I am thinking of stopping over in BKK for two or three days shopping towards the end of February. Usual places: Central World, Siam Paragon, MBK, Terminal 21 etc

Seeing as a lot of the hotels are offering discounts, I thought that I might take the opportunity to stay somewhere a bit nicer than normal, and book early to take advantage of the low prices.

Was looking at Centara Central World, and Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit at present, but no decisions made on any hotel yet.

Before making any choice, I thought I would you guys "on the ground" as it were, what the places to avoid might be. I do realise that things are very fluid at the moment, but are there places in lower Suk (where the malls are situated), that are either dangerous, blocked solid, or not worth the hassle of going to at the moment? Or is it all clear, and nothing to worry about?

May I ask where you are finding the discount hotel rates? Are you visiting each individual hotel web site or is there an internet web site that is collecting current rates from these hotels affected by the political mess in Bangkok? I've checked Agoda, Booking.com, etc. but the prices appear to be what they always are.

I just went back to Agoda to check prices. They are now showing "flash" prices that are attractive. Perhaps I viewed the Agoda type sites before they were advertising these lower "flash" rates.

I have only just started looking, but was going directly to hotel websites. I have not yet tried Agoda or Asia Rooms yet.

Bear in mind that any or all of those shopping malls could have been burned down by the end of February. When this same situation occurred in 2010, the mob did actually burn down Central World, but it was quickly rebuilt in 2 or 3 months. If it looks like a particularly dangerous day, I'd say stay at home and don't go shopping. Seeing your favourite mall burn down is bad enough, but much worse if you happen to still be inside at the time.

Grande Centrepoint and the Millenium could be problematic.

Flash deals are all over the place on Agoda.. Up to 70% discount !!

http://www.agoda.com/lohas-suites-sukhumvit-by-superhotel-japan/hotel/bangkok-th.html?asq=bs17wTmKLORqTfZUfjFABjt98WX%2bK%2fsOv9gPKD87KyUBKJOWCgeuOrRUZHVgPEWzLUQzJc3E8kDbA012fOT7xyvKQov3uwRdFWAf6Nko2PJJ5pAF73f621%2bOUd7%2f5lltmXSgJEVU%2bRvzs2p%2fJvfS0fwuFvA%2fRAAE%2fzUKPO1ptdN1KN2NiSbIUrSEALZD%2bD3IHQTOgRB2PfDdGKs0dfo0X4qHuJRSbrU1rAoLdZCbgiho60s15lWq3D3flwJtlzwgnhpWxBIfEGl14g5qoxgg5WKbUAAWtvz9z6RSfGSUDgk%3d&tyra=1|8

Just one example I found a minute ago..

Tempted to go myself