137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok

Space is the argument here. The suites start at roughly 70 square meters, which means the entry-level room is bigger than the top-tier suite at plenty of the riverside grand dames, and it comes with butler service attached. If you've done Bangkok in a standard 32sqm box before and found yourself climbing the walls by day three, this is the correction.

The other draw is upstairs. There's an infinity pool on the 32nd floor with the skyline laid out in front of it, and Jack Bain's Bar for cocktails when the light goes gold. I'd plan an evening around the bar rather than treating it as an afterthought. The setting is Soi Sukhumvit 39, so EmQuartier's restaurants, the Phrom Phong BTS and the Thonglor bars are all a short hop, which makes this the boutique option in a stretch dominated by very large, very corporate five-stars. It's the Chiang Mai heritage brand transplanted into a tower, and it works better than that sounds.

It's not for anyone who wants river views, a sprawling resort footprint or kids' clubs. This is a small, polished, adult sort of place.