If you're looking for a relaxing holiday away the buzz of the city, yet close enough to amenities and the beach, Malisa is the place to go!

The villas were fabulous, perfect for couples. You can just cozy up in the villa all day! Like many other reviews, insects thrive here. But they're mostly just harmless ants, dragonflies and butterflies. We did see a small snake once outside the villa but it was raining.

Most of the time, the staff were helpful. We were pleasantly surprised to return to our room on evening to see that they placed some floats in our pool to lounge on. We had initially booked 2 nights on wotif that came with a free upgrade to their grand pool villa. We called them to request for an extension of one more night. They agreed to charge us at the same rate as wotif but claimed that there weren't anymore grand pool villas available and that we had to settle for the normal pool villa instead, for the same price! I countered checked their availability on wotif and found that there were indeed grand pool villas available for the requested night! So I called them and questioned their claim. We managed to remain in our grand pool villa for the 3rd night eventually but I felt that this incident was a display of their dishonesty. Why downgrade me when there were indeed grand villas available for the night?

Other than this incident, I was genuinely satisfied with their service, albeit wary that it may just be a deceptive act.

Nice villas of reasonable quality. In the tropics, ants and other insects are to expected on the ground level, therefore I cannot agree to some of the comments which see this as a major fault. Better than strong pesticides. The breakfast was great and the staff friendly. Appr. 5min walk from Kata beach which was also ok. Some good restaurants around too, but avoid the restaurants immediately outside of Malisa.
The restaurant at Malisa was reasonable but expensive and usually empty.
On the minus side bathroom amentities were not refilled (soap, cotton-buds...); the bathroom itself had one of these large old-fashioned floorstanding toilets which are around their base difficult to clean even in the best of circumstances and here in the tropics even less easy to clean, rather than wall hanging modern type toilets.
The staff tried very strongly to steer us towards a restaurant in Patong where they were getting a commission and also ordered us a hugely overpriced taxi.

I cannot rate the Malisa highly enough. The villa was private and immaculate - complete luxury. Such a nice feeling walking straight from your bedroom to the pool. Not to mention your own private waterfall! We felt like we were living the life of Hollywood stars.
Its well worth spending a little extra and having the chef prepare dinner in your villa for you - incredible food and experience. Turn down service includes the man sparying for bugs, which is great, and we had a big basket of fruit on arrival. The Malisa is at the end of a street of shops and bars (and the ever present tailors) - a great bar is right down near the end of the road called Natalies - awesome drinks, friendly staff etc.
We were there for 3 nights - went to Patong for the next night, and just wanted to turn back and spend the rest of our holiday at the Malisa. This would be the best place we have ever stayed! (Spa treatments were great too!)
I want to go back!

We had been to Kata the previous October and stayed in a suite at Club Med so we were able to make a fair comparison between the two. Club Med had all the activities and with that came a price. Malissa however, was a pleasant surprise.
We had arranged by phone before we left for their driver to collect us from the airport. On arrival the reception staff were typically Thai with perfect smiles wais and a welcoming drink and a flower gift.
Although we could have walked to the villa we were driven in a buggy and escorted in and shown around.
The pool was perfect the outdoor shaded kitchen and lounging area were spotless and the refrigerator stocked for free.

Breakfast each morning was cooked in the villa and the service and food was excellent.
There was talk of mossies in other reviews on this site but none evident on our stay I think they may read these reviews because under the bed was a electric mossie killer as well as personal repellent and a mossie bat (don't bring one back to oz as they are illegal here).

The food outlets including Two Chefs and Ratkais provided the better option to the mass produced food at Club Med.

The only fault we could grumble about was that the pool could have been cleaned more often in our 7 night stay.

Yes, Melissa is both private and far enough away from the maddening crowd at Patong.

We would definitely consider another stay there.
.