8 of us travelled to this hotel for 12 nights between the end of October and the first week on November. For perspective we had a mixture of ages ranging from 60 to 7
We have travelled to Thailand and its islands before staying in the katathani in Phuket and various Amari hotels, about 8 times now so we feel pretty well versed of the standards expected.
The good
Big hotel with every facility you could ever want or need
Excellent water park for the children
Well manicured gardens
Excellent beachfront location
Great gym facilities
Superb selection of pools
Good themed evenings
Location great
The bad
Service can be erratic depending where you are eating/drinking. The team in the Talay restaurant were excellent, as were the team in the beach pool bar and the adults pool bar, however some of the team in the waterpark bar were completely untrained! A few times one meal would come out and would be finished before anything else arrived (we had to chase it). Also when ordering at the pool bar the team got the drinks wrong.
Food is average for Thailand
Breakfast is like a hectic canteen very busy if you time it wrong.
The ugly
Check in reception is dirty and needs a good clean, when you check in you can see the dirt, never experienced this before in Thailand normally everything is immaculate.
Rooms were not clean on arrival, I am a little fussy I admit but mirrors were smeared and areas of the room worn but overall who spends time in a hotel room?
This is a great hotel for a young family going to Thailand for the first time, however we have experienced far better standards of cleanliness and service at Amari hotels in Phuket and Koh Samui for possibly less money! It feels like this hotel is trying to be more European in its approach which will appeal to many, however people visit Thailand for the experience more than anything else and I felt this was lacking, maybe due to the size of the hotel.
Tip
We booked some great trips with the family going to elephant sanctuary, turtle conservation, tsunami museum, James bing island on long tail boat, bamboo rafting and temple with rung ontour khaolak who were sensational and half the price, ask for your tour guide to be BOND he is superb at his job
