Spain and Thailand are odd bedfellows, but Spanish hotel group Meliá manages to make it work. Located in the highlands of northern Thailand, formerly known as the Lanna Kingdom, Meliá Chiang Mai sees the heritage of its homeland imbued with a distinctly Thai twist. Simultaneously rooted in place while bringing a touch of Mediterranean charm to the former Lanna Kingdom capital, Meliá Chiang Mai offers a comfortable stay with elevated touches for business and leisure travellers alike.
Read on for our full review of Meliá Chiang Mai.
The lowdown: Meliá Chiang Mai
The hook; why stay at Meliá Chiang Mai?
Located steps away from the bustling Night Bazaar and overlooking the Ping River, Meliá Chiang Mai is a hotel of dualities — drawing upon its Spanish heritage while paying homage to the history and distinct cultural context of Chiang Mai. Catering to families and the bleisure (that’s a portmanteau of “business” and “leisure”) markets, Meliá Chiang Mai acts as an ideal base for exploring the city or squeezing in a little work between trips to the numerous surrounding wats and street food stalls.
How to get there
Meliá Chiang Mai is located on Charoen Prathet Road, close to the Ping River and mere steps away from the daily Night Bazaar. It’s just six kilometres from Chiang Mai International Airport, which is around a 15-minute drive.
Design and architecture
The design at Meliá Chiang Mai is what elevates it from a mere bleisure hotel to a stylish launchpad for exploring or working in the city. Executed by Thai design studio Pia Interiors, the interiors posit a surprising interrelationship between Spanish and northern Thai style; here, the abundance of archways and curved doorways characteristic of Spanish colonial architecture sit alongside hyperlocal references such as a tung sai moo lantern crafted from silver (Chiang Mai is particularly known for its silver craft) which sits underneath a ceiling display dripping with kom, Chinese silk lanterns associated with the Loy Kratong festival. Surrounding the striking centrepiece are teakwood wall panels engraved with geometric panels woven by the region’s hill tribe communities.
There’s an emphasis on supporting local artisans, with the aforementioned tung and silk lanterns crafted by Thai artisans and designers. Additionally, the lobby is home to a social enterprise shop, The Gallery, which sells handcrafted items by the same, with profits from sales going towards supporting artistic endeavours in disadvantaged communities and keeping traditional handiwork alive.
Elsewhere, the pathway from the lobby downstairs to the hotel’s YHI Spa pays homage to Chiang Mai’s Wat Umong—also known as the Tunnel Temple—through its arched low doorways and cool, cavernous aesthetic. However, it also draws irresistible parallels to the aforementioned Mediterranean archways, continuing the intriguing dialogue between the seemingly dichotomous regional design philosophies.
Rooms and suites
The 22-storey hotel is home to 260 rooms and suites, with 227 guest rooms and 43 suites. There are seven room and two suite types, ranging in size from 30m² to 113m².
Room and suite interiors take on a minimalist tone, with blonde woods and muted grey furnishings accented by pops of orange and references to traditional northern Thai crafts, seen in the sculptural metal lanterns and geometric wall art.
We were hosted in The Level Premium Room, a studio style room with an open-plan living space and a chaise lounge by the window, as well as a separate wardrobe area for storing luggage and hanging clothing. We found the room decently sized for two people (three gets a bit crowded), but found the bathroom functional yet a little cramped. The room claims to have garden views, however our view was of the surrounding houses in the area.
Tea and coffee
Meliá Chiang Mai has in-room tea and coffee facilities in the form of a kettle and Nespresso coffee pod machine. Tea bags are by Dilmah—comprising English breakfast, earl grey, and jasmine green tea—while coffee pods are by Nespresso, with both caffeinated and decaffeinated options available.
Bathroom products
Bathroom products are by Italian skincare brand Comfort Zone, and are lightly scented with citrus. Expect to find full-size shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower, as well as hand wash and body lotion by the sink.
Comfort factor
Beds are plush yet adequately firm and temperature control in the rooms is good. The layout of the room makes it easy to navigate, though the bathroom is on the smaller side.
Lounge facilities
While in most hotels, the biggest distinction in guest experience and overall comfort is dependent on whether one selects a room or a suite, the biggest influencing factor at Meliá Chiang Mai is a Level room or suite versus its standard counterpart. Guests staying in The Level Room, The Level Premium Room, The Level Suite or The Level Presidential Suite gain access to The Level privileges, which represent a step up in service from the standard offering. Key among the upgrades afforded to The Level guests are access to The Level Lounge, private check-in and checkout, late checkout at 2pm (subject to availability) fresh fruit in the room on arrival, and a concierge service.
Located on level 21 and overlooking the Ping River, The Level Lounge offers all-day snacks and non-alcoholic drinks (try the tempura betel leaves and the macarons), as well as a private breakfast service from 7 to 10.30am, afternoon tea from 2.30pm to 4pm and cocktails and canapes from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Bathed in a serene colour palette of blonde woods, creams, and the palest of blues, the decor here looks to Chiang Mai’s Bo Sang Umbrella village for inspiration, with handcrafted umbrellas acting as wall art and custom designed statement lighting cocooned in an oversized wooden umbrella frame.
Food and drink
Meliá Chiang Mai is home to two restaurants and a rooftop bar.
Located adjacent to the lobby on the first floor, Laan Na Kitchen specialises in international cuisine, with European and Thai dishes sitting alongside each other. Here, you’ll find bisque and tom yum goong sharing menu real estate, with the restaurant aiming to satisfy any international gustatory cravings travellers may have. Laan Na Kitchen is also where breakfast is served daily from 7am to 10.30am.
At Mai Restaurant, located opposite The Level Lounge on the 21st floor, chefs prepare Thai dishes using traditional culinary techniques with a Mediterranean twist. We were treated to the vegetarian tasting menu here, which spotlighted a unique combination of traditional Thai and European dishes with a Thai spin; think salad with a Khao Soi dressing, grilled vegetables with a sour cream sauce, grilled eggplant, and tom kha gai with tofu.
Mai Restaurant also serves an afternoon tea which is well worth a look in. A welcome departure from the traditional scones and jam fare often associated with this particular culinary repast, afternoon tea at Mai Restaurant comes in a literal cabinet of curiosities and combines Thai flavours with classic bites — cucumber and egg sandwiches are swapped for tomato and tempura, savoury avocado mousse is topped with crispy sweet and sour tofu, and mochi style desserts sub in for standard tartlets.
On the rooftop Mai Sky Bar, signature and classic cocktails are served alongside a Spanish fusion food menu, with options like quesadillas, spicy ceviche, and khao soi croquettes on offer.
Tell us about the breakfast
Served in the lobby-level Laan Na Kitchen or as a private service at The Level Lounge from 7am to 10.30am, breakfast at Meliá Chiang Mai comprises a wide mix of Thai and western food, with both hot and continental options available. There’s always a hot noodle dish of the day, along with a made-to-order egg station, congee with DIY toppings, and a wide range of fruits and baked items on offer. There’s also more esoteric local dishes like nam tao hoo, sweetened hot soy milk with a selection of jellies and seeds. We appreciated the wide variety of dishes on offer here, however some were certainly better executed than others — the hot Thai dishes were flavourful and the locally sourced vegetables were fresh and delicious, however the pastries and baked items were somewhat dry and dense, with croissants lacking in all-important flakiness.
We also would have liked to see more tea and coffee options available — the former was the same Dilmah tea bags as inside the room (not great) and the latter was in the form of all-in-one coffee machines. While staff took tea and coffee orders tableside, this still came from the all-in-one machines rather than being barista made. There were a few interesting offerings like Thai tea and matcha lattes, however these were pre-mixed, meaning there was no option to use non-dairy milk.
The private breakfast service at The Lobby Lounge has an abridged selection of the dishes at Laan Na Kitchen; the former is the best for a more intimate experience (as the latter can get quite crowded), while Laan Na Kitchen has the most variety on offer.
Spa and facilities
Alongside the thoughtful design, the spa and facilities at Meliá Chiang Mai work to take it from a standard business hotel to a more premium offering. The hotel’s YHI Spa boasts massage rooms, open-air palapas, a water circuit with hydromassage and sauna, and a relaxation area, with a comprehensive selection of massage, beauty, and wellness treatments on the menu.
There’s also a gym and an outdoor swimming pool flanked by cabanas on the second floor; the latter is a highlight and brings a taste of the Mediterranean to northern Thailand. On the same floor is a dedicated kiddie pool with a slippery slide.
By far the most impressive facility at Meliá Chiang Mai is the kids’ club. Quite likely one of the largest hotel kids’ clubs in Asia, Meliá Chiang Mai’s Kidsdom facility caters to young children to teenagers, with the expansive space unfolding over several rooms, each down a curvilinear pathway. Highlights include a ball pit, gaming zone (with both board and video games), teen club, library area, TV zone, and nap studio (complete with cuddly plushies). Access to Kidsdom is complimentary for hotel guests, with outside residents able to purchase a daily pass.
The service
Service was largely positive and in line with what we’d expect at a mid-range bleisure hotel. Front-of-house staff are friendly and welcoming and quick to assist weary travellers with luggage and checking in.
We found the service in Mai Restaurant to be a bit mixed; one of our servers was friendly and attentive, though the experience was somewhat marred by two servers who seemed disinterested and unengaged, putting down dishes in the tasting menu without explaining them and failing to perform perfunctory tasks like pulling out chairs for elderly guests and refilling water glasses.
Service during the breakfast sitting at Laan Na Kitchen experienced some similar pitfalls; while staff were friendly, they oscillated between either being slow to clear up empty plates (resulting in these having to be stacked on top of each other) or clearing plates that were still half-full and being used. Staff were quick to solicit feedback at the end of each breakfast session and ask whether there was anything additional they could do to make the service better, but simply addressing the fundamentals would go a long way towards improving the experience here.
That said, service in The Level Lounge was a step up, perhaps due to the comparatively smaller number of guests using the facilities. The issue of not clearing up plates unless asked remained, however staff were bubbly and quick to offer to make drinks or ask whether they could help with anything.
Overall, staff are friendly and helpful when explicitly asked for things, although not particularly perceptive or attentive when it comes to guest needs.
Family affair
Kids are unbelievably well catered for at Meliá Chiang Mai, with the aforementioned Kidsdom and kids’ pool keeping younger guests entertained all day. There are also additional activities like Thai boxing, umbrella painting, and sculpture on offer (either complimentary or for a small fee), with families also able to request a family room complete with kids’ toys and a teepee.
Sustainability initiatives
Bathroom products are full-sized and refillable. Dining takes a sustainably minded approach, with a ‘360° Cuisine’ concept emphasising farm-to-table dining, local produce sourcing, and ‘plate to farm’ recycling, which reduces food waste by returning it to the farm as fertiliser.
AR Verdict
Meliá Chiang Mai upgrades the classic bleisure hotel experience through an emphasis on good design and comprehensive facilities. While the shortcomings in terms of service preclude it from feeling like a luxury hotel, its impressive design and wide range of facilities are set to keep guests entertained and act as the ideal base for business and leisure travel to the former Lanna Kingdom capital.
Meliá Chiang Mai is open for bookings, with rooms and suites priced from around $220AUD/night.
Address: 48 Charoen Prathet Rd, Chang Khlan Sub-district, Amphoe Mueang Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Words by T. Angel
