One of the most luxurious hotels in Bangkok is The Sukosol, located in the heart of the city and close by to the Phayathai skytrain station and the shopping markets of downtown Pratunam.
A few months ago The Sukosol was still known under its old name Siam City hotel, until that is it was re-named after the owners’ family-name. (The founder of this hotel dynasty is the famous singer and business woman Kamala Sukosol).
The Sukosol hotel in Bangkok.
Like many successful businesses, this famous hotel group started from humble beginnings and with little more than the spark of an idea. Without any help from major hotel chains Kamala succeeded in establishing a well known and luxury brand hotel company.
It all started in 1974 when Kamala’s father, a business man from Bangkok, ordered her back from the United States to help in the family business. After a while in Bangkok she made her own plans and decided to realize them in Pattaya. Without previous knowledge or any experience in the hospitality industry she founded the Siam Bayshore hotel. In a stroke of foresight and/or good timing, the hotel opening coincided with a boom time for tourism in Pattaya and so it was just a matter of hard work and application that led to the Siam Bayshore being a huge success.
One of the luxurious reception areas of The Sukosol.
After scoring a hit with her first project, Kamala, who apart from being a mother of four children and a successful business-woman is also a talented singer as well, started to organize the opening of a second hotel in Pattaya which was named Siam Bayview. Just like the first hotel, the new project became very successful and nowadays both hotels stand as icons of the Pattaya hospitality scene and are famous for their first-class accommodations and facilities. The Siam Bayshore is on its way to receiving its fifth star soon.
Besides setting up two hotels on the Eastern Seaboard, Kamala still had plenty of business to take care of in Bangkok. In addition to her properties in Pattaya, she set about opening a new hotel in the center of the capital that was launched as the Siam City. Just like in Pattaya, the Siam City would not stay alone for long and was soon joined by a sister project in Bangkok named The Siam hotel, built directly on the Chao Praya-river and with its own private jetty. The next hotel, the Wave, is already under construction and should be completed by early next year.
Founder of the hotel group Kamala Sukosol.
At the beginning of this year it was decided for posterity reasons that the name Sukosol should be incorporated into one of the family’s existing hotels. Thus the Siam City was renovated and reborn as The Sukosol and it now acts as the headquarters for the hotel group.
The family is rightly proud of their hotels and so are the hundreds of employees who serve the more than 1,000 guests staying at the four combined properties. It all adds up to being a true masterstroke by a woman who started everything on her own.
