process.  There were two staff behind the desk but neither seemed to a) know what was going on and b) neither seemed to have a good grasp of English which further delayed the process.  I finally checked in and received my keys to the room.  The elevators were located behind the checkin desks, but there were only two small elevators and it took a long time to get a free elevator.

Our room was located on the second floor, at the end of the hallway. The room itself was big in size, but had the same old décor and look as the hotel.  The room was shaped like an L, with long straight side that leads into the main room.  As you entered into the room, there was a small entryway which contained a table; on top of this table was the complimentary fruit and sweets.  The entryway led to a long hallway on the right hand side, which eventually led to the bedroom.  In the middle of the hallway, on the right hand side was the bathroom while on the left was the window which faced out onto the street.  The bathroom was a decent size and contained a sink, a toilet, a bidet and shower.  The shower was big but the sink area was compressed.  Further down the hallway was the bedroom area.

As were three individuals, the room contained three single beds.  As you entered into tone bed area, on the right was the closet and storage shelves.  The closet contained a safe, the ironing board and iron, while the shelves contained the mini bar and complimentary water.  Right next to the closet was the first bed – and there was not a lot of room between the bed and the closet.  On the other side of the bed was a nightstand which separated the first and second bed.  Next to the second bed was the third bed – and again there was little room between the two beds.  On the other side of the third bed was another window.  The beds were comfortable enough to provide a decent nights sleep.  Across from the beds, against the wall, was a desk, a TV on top of a set of drawers, and two chairs with a table in the middle.  The décor of the hotel and all of the amenities in the room looked old; the hotel phone looked old and sometimes did not work and there were a lack of plugs and no USB ports available. 

Amenities in the hotel included a business center, free WiFi, a restaurant, a café, and

concierge services.  The business center was a computer and a printer in a room; however, most times the door was locked so you needed to request the concierge to come and open the door.  There was free WiFi available in the room, but it was spotty and the login terminal sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t.  When it did work, the speeds were decent, but trying to get the WiFi to connect was a bit difficult.  As an IHG member, I received two complimentary drinks from the café.  I was going to order additional items, but again language and communication barriers prevented me from completing this task.  Breakfast was included with our room and this was available in the morning in the restaurant.  The restaurant was also decorated in the old décor and on the first day the breakfast had an odd layout which made it difficult to walk around – had there been more guests it would have been impossible to walk around.  Luckily the layout got better on the second day, but it still was not the best layout.  The selection available in Madinah was not as nice as Makkah and both the selection, freshness, and taste were average. 

As with the hotel in Makkah, the Madinah hotel had poor service and poor communication skills. The poor service started at checkin where they could not understand the information, it was right on the screen but they were mixing everything up.  The poor service continued when we tried to contact the front desk regarding an issue.  It took almost 30mins and at the end no one understood a single item.  Same thing happened when I wanted to request a late checkout; when I first approached the desk, the attendants English was not good and so just said “wait for manager”.  I had to come back when another attendant was there who did speak English.  It was extremely difficult to communicate with the staff for any issue.

Overall, it was a disappointing stay at the Intercontinental Madinah. The hotel was located farther away from all the other hotels so it was a longer walk to get the religious area.  Once you got the hotel, the service was poor and the hotel looked old.  In the end, there was nothing positive about the hotel.  There are other hotels which are closer to the religious area, so I would suggest to stay there; at least there is one positive aspect then.

Stay Report: InterContinental Dar Al Tawhid, Makkah (April 2017)

Stay Report: InterContinental Dar Al Tawhid, Makkah
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I was going back of Makkah for the third time and was looking for a hotel that could accommodate three people in one room and one that was close.  I had previously stayed at the Hilton Makkah, which was nice but only accommodated two persons per room, and the Hilton Makkah Towers, which accommodated three people but was not updated and has since been torn down.  I had heard good things about the Intercontinental, and after previous good experience with the brand in other countries decided to book the Intercontinental Makkah Dar Al Tawhid.

The hotel is conveniently located near the religious area and provides clear access to the King Fahad gate number 74.  The location of the hotel is one of the best attributes, as it is still central while not being crowded.  The main entrance to the hotel is on the street, which faces away from the Kaa’ba, while there is a second entrance that leads directly to that area.  The rooms either face the main entrance side or the Kaa’ba side, and there is a price difference between the two rooms.  You enter the hotel through the main entrance, and you can either go downstairs to access the religious area or you go upstairs to access reception.

I had booked the hotel as part of a package through a travel agent, so I was unable to add my IHG number prior to the reservation.  For this instance, I was not greeted as a loyalty member.  I added the number at that time, but still no additional perks were received at the hotel (the hotel had poor customer service all around so I don’t think it would have mattered even if I was able to add my number prior to the reservation).  Checkin was extremely slow, inefficient, and chaotic.  There are about 5 people working behind the desks but there are no real lines and no order; whomever can push to the front and get the persons attention will be checked in.  It was nowhere near the level of a 5-star hotel.  When I checked in, I reminded them that we were three individuals so an additional bed was needed in the room; the front desk said they would alert housekeeping.  I received my key and went to my room.  As I said before, the hotel was split into two sections – those who had the religious view went to elevators A-G and those on the street side when to elevators K-N.  There were plenty of elevators available, another positive aspect of the hotel, but you had to punch your floor number into the keypad and it would direct you to which elevator to use.   This aspect was not explained and many guests had not used these types of elevators so there was a lot of confusion and lot of people getting off on the wrong floor.

Our room was located on the 5^th floor.  The hallways and entryways to the rooms were very large – which indicated this was an older hotel (from my understanding, it is somewhat older and has only been moderately updated as the Saudi government has told the hotel it will be demolished; all hotels will be built across the street as they expand the religious portion).  The room itself was large in terms of size, and also looked like it had been moderately updated.  

As you entered the room, you entered into a long hallway which led into the room.  As you walked down the hallway, on the left hand side was the bathroom and then further down the closet.  The bathroom contained a sink, a toilet, a bidet, and a shower.  The bathroom was a decent size, but both the water pressure and temperature were inconsistent; sometimes they were great while others it wasn’t good.  The closet hallway contained two open closets, each wide and the first closet had the iron and ironing board while the second closet contained the safe plus slippers.  There was also supposed to be a robe in there, but that wasn’t provided until the next day.  The hallway ended as you entered the room.

The room itself was quite large and comfortably fit the three single beds.  As you entered in the room, on your left against the wall were two chairs with a table in the middle.  The two chairs faced the bed, which was against the other wall.  Next to the bed was a nightstand and next to that was the other single bed.  There was then a lot of space in between the second bed and the window, and this is where the rollaway was put (once it arrived as it took multiple calls and requests for the bed to arrive).  The beds themselves were decent and provided a comfortable nights rest.  Across from the beds, against the other wall, was the luggage holder with drawers on the bottom, the TV stand with the TV on top and drawers on the bottom, and then the desk.  It was a very long table so it provided some good storage, but there was a definite lack of power outlets and power ports in both the room and in the closet (it was difficult to find two plugs to plug both your device and the iron in at the same time).  What the room did have was a console on the nightstand which electronically controlled the lights and windowshades.  Through this console you could close both the lights and the shades without ever getting up from the bed.  You could also control whether the prayer speaker was on, as you could pipe in the call to prayer and the prayer directly into your room.  Our window faced the street so it wasn’t a great view, but it did allow for some people watching which was nice.

Amenities in the hotel included restaurants that served breakfast, lunch and dinner; a

café that served coffee and light sandwiches; a business center, a spa, a kids room, club lounge, and free WiFi in the room.  Our room came with breakfast so I was able to try the restaurant, as well as other amenities including the free WiFi and the café.  The breakfast served was very good and broad in terms of the food options.  In every country, the breakfast buffet at the InterCon has always been good and here it was also the case with fresh pancakes, eggs, waffles, cheese, salad, bread, and other options available to be served.  The breakfast came with complimentary juices and tea/coffee; any other service needed to be paid for.  On our last day we tried the café, specifically the light sandwich.  We had ordered the croissant sandwich with cheese which basically was a large croissant with a small amount of cheese; definitely not worth the price paid for the sandwich.  The free in room WiFi was nice and provided a decent speed.  There was no mention of a restriction regarding the number of devices, but after connecting 5 devices we were told we had reached our number when trying to connect the 6^th device. 

While the room was decent and so was the WiFi, what was lacking was the customer service.  There was no customer service in the hotel at all.  The service was subpar, it took forever to request something and then it took a long time for the requests to be fulfilled, and there were definite communication issues as very few individuals spoke or understood basic English.  We had a plumbing problem and we had been requesting all day for the problem to be fixed, and since morning they had been saying “ok we will take care of it” and did nothing.  By the evening, I went to go talk to the manager at the front desk.  When I went to the front desk, I was told to wait and after waiting for about 25 minutes I was told the manager has requested that I go upstairs and dial a direct extension from my room.  I did that but there was no answer at the extension so I had to go back downstairs to talk to someone, and that’s when the manager’s assistant came to talk to me; he had been behind the desk the entire time.  When I talked to him about the poor service, his explanation was “we are completely full right now and that is why you are getting poor service”.  To me, a hotel should be able to function efficiently and effectively whether you have three guests or three hundred; if you cannot handle the guests then either don’t work here or don’t have these many guests.  I have heard this explanation before and to me it seems like an excuse for poor service and poor management.

Overall, while the location of the hotel and the breakfast are nice the abysmal customer service really left a negative impression of the hotel.  The poor service started at check-in and continued through checkout.  Positives included good location, nice breakfast, decent WiFi, and large rooms.  Negatives included abysmal customer service, lack of communication with guests, and lack of clarity.

A Stay Report: InterContinental Johannesburg Sandton Towers (August 2016)

A Stay Report: 
InterContinental Johannesburg Sandton Towers
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When I was looking for a hotel in Johannesburg, I was looking for a hotel that was close to public transportation and was within walking distance to services and restaurants.  The InterContinental Sandton Towers, located in the Sandton area, covered all these bases.  It was close to the Sandton Gautrain station - both walking distance and had shuttle access - and it was connected to the Sandton mall with restaurant and other services.  Based on my previous experience with InterContinental in other countries, I decided to book this hotel.   I had booked two stays in the hotel - both stays were for 3 days, but the first stay was done by regular payment while the second was done using points. 

The hotel is located in the Sandton area and is connected to the Sandton Mall and the Sandton Convention Center.   From the airport, you can take the train to the Sandton station and either walk through the mall or request a shuttle to pick you up.  You can also arrange transportation through the hotel for a fee.  Prior to my arrival, I communicated with the hotel regarding airport transfers and communicating with them to arrange transport very easy and convenient.  The first time I arranged transport, the hotel messed up and no arrangements were made.  I then spoke with the Manager so the second time the transportation was there and everything went smoothly.

The hotel is located in a posh area and from the outside looks very nice.  You enter the hotel into a large lobby.  The hotel is laid out in a triangle, with rooms on 3 sides and an open lobby atrium.  While this makes the lobby and the hotel feel bigger, it also allows noise to travel.  On the first floor were the check-in desk, the concierge desk, the porter, and the restaurant/bar.  Even though there were 4 check-in desks, service was not always available.  Overall, service at the hotel was lackluster – it was there, but at a minimum.  The concierge desk was also next to the check-in desk, but it was only staffed sometimes – and when it was not staffed the other agents were not that willing to provide information.

As I said, I had two stays at the hotel.  The first stay was not on the club level, while the second stay was.  Both rooms were laid out in a similar fashion with the only difference being size; the club level room was bigger and more spacious but it provided the same amenities as the non-club room.  As you entered both rooms, there was a hallway that led you into the main room.  In the main area, along the wall was a stand that held the fridge/minibar on the bottom and the tea and coffee station on top.  Next to that was corner desk that went along both walls.  The desk also contained a ledger next to the coffee stand on which the fruit plate plus water and glasses were available.  Above the ledger was the TV, and below the TV was a console with a variety of AV plugs.  In the non-club room, this was the only place a plug adapter could be placed; in the club room this was the only place that had a USB port.  Both room had a lack of plugs and USB ports available.  We had a room with two beds and the beds were located across from the TV and next to each bed was a night stand.  The non-club room did not have a lot of space so the two beds were pushed next to each other resulting in one big bed (these could be pushed somewhat apart).  As the club room had more space, the beds were evenly apart and looked like two separate beds.  The beds themselves were very comfortable and provided a nice and comfortable rest. 

In both rooms, the closet/storage was inside the bathroom.  As you entered into the bathroom, you entered into the closet area which had drawers on the bottom and hangers up top.  There was also a stand with storage on the bottom and a safe on top in the closet.  Further into the bathroom were a sink, a shower, a tub, and a toilet behind a separate door.  The bathroom was very big and spacious, and had a lot of storage space and shelves on either side of the sink and in the closet.

The hotel was a full-service hotel so in addition to the restaurant on the first floor, the hotel also contained a gym and a small pool on the mezzanine floor, a business center on the 27^th floor and a club lounge.  The business center was basically one computer and a printer in part of the club lounge; and the club lounge was divided into two sections.  One section had the computer and chairs while the other section had the food for both breakfast and drinks.  The section with the food only had 6 tables, which was fine during the weekday but got really busy for drinks on the weekend.  The breakfast was the same for both the restaurant downstairs and the club lounge upstairs.  The gym was very big and offered a wide variety of equipment for a really good workout.  The pool was somewhat small, given the large size of the hotel, but most guests just went out to suntan rather than to swim.  The hotel also provided direct access to the mall and convention center, through a door on the 10^th floor.

Overall, it was a nice stay at the InterContinental; however, it was not as good as some of the other InterConintental's I have stayed out.  Some of the positives include comfortable beds, comfortable rooms, nice service on the club level, and great location.  Some of the negatives included lack of plugs, lack of USB ports, and somewhat lackluster general customer service (although the General Manager, Mr. Chandresh Sigh was very good and very responsive)

Stay Report: InterContinental Bangkok (September 2015)

Stay Report: InterContinental Bangkok
for pictures and additional comments on this hotel, visit my tripadvisor page  http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/0504Traveller

When looking for a hotel in Bangkok, there are many great options to choose from.  I choose the InterContinental Hotel for its location as the hotel is centrally located within downtown Bangkok, and has easy access to malls, restaurants, and transportation.

Complimentary transportation to and from the airport is not provided, so you can either take the train, taxi, or car; the hotel has connections to all three.  The hotel is connected to a walkway which connects the train station to the various restaurants and shops within the downtown district.  Along this walkway are signs that lead you to the InterContinental exit, and from that exit you walk down the stairs to the entrance to the hotel.  From this entrance, there is a small shop and then you walk up to the stairs to the grand lobby of the hotel.  The lobby of the hotel contains the check-in desks in front and elevators to the right.  The left is a sitting area plus the large breakfast area.  There are also some small stairs which lead you down to the bar and lounge area.  Overall the lobby is very open and grand.  I headed to the check-in desks where check-in was quick and efficient and I the key to my room.  

The room was located on the 17th floor and the room was very nice and spacious.  Upon entering the room, on the left had side was the closet while on the right was the bathroom.  As with the room, the bathroom was also spacious and contained both a shower and a tub as well as a sink.  There were lots of bathroom toiletries provided by Agraria, a line I am not a fan of.  That was a small negative about the bathroom, while another negative was that the bathroom was made out of marble so there was a lot of noise echo.  

As you proceeded further into the room, on the left hand side was the TV stand and a long shelf along the wall which led to the desk, which was located next to the window.  While the window was nice, it wasn’t a great view of the city but at least the window let in natural light.  Underneath the TV were drawers, some of which were filled with the minibar and coffee information, while others were empty.  Across from the TV, on the other side of the room, were the two beds.  The beds were very large and very comfortable, and there were night stands on either side of the beds.  The only negative about the room was that, despite the spacious room, there wasn’t a lot of space between the beds.  In my opinion, there could have been more space given between the beds. 

 

InterContinental hotels are full-service so they have many amenities.  Wifi at the hotel was complimentary and was decent speed.  There was a rooftop pool, with a bar, that was a good size and had amazing views of the city.  There was also a fitness center near the pool deck which was very large and had a good selection of fitness equipment.  The service next to the pool was also extremely good. 

Generally the service at the hotel was fantastic, and this is what made the hotel really stand out.  One example of great service is the complimentary fruit plate which was left in our room every day.  Also, the concierge service was also really good.  We used the concierge a couple of times, and the service was fantastic and offered great information and contact.  A good concierge is a great asset and can be really helpful, especially in a country where you may not know the language.

Another great aspect of the hotel was the breakfast selection.  Breakfast was complimentary and the buffet offered was vast.  The hotel had guests from all over the world, so the breakfast buffet was trying to accommodate different preferences so there were Chinese, American, Middle Eastern, and Thai options available.  It provided a lot of options for breakfast and was really delicious.   

Overall, I had one of the best stays at a hotel at the InterContinental Bangkok.  The hotel provided a big and comfortable room, with excellent service, and in a central location with walking access to many shops, restaurants, and transportation.  I would definitely recommend this hotel as a great place to stay in Bangkok.