book directly with the hotel or its group or through one of the pre-pay agencies:

www.agoda.com
www.sawadee.com
www.asiarooms.com

and many more

depends on what you mean by best?? price, comfort, style, etc??

i prefer hotels on the river:

anantara
chatrium riverside
hilton
shangri-la
peninsula
oriental

in town:

jw marriott
marriott mayfair
marriott sukhumvit park
plaza anthanee
renaissance
majestic grande
sheraton grande
westin
rembrandt
sofitel sukhumvit
and hundreds more

Bob is right, what re you looking for in "best"?

And what do you mean by "city center"? What do you plan to do in Bangkok?

Some of the best (most luxe, most attentive service) hotels in the world are in Bangkok.

Hi,

Well, In Bangkok have many nice hotels mostly in good location also.
So around city centre area?
- I would suggest Siam - Sukhumvit area (near BTS/MRT)
- The riverside it's good location but far from shopping place
We need you tell about your budget per night or days? so that we can help you more.

The "best" hotel is what fits your budget. You can get all sorts of luxury hotel suggestions but if the price is not in your budget you probably won't be staying there.

My suggestion is a hotel convenient to the Skytrain route. If you like nightlife and easy walk to malls and street vendors maybe Sukhumvit Nana area. Want to be near MBK perhaps the Pathumwan Princess Hotel but if that hotel is not in your budget range there are other hotels in the same area. Want to be closer to Pratunam - Phetchaburi Road shopping perhaps the Asia Hotel or the Evergreen hotels which are near the Ratchathewi Skytrain stop.

If you want an expensive "best" hotel what price range do you want to be in? Peninsula or Kempinski maybe? There are other cheaper hotels with A/C and private toilet in the 900 baht 1300 baht range that are not too bad.

Up to you.

Evergreen Place-clean, spacious, well-located to shopping and Skytrain,

We really enjoyed the Old Bangkok Inn. Lots of character, very reasonable price, and phenomenal breakfast. Somewhat centrally located but I am not a Bangkok expert. We split our time between the OBI and the Shangri La (on the river) and the OBI was infinitely more memorable.

The new Sofitel on Sukhumvit at soi 15 is in a great central location. The roof top bar is very nice. Great views of city center!

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for all your responses and sorry I didn't reply sooner. I was doing some research into the hotels and I came across some Bangkok packages from Flight Centre HK (I will be flying from HK). Some of these look like a deal with the airfare as well. Does anyone know if any of the hotels listed in this link is around the city centre area?

http://www.flightcentre.com.hk/landing-pages/search-results/results&query=destination+is+%22Thailand%22+and+product_category+is+%22Holiday+Package%22&continent=Thailand

Thanks for your help!

Hello
What type of packages from the link are you looking for?
Centara Grand at Central World (the mall) it's in centre area of Bangkok.
If you've ever been to Bangkok, why don't you do it by self for a tour/Hotel/Transportations or buy from local tour it's cheap here.
and Kanchanaburi ,Ayutthaya can go by train and bus or tour if you don't want to travel by own.

Here Centara Grand website you can check for more info:
http://www.centarahotelsresorts.com/cgcw/cgcw_default.asp#.ULeCYSSvj1E
or choices for discounts website:
http://booking.hoteltrip.com/hotel/10030014-11380370O.html
and this for USD: http://www.orbitz.com/hotel/Thailand/Bangkok/Centara_Grand_at_CentralWorld.h266950/

Another hotel in this area and near BTS Chitlom and Central World,shopping places etc.
Holiday Inn Bangkok: http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/bangkok/bkkpc/hoteldetail
other choices: http://booking.hoteltrip.com/hotel/10030014-10201106O.html?ses=6f93664ad9e6b15f7bb1cbec3a8cad18&unps=y and: http://www.orbitz.com/hotel/Thailand/Bangkok/Holiday_Inn_Bangkok.h190750/

BTS maps:
http://www.bts.co.th/customer/en/02-route-current.aspx

Train info and booking site:
http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm

For cheap air flights :
http://www.airasia.com/th/en/home.page
http://www.tigerairways.com/th/en/

Welcome back and hope this could help

I am just in the midst of planning a trip, first stop Bangkok. I found that booking through Agoda was less expensive than booking directly with the hotel.

We booked the Shangri-la new wing (starts with a K.....) as I heard the place to be is one the river -- but I will check out the Old Bangkok Inn.

Hello again,

Thanks to RiniRabbit and ElaineK for the answers!

I wasn't sure which of those hotels from the link were close to the downtown area so was hoping someone had recognized a hotel they've been to from that link.

In terms of airfare, is it better to book through the two airlines above or through http://www.flightcentre.com.hk as they guarantee lowest airfare?

Thanks!

Air Asia and Tiger Air are both budget airlines. From Hong Kong, Look at Dragon Air. Always check the airline's own website for prices. Often the airline's prices are lower than the packages, likewise for hotels. Tiger Air is based in Singapore, so I don't know whether it flies between Hong Kong and Bangkok.

Two hotel booking sites I've had good experiences with are www.agoda.com and www.sawasdee.com