Firstly, this is obviously an unrivalled location, full of natural beauty (and seeing the monkeys / langurs was a real treat!) so this review is purely on the hotel itself.
The start of our trip felt organised and slick, what with the smart boat to collect new guests from the pier and then the funky ‘Sea Horse’ tractor to bring you in to shore. The initial welcome on the boat and check-in at reception was warm and efficient, although we thought it odd that the other family on the boat with us were offered a WhatsApp number ‘for anything you might need’, whilst we were not given the same.
The villa had a lounge area and toilet downstairs and the bedroom and bathroom upstairs - it was spacious but really quite bland, lacking many welcoming touches such as flowers, towel art etc. and felt dated and basic in terms of fixtures and fittings. There were only 3 bath towels supplied (then only 2) - a pain if you happen to miss housekeeping and both take two showers a day. The shower head fixing on the wall was basic (not overhead rainfall/monsoon) and incredibly low, so average/taller people will likely feel awkward and cramped. The bath was stained and not very appealing - we didn’t use it.
Light switches and sockets were in odd places which was a bit frustrating, and there was only a beside table for one side of the bed - very odd. If you’re a light sleeper you’ll likely struggle here - the windows let in a lot of light (no shutters on the top parts of the window) and the motorised carts, sweeping right up to our patio (despite ‘Do not disturb’ sign) and even some loudspeaker/tannoy music woke us early each morning around 7am. There was a rather crumbling open pergola outside the villa with no shelter - a real shame as we would have liked to sit out there with a drink during rain showers. The mini bar contents were lacking - gin but no tonic?! And there is nowhere nearby to supply ice (so you have to call through to reception / room service and wait for that to be delivered).
The breakfast on our first morning was really chaotic and not enjoyable at all - there was no specific station / staff member to greet and seat guests and then we were disturbed twice whilst eating within the same 10 minutes by staff closing and opening the patio doors directly beside us. Tea / Coffee service was slow for the first cup, then took 3 requests to obtain a second cup. Staff seemed a bit fed-up and tired. Food ordered from the a la carte menu was mostly tasty but there was a distinct lack of actual Thai dishes. The buffet area is varied but an odd mix and not that appealing - we tried a few pastries which we both found to be rather stale and flavourless. The second morning’s breakfast did improve slightly as we were seated quickly and tea and coffee orders were taken and served efficiently by a cheerier and more organised member of staff this time, so perhaps luck of the draw as to who serves you each day.
The food around the pool was tasty but again, not many Thai offerings and the staff there were as hit and miss as at breakfast. Smoking seems to be allowed all over the resort and was particularly bad around the pool.
The bar around by the Grotto was a nice place to sit and look out over Phra Nang beach, we didn’t try the restaurant there as we wanted to focus on Thai food (which it didn’t serve). Sun beds here were quite crowded but a nice spot if there’s room - ours were under the trees and that afternoon we did suffer with mosquito bites, despite covering ourselves with spray.
We ate at the Raitalay Terrace for lunch one day - there were only a couple of other tables yet our food took a very long time to arrive and was then served to us luke warm / room temp. We’d only stopped in for a quick snack (Chicken satay & edamame) so ate it regardless, but when we advised to our waitress when paying that it was tasty but rather cold, we didn’t receive much of a response and settled our bill at full price.
There was an event one night with traditional Thai music and dancing at one of the restaurants, but we were put off by the offering of a buffet only (especially given the breakfast experience) and wondered why they wouldn’t offer a la carte with this event in what should be classed as a high end hotel and restaurant, rather than feeling like a canteen.
This just didn’t feel like a luxury hotel and as such, we decided to leave 2 nights early - when we called to request passage on the boat it took 2 or 3 calls back from reception to confirm;
1) there’s not a boat at 3pm you’ll have to get the 4pm,
2) there is a boat at 3pm, but you’ll have to pay for the taxi onward to Ao Nang (Note: return taxis to Krabi airport are included in the booking, but because we’d changed the destination, they’d decided this wouldn’t be included)
3) you do realise your booking is non-refundable (we knew this, but found it strange that they were not interested as to why we were keen to forego our last two nights in this hotel)
I hope this review is helpful to travellers and constructive to the hotel themselves - it would be well worth management taking a trip to The Sarojin near Khao Lak for some pointers.
