I had seen the pictures of this place and it looked amazing!! At the time I booked there were mixed reviews on this place, but mostly postive ones.
There are so many bad points about this place that I thought I would start from the beginning:
1. When we booked we were told that we could have a complimentary pick-up from the airport. This never happened. We waited outside the airport for 30 minutes until we realised that they had forgotton about us. So we caught a taxi and this cost approx. $15
2. When we arrived at the hotel we were told to sit at the reception and wait for our paperwork to be drawn up. After 40 minutes and no one even looking at us, I asked what was going on. They said they would be with us soon.
3. An hour after we had first arrived, we were taken with the bell boys down to our room. Now, I had studied this hotel like there was no tomorrow leading up to our stay and we ahd booked an Ocean View Villa. They took us down to the beachfront bungalows. I told them they had got it all wrong and that I had booked an Ocean View Villa but they didn’t believe me and said that I had booked a bungalow. Lucky for me, I had a second photocopy showing my booking confirmation (the original copy had been taken by the staff at the reception - how convenient) and showed it to the guy. So then he took me back to the reception and I asked to speak to the manager.
4. When I showed my booking confirmation to the hotel manager, he pretty much begged me straight away to stay in the bungalow for one night as there had been a mix up with my room. So pretty much – the hotel was trying to deceive me the whole time. I think because the bungalows have an ocean view, they were tying to trick tourists into thinking they were the Ocean View Villas! Anyway – I told him no and he said he would give me and my partner a complimentary dinner for 2 and a massages. So I said yes, as long as the room was ready by midday the next day. He said yes. So we were taken down to the bunglalows and the bell boys stood there waiting for a tip. I just glared at them and couldn't believe it!
5. Never stay in the bungalows! People walk along the beach all the time and they can peer into your windows. Also – they are dirty inside and the beds are rock hard!
6. So the next day – the room was not ready until 5pm, yet we were still kicked out of the bungalow at midday! We then were told our room was ready at 5pm and they took us to an ocean view villa. As it was on the first level and right at the end, we did not have any views of the ocean….just trees. As you can imagine, I was pretty much in tears at this time!!
7. Breakfast was crap! Nothing was labelled so everything was a guessing game. All the food was cold as well as they did not have heaters under the cooked food.
8. I found all staff to be rude and snobby!!
9. The pool itself was amazing but you could never get a sun bed because they were reserved for all the Russians.
10. They have a free shuttle bus but this only runs 3 times a day. They want you to eat in the hotel for dinner every night, so there are no shuttles between midday and 9pm! You can either take their taxi and it costs you 500 Baht or you can walk to the top of the drive way and catch one for 200 Baht. Even if a taxi drops a guest back to the resort, and you want to then catch it back into town, they won’t allow it. As soon as a taxi drops someone off, they quickly hurry it off so no guests can hop into it
11. Never buy food or drinks in the hotel! A fruit juice cost me $10 AUD (300 Baht)!
12. When we claimed our free dinner, they were rude to us the whole time and the food was pretty average. The staff lady made a special point to me at the beginning that we were receiving free food only – no drinks at all!! And she told me in quite a rude manner. After losing our booking and stuffing us in 2 bad rooms, I would have thought a couple of soft drinks were in order!
13. Internet was down the entire time I stayed there! (5 nights)
14. The beach was non-existent from midday onwards
15. The rooms were not sound proof so we could hear the couple next door have an argument for 2 hours straight! Actually – I must admit…it was quite entertaining!
As you can see, the only good thing about this hotel was the pool. If this hotel was run properly, and had some upgrades, I would re-consider staying here again but not at the moment.
From reading some of these other reviews though, I somehow feel lucky because at least we didn't get shipped off to another hotel!
Something has happened with the management and it made my first 5 days in Phuket an absolute disaster. I am even going to write to the Australian Travel Agencies and ask that they remove it from their brochures.
Take my advice - never stay here ever!!!
