One of Bangkok’s Most Iconic Hotels Got a Major Facelift — and We Got a Look Inside

In the Bangkok of the 1970s, there were few hotels as grand as the Dusit Thani. Pitched up between the city’s Central Business District and the green expanse of Lumpini Park, the 23-story modernist tower was Thailand’s tallest building at the time, and the hotel drew in a high-society clientele with novelties such as a discotheque, ballrooms, and a top-floor restaurant. But as the decades passed and shinier properties in even taller towers mushroomed around the city, the Dusit Thani lost its erstwhile luster and eventually morphed into a dependable — but dated — choice for (mostly) business travelers passing through town.

It was high time for a refresh. And last September, after a five-year reconstruction, the hotel returned once again to the upper echelons of Bangkok’s hospitality scene. The original building was demolished to make way for a new multi-use, three-tower complex that, when it fully opens as the “Dusit Central Park” in 2025, will also house a high-end shopping mall, luxury residences, and public rooftop garden. Dusit Thani’s new 39-floor perch, the complex’s first wing to open to the public, still features the original building’s signature golden spire on its roof (now encased in a larger lattice case to match the new building’s proportions) and the classic gold-hued facade with feng shui symmetry.

“The challenge of reopening the hotel, a cherished icon in the hearts of many for over five decades, lies in balancing the legacy, its Dusit Thani identity, and new experiences, which range from the design to every aspect of the guest journey,” Adrian Rudin, managing director of Dusit Thani Bangkok, tells Travel + Leisure. “The essence of the original hotel is still present, but expressed in a more subtle and refined manner.”

For guests who’ve passed through the original hotel, there’ll be moments of déjà vu: Two pillars, hand-painted by renowned Thai artist Paiboon Suwannakudt and originally part of the hotel’s beloved Benjarong Thai restaurant, have been meticulously preserved and now flank the elevator landing in the glass-walled lobby. A rendition of the original multi-tiered waterfall is still the courtyard’s centerpiece, and is surrounded by the exact plumeria trees Dusit’s founder, Thanpuying Chanut Piyaoui, planted some five decades ago. When the waterfall’s pH level stabilizes, even the resident koi fish (temporarily transferred to Dusit Thani’s Hua Hin outpost) will return home.

Other interpretations of the hotel’s 1970s roots are more subtle. Hong Kong-born designer André Fu, who spearheaded the new interiors, updated the lobby’s signature lotus-leaf ceiling with a hexagonal design, under which the jade-colored Grand Lobby Bar now doles out afternoon tea with khanom (Thai sweets) and classic cha yen milk tea. In the airy rooms and suites, done up in sage green, white gold, and honey-hued oak, the furniture’s curves nod to the shape of the pillar bases in the original lobby. Intricate lattice paneling and champagne-colored headboards embellished with gold thread riff on the Thai murals that used to line the Benjarong restaurant.

But even Fu’s sleek designs can’t compete with the rooms’ top perk: the view. A reduction in room numbers — from 517 to 257 — means that every room now has a full-length cantilevered bay window framing Lumpini Park’s sea of trees and the gleaming skyscrapers that light up like a “Blade Runner” cityscape after dark. That same view is a highlight of the marble-clad infinity pool on the fifth floor, and will also be the soothing backdrop for Thai massages in the Devarana Wellness spa, which will open soon.

An electric tuk-tuk shuttle from the lobby whisks guests to Benjarong and the hotel’s Bib Gourmand-listed Vietnamese restaurant, Thien Duong, which found a new home in a lush tropical garden just around the corner. On the hotel’s ground floor, you’ll now find all-day diner Dusit Gourmet (try the krapow fried rice with wagyu), and Pavilion, which serves an excellent international breakfast buffet in the mornings and specializes in Thai and Cantonese stir-fries, curries, and dim sum at lunch and dinner. Soon, Italian chef Umberto Bombana (of three Michelin-starred 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong) will open his fine diner, Cannubi, on the lobby floor, while three more cocktail bars — including a sky-high rooftop spot — launched at the end of the year.