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*this article first appeared on slate.com June 2026: full interview here
“Altitude cannot be the whole proposition,” says Bobby Carey.
“At their best, rooftop bars are some of the most cinematic rooms in hospitality. They give people a reason to look up from the table, feel the city around them, and turn an ordinary drink into a memory. At their worst, they become viewing platforms with a liquor license.”
“Rooftop spaces often carry high commercial expectations because they are trophy locations within a hotel or development”.
“They can also involve more complicated build costs, structural requirements, outdoor-grade furniture, weatherproofing, drainage, shade, wind management, security, [elevator] management, higher staffing, greater refrigeration pressure, more ice demand, and more volatile revenue because bad weather”.
Then there are the guests who take advantage. Paradise Lost at Siam@Siam Design Hotel in Bangkok as a “neo-tropical, dystopian sanctuary in the sky: pink and yellow canopy, Bangkok skyline, a slightly surreal holiday-at-the-end-of-the-world,”.
“Early guest behavior was very image-led. People arriving with suitcases of clothes, changing outfits, shooting content, ordering one drink and leaving,”
The team refined their concept to target a more cocktail-driven guest, but many rooftop bars just accept this as reality. They expect people to show up, order one drink so they can snap ’grams, and bounce.It doesn’t feel worth it to put too much intention into the drinks or service.
“Among serious bar people, rooftops often carry suspicion, that reputation is not always fair, but it exists for a reason. Too many rooftops have been allowed to trade on their address, floor number, or backdrop.”
“Dismissing the whole rooftop category is lazy,” Carey notes.
“A great rooftop can introduce a much broader audience to better drinks, it can be commercially powerful, socially generous, and culturally memorable. It just hasto be operated like a real bar.”
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