I have been travelling to Thailand for over 20 years and I have to say that my recent experience at the Grand Centara hotel is the most dispointing. I love travelling to Thailand. I love the food, I love the climate and I love hospitality and the high level of service that is normally present at any hotel or guest house I have stayed. Unfortunately the Centara Grand beach resort disapointed me and did not live up to my or my family's expecations. Here is what was good: The weather , the layout of the property, the fitness center ( equipment), the staff at the kids club. Here is what was missing:

1. Overall ambience of hospitality and guests first - when we checked in we were told that while our rooms were ready, we could not have access to them because there were no room keys... Really? no room keys - I would have thought that having room keys on hand would be standard procedure for a hotel. We booked several months in advance...

2. At 5 star resorts and hotels I expect things to be seemless . I expect that gym will have water on hand when I use the facility. At 2pm in the afternoon, -the gym had no water. At 6am, they had no clean towels. I expect that the plates are stocked at the breakfast buffet, I expect that the water spills on the floor of the buffet are cleaned up within seconds of occuring, not 10 minutes.... I expect the staff to be atuned to the needs of guests. Unfortunately this was not the case.

3. Washrooms in the common area - I expect these to be spotless in 5 star hotels. - the washrooms near the pool and near the out door restaurant were shocking. On one occasion I had to point out to staff that the women's washroom near the pool needed repair.

4.Overall resort upkeep - the website says this this is a new resort . It does not look new. It looks tired. It does not sparkle and does not shine. It looks like it has seen better days. Many of the wate fountains in the pool area did not work, the children's outside play area was under repair for 4 of our 6 days.

This comments may seem trivial to some. However, my point is that the price we were charged was the same as the price we were quoted for other 5 star properties on the island. These other properties are 5 star ( I have previously stayed at them). This property does not compare in terms of amentieis or service.

I was originally booked to stay at the Centara Kata, however, due to overbooking, I was moved to this hotel. We were first moved to the Centara Karon for one night (see separate review on Centara Karon).

Having been upgraded, I was very grateful, however, for an advertised 5 star hotel, this place does not live up to its reputation. Here are some negatives:
1. Rooms are old, unpainted and stained.
2. There was no hot water on one occasion.
3. Cleaning staff do not replenish amenities and additional towels
4. Sand in the toilet was never cleaned from day 1

Some positives that you would expect from a 5 star resort:
1. Easy access the amazing beach, with beach chairs and umbrellas provided by the hotel
2. Excellent breakfast
3. Friendly pool and grounds staff
4. Slides and lazy river make you feel like you're at a water park
5. All rooms seem to have great views of the awesome Karon beach

Apparently the rooms here are very expensive (we were told that it can cost up to THB 18000 so for that price I don't think I will be booking at this resort anytime soon.

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.