Location - In Kao Lak 80 kms North of Phuket about an hour from Phuket airport. It is situated on a hill with lots of steps and slopes so I would say it's not an ideal hotel for anyone with walking difficulties as there are no lifts anywhere in the resort.
I would also agree with some other reviewers, the hotel is also not suitable for loud party lovers that like hectic days of gun and games with goal and pool parties aplenty. There is none of that, but its the perfect hotel for a relaxed laid back and chilled holiday with fantastic food options.
Appearance - Pretty good all round, yes if go looking for scuff marks or a loose screw etc, you will find it but overall we felt the hotel was maintained to a very high standard. The hotel has 230 odd rooms, set in a jungle setting and is proud of the fact that no trees were felled in the construction of the hotel. The grounds are immaculate and full of animals and birds. We were lucky to see Asian frogs, a slow Loris, monitor Lizards, a tree snake and numerous different bird species.
Pools/Grounds - The hotel has 4 pools plus a kids pool. One pool has a swim up bar and the pools are cleaned twice daily to clear away falling leaves etc. There was no need to bag beds at silly o clock,we often wandered down towards the beach around 9.30 and found free beds easily. The heavy duty wooden quality beds all have thick mattresses on them and are not to close together.
Staff/Service - Just amazing. All thd staff wr saw we were warm, friendly, helpful and always happy to stop for a chat. This ranges from gardeners, security staff, serving staff and chefs. It is always wrong I think to name your favourites but I am only human. Mau was our maid and kept our room spotlessly clean, topped up with toiletries, and fresh room and pool towels are changed daily. During the day Fern and Kung stood out at meal times, whilst in the evenings Ae, Wan and Fee, were exceptional.
Food/Drinks - In short excellent, apart from the themed buffet nights 3 times a week. And of course the breakfast buffet. Table service was in place I have never been at an All Incusive resort where fillet Steak, Rock lobster and scallops can be ordered on a daily basis if required as well as a superb selection of Thai and Italian dishes. The Red and White Wines were fine, the local beer, Chang and Singha,are awesome and I had no issues with any of the local spirits or cocktails I tried. Beeakfast is a buffetvaffair, but the offering is huge. Eggs are cokked to order, I counted 12 different types of bread, not only was there hot stable English staples,bacon, sausages and potatoes, but also Thai food and at least one pasta dish.
Pastries, cerals, yours and fesh fruit were in abundance
One minor criticism is that the bars did not open until 11 am which some customers thought was a bit to late. However I soon got used to the routine.
Bedroom - We had a superb room on the second floor and did not mind the steps as it helped to work off the superb food we ate. The room had everything one would want. A huge comfortable bed, a free safe, great Air Con, and a mini fridge full of soft drinks and water which is replenished daily. The room also provides dressing gowns, flip flops, and umbrellas.
Bathrooms - We had a huge bathroom with a sunken bath and grest shower. The water was always hot, the toiletries were topped up regularly and included free local mozzie sprays, shower caps, cotton buds etc. The hotel does provide a hair dryer which other have stated is not very powerful. This is true, but all that means it just takes a little longer to dry one's hair, it still gets the job done
Beach - The beach is a lovely soft sand, the sea is warm and there was little or no seaweed whilst we were there. Sunbeds are not allowed on the beach so at low tide there is a long expanse of beach to explore To the left of the beach whilst facing the sea ard a few restaurants, massage shops and trinket sellers plus a lovely selection of rocks which make for great photo opportunities.
Gym/Spa - I did use the gym which has a small selection of machines and weights available to use. I did not use the Spa as I thought it was a tad expensive. A oil massage in the hotel was 800 Bhat for an hour compared to 400 bhat in the village a 5 min walk away of on the beach.
Entertainment- Minimal which suited us perfectly, there is no aggressive team forcing clients to play sports,but kayaking, boules, table tennis, pool are all available. The hotel does offer some craft sessions, like fruit carving, towelling art, and Thai cooking lessons. They also offer an early morning bird watching walk for 100 bhat and a late evening animal spotting walk for 200 bhat. We did both and were a little disappointed we did not see much on either walk but that's not the hotels fault, it's just nature, these are free animals/ birds after all.
WIFI - The free WiFi was pretty good throughout the resort and the signal was strong at all times.
E-Mail response - I did write to request a quiet room and recieved a reply within 24 hours agreeing to.my request and we were certainly given a lovely quiet room on arrival.
Trips - The hotel has a desk that offers trips and there are many shoos in the village offering the same so do shop around. We went to James Bond Island, an Elephant sanctuary and a tour of the Khao Lak area and all were superb.
Room for Improvement - We had a fantastic 2 weeks at this hotel, but not all was perfect. The only real criticism we had was that on a rare wet afternoon, the only place to get a drink was the beach bar, which meant an outside walk , down slippery stairs in the rain. It's true that every room has umbrellas in them but surely the hotel should have one bar close to the lobby undercover. The used book library in my opinion is perfect for this sort of occasion, and if the hotel did not want to man in on a full time basis, why not use it as a pop ip bar basis if the rain was going to be forecast for more than 90 mons or so?
Would we return again. Yes in an instant.
