This was our first overseas holiday, 9 nights in Phuket in late January. Our family of 4 was accommodated in block 9 in a spa deluxe suite. This was possibly the best view in the complex on level 4 overlooking the resort & beach. The breakfast each morning was amazing. The staff were always friendly & respectful. We spent time sightseeing throughout Phuket but were very grateful to return to the resort to relax & regenerate around the pools. Unfortunately a diagnosis since return home for my husband with Dengue fever has put a dampener on our travels, few mosquitos were ever seen, he may have been infected anywhere throughout Phuket

I would agree with many of the reviews and experiences of this hotel. Yes, the check-in takes a while and they will try to huzzle you with room upgrades and what not. The rooms are clean and if you have kids I suspect that the pool area would be right up their alley. The location of the hotel is superb even though you need to use a taxi service to go to karon or patong. But, in my opinion, to run a five star resort its not all about the fascilities. The staff is a big part of the experience and the staff in the breakfast restaurant and the Italian restaurant are really letting this hotel down. On both places the staff work very slow and the lack of service and generally not caring for their guests does not suit an hotel of this qualiber. You are lucky if you are given coffe or tea without asking about it at breakfast and if you ask - dont expect a smile or a rapid response.
The Italian restaurant, Mare, is by far the weakest link whatsoever. Great food by the way, visted this place 4 times on my visit here. This is the place were nowone will happily greet you upon arrival even if you would be the only guest in the restaurant and three waitresses would be at work. They are not attentive at all, slow and will never check back with you after the food is brought to the table. Usually we just ate lunch here, but one evening we satt inside for dinner. The service was at the same low standard but the kitchenstaff was also making a lot of noise screaming/arguing to eachother making it unpleasant. I could not see the head chef that day in the kitchen...they probably loosen up a bit then.
All in all they should upper the servicelevel of their staff if they want to be a grand hotel.

I travelled as a father on his own with three kids age 8,11 and 11 as my wife was on a business trip. We flew in from Shanghai and arrived at the hotel at 05.00 am on the morning of the 8th February,as it's Chinese New Year holidays! We had an impeccable check in and taken to our room by buggy,which the kids loved.My kids are typical expat ones but not spoiled and they certainly know a good hotel when they visit one! They simply loved this hotel from the start.
we stayed in a luxury pool suite which had great views over the pool aree and towards the beach.
The lazy river ,cliff jump ,water slides and pools combined with the crystal clear waters and perfect beach made for a memorable and relaxing holiday for them and me!
The staff on the pool area in particular the cliff jump and slide etc were just fantastic and I can tel you now my kids and myself are superstar cliff bombers as we got such good tuition.I haven't had so much fun in a looking time!
Restaurants in particular Mare Italian was excellent and we also had access to the Club Lounge which was very very worthwhile.
All staff we met were so polite ,friendly and genuinely happy that it was a joy to interact with them!

I have read some of the negative comments from some posters and simply do not recognise that wew were in the same hotel .I felt compelled to post as we do not always even though we have travelled extensively in South East Asia and Australasia,due to the simple fact that we had a great and fun holiday!
I am a glass half full sort of guy and see life in this mode if you come from the other perspective you will simply always find fault so be warned when you read some of these posts!?

We are now home again in Shanghai and the kids are already pestering us to go again ........soon!

NB just to add that we did unfortunately visit Patong more by accident than intent...........even in glass half full mode it was seedy and rather unpleasant to say the least! OMG!

This is not a five-star resort. If you expect that, you will be very disappointed. This is our fifth trip to Thailand. We have visited a variety of hotels in various areas in the country, and this has been our least favorite, and the most expensive, so far. The location is great, the beach is excellent and the rooms are nice. Too bad the service, food and facilities do not match the location.

The service, particularly the check-in process, is horrible. When we checked in, my husband and I were given welcome drinks. We asked for water or orange juice for our two-year old son since we had just gotten off a long flight and hour-long taxi ride, but we were told there was a 200 baht charge. One would think a family resort would be a little more welcoming to its younger guests. We had reserved a jacuzzi suite with king bed, but were given a room with two beds. Our room was directly outside a housekeeper supply closet, and housekeepers stood there and talked loudly in the afternoons while our son was sleeping. The hotel offered to move us, but we were so tired, we decided to stay in the room. The next day, someone called (waking my son from his nap) to ask when we were moving rooms, even though we had told two of their front desk staff members we were not moving. Overall, housekeeping was very slow and unresponsive. We asked for our room to be cleaned, only to return four hours later to find that it hadn't been touched. Management offered us a free buffet dinner to apologize for the inconvenience, which we were reluctant to use since the food quality of the breakfast buffet was so low.

We spent most of our time eating at restaurants outside the resort after disappointing meals in the resort. Although the breakfast buffet had all the elements you would expect (fruit, cereal, pancakes, eggs, Asian and Western options), the quality was very low, sometimes inedible. Bacon was so tough it couldn't be eaten, omelets were runny and raw, and several of the cereals we tried were stale. We had to get up and find waiters to ask for coffee and tea since no one was paying attention.

I was surprised to see in another review that the hotel is only 2.5 years old. It seems much older and worn, and the facilities do not seem well-kept.

Another thing that really surprised us was the unfriendliness of the staff, particularly the front desk and housekeeping staff. On our other trips to Thailand, one of the highlights was always the welcoming and friendly nature of the Thai people. It's one of the many reasons we keep returning to Thailand. However, at Centara, most of the staff we encountered were unfriendly and surly. There were a few exceptions, but overall, we were very disappointed. We salvaged the vacation by trying to focus on the great location, interacting with the staff as little as possible and eating at restaurants on the beach or in town. Next time we return to Thailand, we will not be staying at this resort.