3 months ago
8
November 9, 2025 — 5:00am
It’s Friday night in Pattaya, and the go-go clubs are heaving. A charred crocodile is being carved. The guy wearing a python looks tired. So does the Siberian eagle owl being forced to pose for photos with tourists. Nearby, the live sex shows are in full swing: $25 with a free drink.
Along the beach, dozens of people are facing away from the ocean. I wonder why no one is looking at the water. Then I see potential clients walking between them on the promenade, inquiring about prices for the night and the nationalities on offer.
For six decades, Pattaya has grappled with its reputation as a gulf of sex and sleaze. First, it was US Marines on respite during the Vietnam War. Then it was the heavy and sweaty set from Australia and the UK. Today, it’s new money from India and Russia.
Now Pattaya wants to rebrand itself as a lifestyle destination. A new resort is betting big it can do just that.
The Standard, famous for its eccentric luxury hotels in New York, London and Ibiza, has just opened one of its biggest projects in Pattaya Na Jomtien, two hours from Bangkok.
“We don’t want you to leave,” my hotel guide tells me with a trademark Thai smile as I check in.
It’s a White Lotus welcome to a fortress 20 minutes from the infamous red-light district. The pearly white gates are designed to keep guests in and Pattaya’s reputation locked out.
Thai architects Onion have designed a brutalist enclave wrapped in white walls that curve around the blue sky in this monument to minimalist excess.
There are 161 rooms, from $315 a night for a standard king to $1500 a night for the deluxe one-bedroom suite with an ocean view and a private pool.
There is room for hundreds of guests to frolic through the beachfront resort, which has two restaurants, an ergonomic kids club and an adults-only social spa, but when I arrive in mid-October, I’m one of only a dozen here to preview the hotel a week before it officially opens to the public.
A drone is flying through the beachside restaurant, the windows are still being sealed, and my companions, travel influencers from Asia and Europe, are armed with selfie sticks and a catalogue of Instagram pirouettes (perfect, at the sixth time of asking).
It’s beautiful, amusing and a bit eerie. But there is no doubt it’s got potential.
The hotel is targeting mostly affluent Thai tourists looking for a weekend escape, and one of its strongest drawcards is its location: it is only a two-hour drive from central Bangkok or 1½ hours from Suvarnabhumi Airport.
For international visitors, it’s the kind of place you could whiz off to for a couple of days after a quick visit to Bangkok without having to jump on another plane.
In return, you won’t get a white sandy beach or crystal clear water. But you will get spectacular beach sunsets, a decent kite-surfing scene and an emerging beach bar hub along the Na Jomtien waterfront.
The deluxe one-bedroom suite where I am staying is stocked with knickknacks, a lip lamp, speckled tiles, an elaborate hand-painted headboard, and a kettle that tells you when it’s reached exactly 96 degrees. There’s space. A lot of space. It’s got a bathroom that’s bigger than my living room and a private pool.
My typical mid-morning routine is to swim in my pool, then swim in the resort pool, then swim in my pool again just because I can.
Usually, this ritual finishes by 1pm, which means it’s club sandwich time, a form of nutrition that, like gozleme at a festival, is only acceptable at a resort. It’s a tad under-seasoned, but I’ll forgive that because there are spicy prawn cakes and a burnt orange spritz on the side. It zaps.
Fortunately, the club sandwich is my only flirtation with typical resort food. The dinner menu at Sereia is unashamedly Thai, and not average hotel Thai, but proper punch in the face coastal Thai that is not mucking around with just pad Thai, pad see ew or satay. The kaeng kua pu-nim with lump crab meat in a rich red curry with wild betel leaf is transcendent.
You’ll struggle with the heady flavours of Sereia if you have a more delicate palate, but because The Standard is really catering to the well-heeled Bangkok set, it’s a risk the hotel can afford to take.
As the sun goes down over the gulf, the beach bar is the place to be. Here, muted orange finishes on the umbrellas and chairs wrap around the pool and the ocean. I’m less interested in the tequila sunset on offer and more interested in a cold Singha beer with ice and a fermented Isaan sausage. My kingdom for a Sydney beachside purveyor of Thai fermented sausages and beer.
After dark, the beach bar transforms into Esme, a Mexican-Thai fusion restaurant that is still a work in progress. The Standard has hedged its bets on a more diverse offering, but it pulls back on the spice so much that after Sereia’s flavour explosion, you feel like something punchy is missing.
The resort insists it has everything a holiday could need, but I want to explore. So apart from my Friday night excursion, I take myself down the road to Preecha Seafood, an enormous restaurant in a shed on the beach, filled with families having their weekend lunches.
There’s no air-conditioning, or fans, because a gentle sea breeze keeps this local institution cool. It’s one of those classic Thai venues where vibes are high and the prices low. A storm passes through, clearing the air of its humid sweat. The rain thrashes so deafeningly on the roof that it’s hard to hear the waiter. It’s a spectacle for the non-monsoonal among us, but few locals look up from their plates piled with pepper crabs, clams and lobsters as the wall of water surrounds them.
Bingo. I’m back in the Asia that I used to know.
The contrast between Preecha, The Standard and even the sordid spectacle of Pattaya’s red-light district explains why Thailand does tourism so well. From designer hotels to the street stall next door. Everything works (except for the traffic). The people are warm, happy and hospitable. If anything, Thailand might be too focused on tourism to the detriment of its own economy. The Standard is betting that’s not going to change any time soon.
The Standard has now invested in not one but three major hotels in Thailand. Further down the peninsula, it has another beachfront resort in Hua Hin. In Bangkok, its Asia flagship towers above the Silom district in the CBD.
There are 155 rooms from $300 to $600 a night, capped off by the highest restaurant in Thailand, Ojo, and a lift that takes you there that makes you feel like you are on the set of Tron.
Ojo is my second Mexican-Thai fusion in two days, and I’m beginning to sense a bit of a theme. What’s the deal? Down the rabbit hole I go.
My deep scroll over dinner reveals that Spanish colonialists brought chilli to Asia from the Americas via the Philippines in the 16th century. When chillies arrived in Thailand, they made a joyous union with coriander and limes. All three are essential to Mexican and Thai cuisine. It’s a marriage that makes sense and is becoming increasingly popular (if you want to go a step further, I’d recommend Ms. Maria & Mr. Singh in trendy Watthana by Michelin-starred chef Gaggan Anand, which adds Indian to the fusion mix).
Ojo is the capstone of the space-age retro glam skyscraper overlooking the Chao Phraya River, which houses The Standard in Bangkok. It’s filled with attentive staff who bring out course after course for me to sample.
Because I don’t usually review hotels, I wolf down the first five courses, not realising another five are to come. The bone marrow with lime somehow manages to be unbelievably decadent, fresh and punchy. I am a balloon by the time the quail comes out.
I retire to one of The Standard’s spacious corner king rooms. The hotel is a mix of art deco and Asian pop art. I wouldn’t call it kid-friendly, but it’s vibrant and quirky. The lobby is not a lobby. It’s a “living room”. There are co-working spaces, and the rooms are filled with sculptures and craft beer. Bonus points for the Japanese toilets. If you know, you know.
This breed of hotels is high on style, low on buffets. It’s a holiday that feels personalised, even if it is mass-produced. Wes Anderson might shudder at the corporatisation of his aesthetic, but it’s giving the legacy brands of the Marriott, Hilton and Sofitel a run for their money as Millennials catch up to Baby Boomers as the world’s biggest spending travellers.
Fortunately for their bottom lines, the parent companies of each are also behind the “boutique” brands. Hotel giant Accor, which owns the Sofitel, also owns the 25hours Hotels line, Marriott owns the Autograph brand, and Hyatt owns The Standard.
They are smart investments in a market that is increasingly delivering a curated experience for the masses.
Heck, I’ll take an Isaan sausage with a seaside beer in a Pattaya Instagram fortress any day.
THE DETAILS
STAY
The Standard, Pattaya Na Jomtien has 161 rooms and suites from $315 a night. The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon has 155 rooms, including balcony suites and penthouses. Rooms from $300 a night. See standardhotels.com
FLY
Qantas and Thai Airways fly daily to Bangkok. The Standard, Pattaya Na Jomtien, is two hours from the Bangkok CBD and 1½ hours from Suvarnabhumi Airport, depending on the traffic. See qantas.com/en-au
The writer travelled as a guest of The Standard.
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.
