Up next in the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport lounge adventure is the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Business Class Lounge! I didn’t know much about this lounge or what to expect and I’m happy to report that it exceeded expectations!
Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Lounge Information
- Location: Concourse D, Level 3 opposite gate D4
- Hours: 5:00 AM to 2:00 AM
- Eligibility: Star Alliance business class passengers, Star Alliance Gold members on a Star Alliance flight, or Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus members with eligible status. Full eligibility rules here.
Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Entrance
The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Business Class Lounge is on level 3 of Concourse D closer to Concourse B. The Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer lounge I went to before this is also in Concourse D but on the opposite side of the concourse closer to Concourse F. I underestimated how big Suvarnabhumi Airport is and it took around 7 minutes to walk the length of Concourse D from the SilverKris lounge to here.
I unfortunately didn’t have much time in Suvarnabhumi airport to review more lounges and walked past the Miracle Lounge and Coral Lounge on the way to the Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge. The entrance was easy to find and once I entered the set of automatic glass doors, I saw the lounge name in golden letters against a white marble wall.
The front desk acts as a fork in the lounge because I could either turn right to enter the business class lounge or turn left to enter the first class lounge if I was eligible. I couldn’t see much but the first class lounge didn’t look very big and didn’t seem to have any guests inside.
My favorite part about the entrance was the giant model of a Thai Airways A380-800!
Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Layout and Atmosphere
My first impression of the Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge was that it was huge. I wasn’t expecting it to be this large and was amazed at how much space it covered for a business-class lounge.
The lounge itself is basically just a long rectangle with a center walkway down the middle that divides the space in two. The right half is predominantly a seating area while the left side is where the dining areas are. Each half is further divided into subsections by employee areas, bathrooms, or wall partitions.
The lounge tries to go for a modern aesthetic with dim lighting and sleek stone tabletops but that is unfortunately negated by the old-fashioned furniture. The fabric of the lounge chairs has a tired and worn-down appearance and the sphere bulb lamps look outdated.
The interior of the lounge did have some bright spots though. I thought the plant walls filled with various greenery and stripes of purple plants looked great. They really helped contrast the more neutral colors used in the furniture and walls well. These plant walls not only gave the lounge a more vibrant color but also were cleverly used as partitions to add some privacy and division between the seating sections.
Although the chairs weren’t the greatest looking, I did like the use of Thai Airways’ signature royal purple as the primary color for the lounge chairs. Another big positive was how the entire right wall of the lounge was filled with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the terminal. It was great being able to get natural light as well as have the option to look at what’s going on in the terminal. The left side also had windows but they didn’t span the entire length of the lounge like the right half did.
Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Seating
The Royal Orchid Prestige lounge has a ton of seating options with plentiful seating in almost every section. I’d be amazed if the lounge ever reached full capacity and ran out of seats for guests.
About 80% of the seating in this lounge is made up of these fabric lounge chairs. They are arranged in rows across the middle of each seating section and are also found along the windows of the lounge. There are small side tables with a single lamp in between each pair of chairs.
Some subsections also have longer work tables with armrest-less chairs.
There was even this work counter with stools along the wall of the main walkway. This wall also had some lounge chairs with their backs against it and I was really confused by this design choice.
There’s no reason for anyone to sit here since all the other guests will be walking near you. The chairs in the back of the lounge are way more private and are better than these seats in practically every facet.
The first two sections of the left half of the lounge are used as dining areas. The dining areas also have plentiful seating that ranges from larger communal-style tables to 2-seater coffee tables.
I visited the lounge around noon so almost everyone was eating lunch and sitting in the first dining section. The second half of the lounge past this dining area was nearly empty and I could pick any seat I wanted.
The area nearer the back of the lounge featured larger circular coffee tables. This section was a bit more spread out than the other seating areas so I’d recommend sitting here if you want more privacy and quiet since it’s further away from the dining areas. One thing I appreciated was how almost all of the tables between seats came with charging ports.
Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Dining
The food selection in this lounge was impressive and I was surprised by how many options there were. The number of choices here might actually surpass the wide selection of food in the SilverKris lounge.
The first dining area is the larger of the two and contains most of the food. There are hot and cold foods spread across multiple islands with the hot foods being served in chafing dishes. I could pick from dishes like fried rice, sautéed vegetables, and curry.
There were also meat entrees like roasted pork and even BBQ chicken wings.
I was pleasantly surprised to see this lounge offer buns served in a bamboo steamer.
The second dining area is further in the back of the lounge and is the halal corner.
This area contained items like pastries, cakes, and wraps.
There were also foods like egg rolls and wings.
The most random thing I saw in this lounge was the popcorn machine prefilled with bags of popcorn. I’ve never seen a popcorn machine in a lounge before and definitely was not expecting to see my first one in Bangkok!
There were also fresh fruits, cold cuts, and vegetables in trays over a bed of ice.
The dessert selection was equally as impressive. The selection ranged from cakes to pudding to fruits and even local Thai desserts like sticky rice.
I thought the plating was quite nice with all the glass lids and tiered cake stands.
However, the best part about the whole dining experience was that there was a live cooking counter!
Unfortunately, there were only two options to order from. I was too full to order anything so I gave this a pass but they both sounded pretty good.
The Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge offers guests an incredible selection of foods including common Western dishes and local Thai delicacies. However, even though there was a lot of food, I honestly didn’t think the main hot foods looked that appetizing.
I would recommend just ordering directly from the live cooking counter for your main meal and then supplementing that with whatever else looks tasty. I’d also recommend checking out the dessert selection because it was extensive and some of the treats looked really tasty. I was too full to try them but would have selected a few otherwise.
Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Drinks
The lounge has multiple refrigerators stocked with all sorts of drinks. One fridge had bottled water, sodas, fruit juices, and even some yogurts.
The other fridge had sparkling water and various beers. I appreciated that they had local Singha and Chang beer!
Along the dining area wall were an ice machine and an automatic coffee machine. There were also some dispensers filled with flavored water and juice nearby.
Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Amenities
The lounge does offer a private room near the middle of the lounge that is reservable. There isn’t much information about it online but I assume that it’s some kind of meeting room that costs money to reserve. I couldn’t see any of the room’s interior when looking into it from the outside.
At the very end of the lounge is the bar with a bartender/barista available to make drinks. I feel that the location for the bar was poorly chosen because it’s so easy to miss. Most people didn’t even go to the end of the lounge and the back of the bar faces the main walkway making it even more unlikely for guests to see that it exists. I literally thought the back of the bar was just another wall partition as I walked towards it.
However, the bar was surprisingly well-designed and modern. It’s cube-shaped and features a plant wall backdrop, ambient counter lighting, and a ceiling with a cool stacked design. A single worker was operating the bar when I went and I could order any alcoholic or coffee drink I wanted. I didn’t end up ordering anything here but still thought the bar looked great. I just wished they had placed it in a more noticeable location.
Besides those 2 amenities, everything else was standard with the free wifi and flight departure information TVs. There were numerous signs throughout the lounge with instructions on how to connect to the wifi. I didn’t end up needing to connect but the process looked very straightforward.
The lounge also has TVs displaying flight departure information.
Royal Orchid Prestige Lounge Bathroom and Showers
The bathrooms and showers were located near the middle of the lounge on the left side. The Royal Orchid Prestige lounge does have 2 showers guests can use but unfortunately, they were closed when I was visiting the lounge.
The bathrooms were big and very clean. I’m not quite sure what type of stone the floors and countertops were made of but I liked the how sleek the bathroom looked. Even the privacy dividers between each urinal were made of stone!
Conclusion
The Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Business Class Lounge is solid. It boasts an incredible amount of space with an impressive selection of food options. There are also some good amenities like showers, a live cooking counter, and a beverage bar. However, its tired seating decor and mediocre hot food entrees prevent this from being a top-tier business-class lounge.
What did you think of the Thai Airways Royal Orchid Prestige Business Class Lounge?
