Frantic can't quite begin to describe Bangkok. The city mutates at a speed that makes other Asian capitals look like they're standing still. A warehouse finds new life as a contemporary art institution, an old trading quarter becomes the hottest new creative enclave. Blink, and you’re behind.The new Voco Bangkok Surawong knows this, and lands right in the thick of it. Opened last December, it marks the debut of IHG's fastest-growing premium brand in Thailand, and the latest addition to the city’s ever-evolving hospitality scene.Voco in Latin means to invite, to call one in. At the lobby, you’re greeted by several larger-than-life finch sculptures in festive woven hats, radiating the cheerful, slightly unhinged energy of party hosts. The finch is one of the hotel's three kooky bird mascots, which appear in various forms across the property. They telegraph exactly what kind of place this is: emphatically unstuffy.
Thai architecture firm A49 refashioned the Brutalist shell of the original Tawana Hotel, retaining its geometric forms while opening up the space to light; interior design studio P49 Deesign layered in mid-century touches and a chirpy yellow and blue palette.The owl mascot shows up in the rooms, the hotel's nudge toward me-time. I was gifted with an owl plushie, colouring kit, shower steamers in earl grey cucumber and lavender mint, and an order sheet for breakfast in bed.
