Myself, husband & our 18mnth old spent 7 nites frm 3/6/09.The hotel was really quite nice! Having read alot of other reviews,i was a little worried about our booking! The resort was lovely,witha good pool & lovely gardens.The breafast had everything covered for all tastes i felt.We had a Delux Seaview/ground floor room which was an excellent choice for when the baby was napping & being at the pool we were only 6 paces away! Staff were pleasant.Breakfast girls were lovely & great with children.We also utillised the "baby sitting" service which worked out great.Room service was good,rooms always very clean.Overall appearance of rooms was pleasant- however from a decorators perspective could do with an upgrade! A little outdated for my likikg...
Hotel location was excellent - only a few mins. to all the shops & restaurants nearby! Being right on the beach was a really lovely location & great in the afternoon when the tide when out! My only winge was that like some other reviews, i too felt the pool bar staff were rather lazy -a little service would be nice!
We ate at the restaurants on Kata beach - quite good! We also ate one nite at the Hotel - Seafood/Steak restaurant - really quite good! Our real treat was dinner one nite at Mom Tri's Kitchen- excellant!
Louise A. Narrabeen,Syd.

We spent 8 nights at the Kata Beach Resort on April 18th. Spent ages trying to decide where to stay in Phuket. Had our hearts set on staying beachfront and managed to get a reasonable 8night package through our local travel agent House of Travel in New Zealand (much better than online). We are family four with 2 teenagers 14 & 16. We were very happy with our stay. It is the best location in Kata Beach being beach front and close to everything you could need. Not 5 star flash but very clean and pleasant and worth it just for the location alone. The lobby has a nice "Thai" feel about it rather than a sterile modern look. Its worth paying a little more for the deluxe seaview rooms. We had to get two rooms (as the max is 3) but they were interconnecting and this worked really well with our kids as it meant 2 bathrooms, 2 TVs. Just makes it a lot more expensive for families. The pool areas were great and being a quieter time of year we had no problems with poolside chairs. The breakfasts were nice, plenty of choice. Right outside you have ATMs, 7-11 for snacks, restaurants etc. We went twice to a lovely little restaurant called Kata Minta. So reasonably priced and delicious. Just out of Resort, turn right, then left to the street that heads up hill a little (opposite Serene Resort). You do get a little tired of the suit makers trying to tout for business but I think they recognised us after a few nights and stopped hassling. Just smile politely and move on. We went to Patong briefly, but definitely made right choice staying at Kata. After coming from Chiang Mai, taxis and tuk tuks were a little expensive here but I guess you expect that as Phuket is lot more touristy. We did two day trips, both with Siam Sea Canoe, one to Phang Nga Bay (this was awesome) and the other speedboat to Phiphi Islands (also great) but a little warning it can be pretty rough on a speedboat trip in choppy weather. We booked our trips with SB tours (at Chiang Mai airport) You can definitely get them cheaper than the brochure advertises at 2400 bht, think we paid about 1600 bht per person for each trip, which is awesome value for what you get. I would highly recommend both. The other days we just enjoyed the sea, pool and relaxing. All around if you can get an okay price to suit your budget we really recommend this resort and would definitely stay again. One little negative for us is the charge for the internet (but we'd been a little spoiled with free internet throughout the rest of our Thailand trip)

We stayed here for 8 nights from May 9th to 17th 2009. We thought it would be great from the photos etc on the internet. The rooms are tired and need a good facelift. The whole place didnt have the atmosphere from the resort that we had left in Krabi so it was a bit disappointing. It was on the beach which was a plus but expected a bit more. We paid less at the previous resort and it was immaculate. Would not stay here again, think there are better Resorts around that are cheaper and nicer, even if you have a little walk to the beach.

We visited Phuket for 5 nights and stayed near the Laguna portion for part of the trip and Kata Beach for the remainder. We wanted to stay near Kata Beach since we found ourselves going there a lot and this hotel was the perfect location - literally beach front! We didn't enjoy Patong bc we found it a bit seedy, and Kata was more laid back. The whole town is touristy, but at least it was more mellow.

We rented surfboards from Nautilus Dive & Surf Shop (also located on the beach) to go surfing and when we wanted to relax, we just walked over to the hotel pool for a dip and a nap. As someone else mentioned, you can rent lounge chairs and umbrellas on the beach from vendors for $100 Baht/ chair for the entire day.

Right around the hotel, there are places to eat and massage day spas. The tuk-tuk ("taxi") prices are expensive, and they don't seem to allow you to barter too much for a lower price. It was cheaper to walk outside of the hotel and find a tuk-tuk or car for transportation nearby (car to go farther or to the airport) than to arrange it through the hotel. We couldn't seem to find the official metered taxis anywhere. If you are going to a restaurant nearby, the restaurant sometimes provides free transportation - check the tourist brochures and magazine ads for the restaurants or call to see. If you sign up for activities with tour groups, diving, etc., the company will provide transportation.

The hotel charges for wireless internet, but there are small coffee shops and internet cafes near the hotel that are much cheaper. As someone else mentioned, the staff was friendly but not necessarily the most professional. For the most part, things were fine but there are little luxuries that they could provide (like an alarm clock). We ended up asking for wake-up calls and they were all on-time. In the rooms, there is a hair dryer, air conditioning, free toiletries, complimentary bottles of water, instant coffee, cable TV, etc. The rooms aren't super posh, but they were clean and we thought they were fine.

Overall, we had a good time - we were looking for a place to relax and get some sun and surf. The most frustrating part of the trip didn't have to do with the hotel but the transportation situation - the fact that the "taxis" were all over-charging even after bargaining down the prices and there didn't seem to be an alternative mode of transportation unless you were willing to rent a moped or car. We didn't want to rent a vehicle as we're not used to driving on the other side of the road and didn't want to deal with parking and gas. Since transportation was our major headache, staying at this hotel really made things easier as we could walk down the streets and look for restaurants and the beach was right out front. Arranging a car to the airport was around $1000 baht (for two people), and we ended up asking the many tuk-tuk and "taxi" drivers hanging out around outside the hotel the night before we left and found a ride for $800. Arriving at the Phuket airport and getting a ride to wherever you're staying is cheaper than going to the airport - around $450 baht for a car or you can take a bus (depending on where you are staying) or the hotel might provide a free transfer. If you walk outside of the airport terminal, you have a better chance of finding a real metered taxi - the signs that say "metered taxi" (and the guys walking around offering "taxi? taxi?" are often just private cars that have either a set price or you negotiate. The real taxis are hot pink/yellow or some other bright dual colors and actually have meters that you can see.

We booked the hotel through the website hotelopia.com since we've used them in the past and always good experiences. Just don't forget to print out the voucher to give when you check-in and if there is any problem with the booking, call their customer service. We had a problem with a booking in a different city and they immediately were able to call the hotel and fix the problem. We felt the price (less than $100 USD) for the Kata Beach Resort was a good deal for a beach front hotel, though considering how cheap things in Thailand are, it was on the expensive side. Still, it was worth it to us since we just wanted to hang out at the beach and pool and weren't interested in much sight-seeing (we did that earlier), eating or shopping.