The Metropolitan Hotel, Bangkok
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After a grueling 12-hour flight from London, stepping into the foyer of Bangkok's Metropolitan hotel proves an immediately restorative experience: after pulling up at the unremarkable grey facade, smiley door attendants usher us into a spacious white lobby peppered with bold red rugs and welcoming orchids.
Upstairs proves to be more of the same: our huge standard room blends East and West with stylish aplomb, and boasts bird's eye views of the hotel's palm-fringed swimming pool. A broad, cushion-scatterd sofa lines the room-length window; and there's an inviting king-sized bed with obligatory luxurious linen and mattress.
The inviting bathroom is larger than my living room at home - deep bath under the window at one end, plus a power shower and two sinks. I am grateful for the space when, at 2am the same evening, I am wide awake and - feeling a little like Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation - slink away to this room to gaze at the continual line of traffic in the distance. Bangkok really is, it seems, a city that never sleeps.
The Metropolitan is a relatively new kid on the block competing in the city's competitive high-end hotel scene. Only minutes away on foot, located on the same main road, are competitors The Sukhothai, The Banyan Tree and All Seasons Sathorn. The traveller with a little money to splash around has an embarrassment of hotel riches to choose from.
With 171 rooms, ultra-trendy bar, and two highly regarded restaurants, The Metropolitan is not one of Bangkok's biggest hotels - but it is perhaps its most fashionable: a slick, contemporary mix of East and West, with high service levels. I experienced these servie levels first hand when the hotel concierge handled our last-minute change in travel plans with razor-sharp efficiency.
The hotel's facilities are also impressive: there is a fabulous outdoor swimming poo, which I had virtually to myself in the two occasions I used it. The basement spa feels ultra-luxurious and includes a small yoga studio, treatment rooms, sumptuously warm male and female jazuzzi, single sex steam rooms and well-equipped power showers.
As ever, the devil is in the detail, and plentiful suppliers of bottled complimentary mineral water and gorgeous Como Shambala toiletries made us return again and again to the spa's decadent, unstuffy, embraces. A full menu of treatments includes the soothing, hour-long Metropolitan Signature massage.
You can tell a lot about a hotel from its breakfast - and The Metropolitan's didn't disappoint. Guests eat in the Cy'an restaurant, which is headed up by executive chef Amanda Gale, and can either sit outside by the pool, or stay cool of the inside.
The morning buffet is extensive and sumptuous: fruit trays laden with mango, watermelon and papaya; five home-made breads, including banana bread, to choose from; wholesome cereals; beautifully presented mini-pastries and salads; exotic freshly squeezed fruit juices. It's a feast that could easily see you all the way through to an early dinner.
Exceptionally good food is also the name of the game for the hotel's Glow restaurant. Everything is organic, locally sourced and scrumpuously wholesome - my berry and soya smoothie was bursting with taste and goodness.
Likewise, my lentil burger and decadent chocolate and coconut pudding. Be warned, however, that such tasty food geared towards western guests doesn't come cheap - main courses hovered at around 500 bhat, or £10.
Children were noticeable by their absence at The Metropolitan - the hotel is all about cool sophistication and urban minimalism; the guests, typically design-loving, bright youngish things in their thirties from London or Berlin, or wealthy Thais staying for business or leisure.
Apple Macs and iPhones are the order of the day over breakfast, or in the lobby - there's an element of this hotel being a place to be seen.
Surprisingly, perhaps, a stay here needn't cost the earth, especially compared to similar hotels in the West - impressive standard rooms start from £100 a night and climb up to £1,000 for the master suite; a vast, gleaming affair with two bedrooms.
All in all, it's a seductive package that I would love to return to one day. One word of caution, however: the hotel sits in the heart of Bangkok's business district, meaning the old city, and tourist sights, are a good 15 or 20-minute taxi (or, for the brave, Tuk Tuk) ride away, depending on the depth of the day's traffic jams. This is one of the world's most congested cities, and the off-centre location could be a real draw-back for some, especially if time is tight.
On the other hand, it is five minutes' walk away from a Sky Train station, from where you'll be whisked efficiently to strategic points in the city, including The Oriental pier. From here, one of the regular shuttle boats will take you breezily upstream, to the old city and famous temples of Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Arun. The traffic is far too relentless to contemplate travelling to the big sights by road.
The Metropolitan is also a five minute stroll from Lumpini Park, Bangkok's much-needed green lungs: an attractive, appealing space with a lake, tea houses and sweeping palms. Come early enough and you'll be in time to watch residents gliding in and out of Tai Chi moves, or jogging in the cool of the morning.
Rooms start from £130 a night.
South Sathorn Road, Tungmahamek 27, Bangkok, Thailand
Cost standard double room: £££
Services spa, swimming pool, fitness equipment, parking, hotel restaurant, hotel bar, room service, business services, internet access
Average customer rating
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