The Grand Hyatt Erawan is a luxury hotel in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
, Thailand. It opened in 1991, replacing the ailing government-owned
Erawan Hotel
The Erawan Hotel ( th, โรงแรมเอราวัณ) was a luxury hotel in the Thai capital Bangkok. It was one of the first modern hotels built to accommodate the expansion of international air travel, and was operated by the governme ...
, on a corner of
Ratchaprasong Intersection
Ratchaprasong ( th, ราชประสงค์, ; also spelled ''Rajprasong'') is the name of an intersection, and a shopping district named after it, in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok, adjacent to the Siam area, at the BTS Skytrain's Chit L ...
in the modern city centre. It is jointly owned by Thai hospitality company
The Erawan Group
The Erawan Group is a hospitality company of Thailand, formerly known as Amarin Plaza PCL. The company and its affiliates operate hotels, office buildings and shopping centers. The Erawan is headquartered in Bangkok and listed on the SET100 Index ...
and the government-owned company The Syndicate of Thai Hotels and Tourists Enterprises, which previously operated the Erawan, and is managed by
Hyatt Hotels and Resorts
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...
. The hotel building was designed by
Rangsan Torsuwan
Rangsan Torsuwan (born 1939) is a Thai architect, known for many buildings during Bangkok's period of explosive growth from the 1980s to early 1990s.
Rangsan graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Chulalongkorn University and attained a M ...
in a
postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
style employing traditional Thai elements, and features a shopping mall inside the building, known as Erawan Bangkok. The property is adjacent to the popular
Erawan Shrine
The Erawan Shrine, formally the Thao Maha Phrom Shrine ( th, ศาลท้าวมหาพรหม; ; 'shrine of Lord Maha Brahma'), is a shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, which houses a statue of Phra Phrom, the Thai representation of Brahma, ...
, which was built to alleviate bad luck during the construction of the original hotel.
History
The Grand Hyatt Erawan replaced the government-owned
Erawan Hotel
The Erawan Hotel ( th, โรงแรมเอราวัณ) was a luxury hotel in the Thai capital Bangkok. It was one of the first modern hotels built to accommodate the expansion of international air travel, and was operated by the governme ...
, which had been established on the southeast corner of
Ratchaprasong Intersection
Ratchaprasong ( th, ราชประสงค์, ; also spelled ''Rajprasong'') is the name of an intersection, and a shopping district named after it, in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok, adjacent to the Siam area, at the BTS Skytrain's Chit L ...
in 1956. One of Bangkok's top luxury hotels in the 1960s, by the 1980s the Erawan was unable to keep up with competition from private enterprises, and The Syndicate of Thai Hotels and Tourists Enterprises, the state-owned company that operated the Erawan, decided to demolish the hotel and have it rebuilt in a private joint venture.
After a couple of years of negotiation, the project was awarded to the Amarin Plaza Company (now known as
The Erawan Group
The Erawan Group is a hospitality company of Thailand, formerly known as Amarin Plaza PCL. The company and its affiliates operate hotels, office buildings and shopping centers. The Erawan is headquartered in Bangkok and listed on the SET100 Index ...
), which had just opened the
Amarin Plaza
Amarin Plaza ( th, อัมรินทร์พลาซ่า) is a shopping mall and office building complex located in the Ratchaprasong shopping district in the city centre of Bangkok. It comprises a five-storey shopping mall podium with ove ...
shopping mall next to the hotel in 1985. The development contract, signed in 1987, entailed the establishment of the Erawan Hotel Company, with Amarin owning two thirds of shares and the Syndicate owning the remaining, and a thirty-year lease agreement for the land.
Architect
Rangsan Torsuwan
Rangsan Torsuwan (born 1939) is a Thai architect, known for many buildings during Bangkok's period of explosive growth from the 1980s to early 1990s.
Rangsan graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Chulalongkorn University and attained a M ...
, who had designed Amarin Plaza, was brought onto the project early on, and he and company CEO
Isara Vongkusolkit
The Vongkusolkit family ( th, ว่องกุศลกิจ) is a Sino-Thai business family. It does business in the sugar, coal and hospitality industries through its major holdings Mitr Phol, Banpu and The Erawan Group. The family, headed by ...
met many times with officials of the
Prem Tinsulanonda
Prem Tinsulanonda ( th, เปรม ติณสูลานนท์, , ; 26 August 1920 – 26 May 2019) was a Thai military officer, politician, and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Thailand from 3 March 1980 to 4 August 1988, ...
government during the designing of the project. Rangsan oversaw most aspects of the project's design, including its drafting, designing, cash flow, and marketing.
![Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand - panoramio (6)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Pathum_Wan%2C_Bangkok_10330%2C_Thailand_-_panoramio_%286%29.jpg)
Rangsan's design for Amarin Plaza had involved the combination of Greco-Roman columns with a glass-walled office tower, a
postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
style popular with tenants but heavily criticized by fellow architects.
For the new hotel, the government wanted a design that featured Thai elements, and Rangsan presented one that incorporated traditional Thai features found in palaces and Buddhist temples.
His original proposal, following a method described as Thai Mannerist,
was attacked as a disrespectful appropriation of sacred forms, and Rangsan acquiesced to the project owners' requests to cut several components.
The result was a similar postmodern design to that of Amarin Plaza, but with the Western-historicism inspiration replaced by traditionalist Thai elements, most visibly gigantic square columns with
indented corners and
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
s in the style of
temple architecture. It also saw similar threads of criticism upon its completion.
The Amarin Plaza Company was taken public in 1988 to raise capital for the project. As this was its first venture into the hotel business, the company opted to position it as a five-star hotel in order to establish a foothold in the industry. It reached a deal with
Hyatt Hotels and Resorts
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...
, which would manage the hotel under the Grand Hyatt brand as the Grand Hyatt Erawan.
Construction began in 1988, and the hotel opened in late 1991.
The hotel has undergone several renovations, including the addition of spa rooms in 2005 and a major renovation of all its guest rooms in 2012, as well as additions to its meeting and event facilities. Most of the additions were designed by New York-based
Tony Chi
Tony Chi is an American interior designer. He is the co-founder of New York-based design firm tonychi studio together with Tammy Chou.
Early life and education
Chi was born in Taipei, Taiwan, the youngest of five children. He later moved to New Yo ...
.
Operations
The Grand Hyatt Erawan is owned by the Erawan Hotel Company, which, as of 2010, is 73.6 percent owned by The Erawan Group and 26.4 percent by The Syndicate of Thai Hotels and Tourists Enterprises. The hotel, which is managed by Hyatt, survived the
1997 Asian financial crisis
The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...
thanks to its being able to quote prices in dollars, helping it avoid losses due to the fall in value of the
baht
The baht (; th, บาท, ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand. Society for Worldw ...
.
By 2015, the Grand Hyatt Erawan accounted for 25 percent of The Erawan Group's revenue. The hotel was negatively affected by the
bombing at the nearby Erawan Shrine in 2015, but especially suffered from the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
in 2020–2021, as its business segment relied over 80 percent on international guests.
Facilities
![Grand Hyatt Bangkok Ratchadamri](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Grand_Hyatt_Bangkok_Ratchadamri.jpg)
The Grand Hyatt Erawan has 380 guest rooms, most of which are located in the 22-storey tower. Six rooms are resort-style "spa cottages" located on the deck of the five-storey podium, which is also the site of the hotel's I.Sawan Residential Spa & Club and swimming pool. The hotel features nine restaurants and bars, including the Erawan Tea Room, as well as several
MICE
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
facilities, including the 1,500-capacity Grand Ballroom and "The Residence" and "The Campus" themed meeting and event spaces.
Its lobby occupies a vast atrium with towering columns that dominate the building's interior as well as exterior, and is decorated with artworks by prominent contemporary Thai artists.
A review by
Fodor's
Fodor's is a publisher of English language travel and tourism information. Fodor's Travel and Fodors.com are divisions of Internet Brands.
History
Founder Eugene Fodor was a keen traveler, but felt that the guidebooks of his time were boring ...
gives the opinion, "This sophisticated hotel provides the best in service, quality, and amenities, and rightfully so for the price... the Grand Hyatt truly has something for everyone."
A recommendation in ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine called the spa cottages "Bangkok's best-kept secret for the modern posh set".
The north end of the hotel building, (towards the intersection) is dedicated to a shopping mall, named the Erawan Bangkok and opened in 2005.
It is positioned as a "boutique mall", with a compact floor area of . It replaced the
Sogo Department Store, which previously featured shopping spaces in the hotel as well as Amarin Plaza.
The mall and hotel are connected via skywalk to the
BTS Skytrain
The Bangkok Mass Transit System, commonly known as the BTS Skytrain ( th, รถไฟฟ้าบีทีเอส '' TS'), is an elevated rapid transit system in Bangkok, Thailand. It is operated by Bangkok Mass Transit System PCL (BTSC), a ...
's Chit Lom Station, as well as several other malls and establishments in the Ratchaprasong area.
Adjacent to the hotel grounds, on the corner of Ratchaprasong Intersection, is the
Erawan Shrine
The Erawan Shrine, formally the Thao Maha Phrom Shrine ( th, ศาลท้าวมหาพรหม; ; 'shrine of Lord Maha Brahma'), is a shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, which houses a statue of Phra Phrom, the Thai representation of Brahma, ...
. Dedicated to the Hindu god
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
, known in Thai representation as
Phra Phrom
Phra Phrom ( th, พระพรหม; from Sanskrit: ''Brahmā'', ब्रह्मा) is the Thai representation of the Hindu creator god Brahma. In modern Thailand, Phra Phrom is often worshipped outside of Hindu contexts by regular Buddh ...
, the shrine was built along with the original Erawan Hotel in an effort to ward off the bad fortune that had been plaguing its construction. The shrine became a famous spiritual landmark, popular among wish-makers, and was retained when the original hotel was demolished.
References
External links
Hotel page at Hyatt official websiteHotel page at The Erawan Group official website
{{coord, 13, 44, 36, N, 100, 32, 26, E, type:landmark, display=title
Hotels in Bangkok
Hyatt Hotels and Resorts
Pathum Wan district
Hotel buildings completed in 1991
Postmodern architecture in Thailand