Over theatrical high teas and banana-flavored cocktails in the elephantine, Zen-garden ground floor of the Four Seasons Bangkok, the people sleuth and speculate: “Is the hotel a location in the new season of ‘The White Lotus,’ or ain’t it?”
Perched on the potent Chao Phraya, the flowing, highly poised urban resort certainly looks a stage for HBO’s dark satire of elite travelers. But the likely answer is “ain’t.” Rumor has it that the hotel will get a cameo — at best — and that the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, a southern island beach resort off the Malay Peninsula, will get the bulk of screen time. Bloomberg reported that episodes will also be filmed in Phuket at Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas, as well as at a “not-yet-named hotel in Bangkok.” Could it be the Four Seasons?
The fact is that it doesn’t matter, the 299-room, white-glove hotel is already the beneficiary of the grapevine — as is the entire nation of Thailand, which is in the process of rebranding itself from backpacker bastion to five-star wellness polestar.
The so-called “White Lotus effect” is now well documented. The Four Seasons Maui at Wailea, featured in Season 1, is synonymous with the show and the hotel’s general manager told The Post that since the premier three years ago, the resort is bursting at the seams. It’s a similar story at the Four Seasons’ San Domenico Palace, Taormina, in Sicily, which was the setting for Season 2. Overnight, it became a nigh-impossible booking. The entire 129-property Four Seasons portfolio, owned by Bill Gates and Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, with locations from Jackson Hole, Wyo., to Johannesburg, South Africa, stands to benefit for its exclusive association with the show.
Back in 2007, The Post coined the word “set-jetting” for this sort of thing. But the history of destination marketing via screen goes back to the start of cinema. Tourists, pockets full of nickels, were already heading to Hollywood to gawk at their favorite picture sets in the silent era. Proto-set-jetters built Hollywood as we know it. Now look at what “Lord of the Rings” did for New Zealand, or what “Harry Potter” did for England.
It’s practically inevitable that Mike White, the creator of “WL,” has now unleashed the TV masses on what was already quite the tourism hub — 28 million foreign tourists arrived in Thailand in 2023. If all goes according to plan, numbers, including prices, only go up from here.
All the more reason to pack your bags now — HBO boss Casey Bloys has given you until sometime in 2025, when the next installment of the show premiers, to make your arrangements.
Unfortunately, you’ll already need a reservation for the Four Seasons Bangkok’s cocktail lounge BKK Social Club. It was ranked the No. 1 bar in Thailand by a website that professionally ranks these things … and the world noticed. We recommend the Bananzo — Michter’s bourbon, salted banana, chocolate bitters with a side of caviar; all for about $15.
Dining in general is the hot ticket here and the Chao Phraya Terrace is the Four Seasons’ newest offering. The scenic riverfront restaurant — from which the hotel can whisk you to and fro via a wooden Venetian motorboat — offers an all-charcoal-smoked menu. Also in-house are Yu Ting Yuan (Cantonese fine-dining), Palmier by Guillaume Galliot (a surprisingly authentic French brasserie) and Riva del Fiume Ristorante (open-kitchen Italian).
The spa is another major “White Lotus”-esque emphasis of the Bangkok hotel which, in 2023, reshuffled its offerings into the Urban Wellness Centre. It now hosts a rotating group of visiting practitioners on top of its more traditional Thai messages. Rarer still is the presence of a standalone men’s salon.
But the rooms here — facing either the river or a tree-filled courtyard — are where things get interesting. At time of printing, you can book a deluxe room for the weekend in most months of the year starting at $410 per night. Not only is that damn cheap for any five-star, it’s damn, damn cheap for a Four Seasons. The same weekend at the Four Season Downtown in Manhattan costs $1,330 a night and at the “White Lotus”-approved Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, a night already costs about $970. But that’s Bangkok for you — at least, for now.
