Kimpton Maa-Lai, Bangkok

The Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok is a stylish and vibrant luxury hotel in the heart of the city’s Langsuan district. Blending modern design with Thai cultural elements, the hotel offers a chic, urban retreat with spacious rooms and sophisticated amenities and encourages guests to stay with their pets, devoting three floors and one restaurant to the concept. The grounds are spacious and verdant, the infinity swimming pool is a hard-angled, granite-coloured triumph of design and Bar.yard on the hotel’s rooftop has consistently been voted Bangkok’s best rooftop bar. As if this wasn’t enough, the hotel has just been immortalised as one of the city’s leading hotels in a Bangkok version of Monopoly. The Luxury Editor’s Simon recently stayed here – read on to discover more.

The bell-hops’ matching grey shorts and short-sleeved, buttoned-up shirts give the Kimpton a breezy West Coast vibe. Its interior is no different. The reception is buzzing. The kind of place guests want to hang out in, to see and be seen in. There’s a bar and eating area inside and a couple of terraces outside. Sometimes a band plays funky lounge music.

But there’s something different. It’s not immediately apparent. A couple of women carry dogs like handbags. I feel like I’m hovering on the periphery of a cult but not quite sure what kind. I feel like I’m about to uncover a secret. And then I hear cute voices dripping slush puppy abandon, honey love and absolute affection. ‘Ah doggie! Dog! Doggie! Doggie!’ There’s Huskies. There’s Corgis. There’s Labradors. Dogs underarms, dogs in handbags, and yes, one dog in a pram. The dogs look hair-washed and well blow-dryed, healthy and happy, as so they should; the Kimpton is one of the very few chains worldwide that allows guests to bring their pets. Three floors are devoted to owners and their furry friends and one restaurant, Craft, encourages them to dine together at the same table. (Read Ross’s review of the Kimpton Blythswood Square Hotel & Spa to learn more about Kimpton’s global pet-friendly policy). It’s a surreal but endearing sight but I can’t hang around to pet; I have a meeting to go to

The Library, located on the 30th floor, is open throughout the day but from 5-7 pm hosts a social hour where guests enjoy free-flow signature cocktails and snacks which include popcorn and crispy seaweed sticks. As well as the wrap-around windows, the library, as you’d expect, is full of literature and cultural touches but guests might be forgiven for honing in, instead, on the spectacular view.

Skyscrapers soar left, right and centre, verdant foliage whispers through Lumpini Park and sportsmen play what looks like rugby at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club. Most stunning of all, however, is the salmon sunset which sets the city on fire as night triumphs day. The Winter Tea might sound incongruous with the clement weather but its gin, earl grey & cumin cordial offers the perfect relaxant to accompany the city as it comes out to play. 

The Kimpton boasts seven dining/bar areas including Ms Jigger, Ruby’s and Avant but we head to the hotel’s 40th and top floor. Bar.yard describes itself, pretty accurately, as a day club, rooftop oasis and bar. It’s won the prestigious ‘Best Roof Top Bar’ award for the last two years as awarded by Bangkok Magazine. With its tropical-inspired decor, a mixture of Hawaiian tiki bar and American backyard BBQ influence the menu but not so much the eclectic music. We sit right next to the DJ booth and our DJ kindly, perhaps disingenuously, suggests we tell him to turn his amp down if it gets too loud. I tell him the current level is just about perfect. He’s not sure if I’m kidding or not. He tells me he hasn’t actually turned his amp on. I know he’s not kidding.

The Spicy Margarita is served in a characterful lobotomised elephant mug. Mesquite provides an earthy flavour which compliments its tang. I opt for The Island of Islay, a botanical flavouring which, as well as the eponymous gin, includes a heady mix of ginger saké, lemongrass, basil and passion fruit foam. 

Salsa Trio and Chips include super crunchy and moreish nachos with three separate flavoured dips; chipotle, charred pineapple and a more traditional salsa verde. The Tuna and Salmon Tartar is a delectable raw fish sandwich consisting of base level tuna nigiri, chopped avocado, a more traditional salmon tartar layer and an elaborate decoration of salad leaves for extra visual gratification. The local Hua Hin Crispy Fried Calamari is actually semolina encrusted. It’s generous in portion, freshly fried and comes with chipotle and sour cream sauce, chunks of cut lime and fried green leaves.

For mains we eschew the Smoke Show and Shared Experience sections and continue the Tex/Mex theme from the Finger Foods. Our waitress says the tacos are small but they’re not and four is a struggle but I plough through the al pastor, the pork riblets, the carne asada and the pollo tinga. In the UK it’s increasingly hard to find crispy tacos so these are a pleasure to crunch. The Sliders Trio is equally sizeable, practically American in portion, but doesn’t stop us bingeing on Tequila Lime Cheesecake and a sweet way to end, Chocotorta – chocolate cookies dipped in milk, layered with dulce de leche and cardamon spice. 

Music increases in volume throughout so that, by the end, our experience is not dissimilar to eating in a nightclub. We’re not the only ones to think this as a few guests jiggle and sway to the crowd-pleasing beats which range from a pumped-up Johnny Cash cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus’, Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder on The Dancefloor’ and  Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ to the Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me?’ It’s Halloween weekend so Devil’s horns point, tails twitch and gory make-up drips. When a man wearing an antiquated black kimono and clogs accosts us, it’s no big surprise. He invites us to a secret pop-up event.

We follow him up a fire exit, pretty much through a broom cupboard to a small room bathed in red, decked out with a record player, vinyl, a bar, a stack of Asahi boxes and Japanese posters. This is a recreation of a tachinomi experience which means ‘standing up bar’ in Japanese. Our man puts a feline mask on for extra ghoulish effect and we take a vodka and tonic each. We put Iggy Pop and the Stooges on the record player and channel our inner punk rock Japanese salary man thirst. The experience is limited to fifteen or so minutes but is surreal, atmospheric and a great deal of fun. 

My bedroom is a mixture of design triumph and personalised living intimacy. Semi-abstract art works of shrubbery and trees in a park hang from one of the grey walls textured with fabric. Books and a neat transistor radio decorate a corner. A lounger overlooks the stunning city view. Opposite, a nifty wooden cabinet houses a wide screen tv, more books and more arty artefacts. Housekeeping calls the bed a Californian King but it seems more like a King of Kings and is, I think, the largest I’ve ever slept in. A walk-in wardrobe leads to a spacious bathroom made of bright, shiny marble. A stand-alone bath accompanies a shower with a calming rainforest shower head and gels and hair products are supplied by the Thai-based Harnn.   

The room is the perfect place to relax in and, like most Bangkok hotels, the view is hypnotic. What gives this one special resonance is the size of the windows which you look through whilst lying in bed. It’s like having your own private widescreen cinema with curtains which open and close at the touch of a bedside button. The feature presentation? Bangkok city as it lives, breathes, unfolds in real time. A tall building opposite makes me feel like James Stewart in Hitchcock’s Rear Window. 

Breakfast takes place at Stock.Room from between 6.30 am and 10.30 am. The space is long and thin and stretches the whole side of the hotel. With porcelain wooden effect floor tiles, some of which also grace the walls, the space is defined by its textures, slogans and green ferns which tumble casually from the ceiling. Don’t be like me and saunter in for a late breakfast at 10.10 am.

The selection of food is so extensive, it’ll take you twenty minutes to discover what’s on display – a cornucopia of global offerings. From Arabic, Indian, American, Chinese, Thai, British, Continental, to European, from leg of cured ham, honey roast pork joint, raw fish, stir-fried glass noodles, ravioli beef bolognese, magdous, cereal, alloo bhaji, to foul modamas, the selection really is endless.

I go American diner style and opt for black coffee, and buttermilk pancakes with butter, bacon and maple syrup. It’s a winning combination and I add an Indian Summer to the mix which is a juice containing orange, carrot, lime, ginger and turmeric. 

Soon after breakfast I head down to the third floor for some sun and swimming in the incredible infinity pool. Full of hard angles, oblong pillars and imposing, volcanic-hued granite tiling, the pool possesses a slick, sleek, pleasing edginess, a masculine boldness. Treetops and leaves from the Kimpton’s secret gardens below ripple and waver in the breeze for a commingling with nature sensation. A large glowing sculpture called Golden Goddess glows from the far end of the pool and dipping or swimming in the water is a constant pinch-yourself moment. There’s a spa and a gym on the same floor and a bar which caters for poolside snacking.

Apart from its own special events and pop-ups, the Kimpton, not surprisingly, hosts a number of external parties.  On my last night, I’m invited to the launch of Monopoly’s Bangkok edition. It takes place in the beautiful, lush gardens surrounding the reception which also function as a pet exercise space. Negronis are on full flow and a very edible dish consisting of rice, minced beef, fried leaves and fried egg tempers the Negronis’ potency.

Highlight of the evening must surely be an appearance by Mr Monopoly himself, a svelte, affable chap who sports a grey handlebar moustache, a black, three-button suit and a matching top hat. Designed in collaboration with the Tourism of Thailand Authority, players are encouraged to buy, sell and trade iconic Bangkok locations which include Khlong Lat Mayong Floating Market, Khao San Road, Chinatown, Chatuchak Weekend Market and a bunch of the city’s leading luxury hotels. It should come as no surprise that one of these is the Kimpton Maa-Lai, which, surely, secures its legendary status. 

Kimpton Maa-Lai, Bangkok is included in our guide to the best luxury hotels in Bangkok