We are a family of 4 with a daughter of 17 yrs and son of 16 yrs. We just stayed there for 15 days and really enjoyed our stay. The public areas of the resort have been nicely upgraded but the rooms could do with an upgrade. We stayed in the Superior interconnecting rooms and while clean and comfortable, they are not up to the standard of the rest of the resort, even though its fair to say you don't spend that much time in the rooms with so much to do there.

Kata beach is beautiful. In January it is fairly calm and very clean, clear, safe and very warm (28-30c)- but not too warm. Last time we visited Phuket in April the water at the beach and the pools (at the Katathani) was TOO warm and not refeshing - you could not cool down (and it was also too hot and too humid then) . January is a GREAT time to visit. We Australians are used to top notch beaches and this did not disappoint. It is only across the road with a small crossing which is guarded by two assitants to ensure safe crossing for all - a great touch especially if you have smaller children.

The food is very good and varied, catering to various tastes. Not 5 star but very high quality especially for buffet style. You can also book the a-la-carte restaurant Chuda however the booking system is flawed. You need to book a day in advance at 10am -when we turned up a rude lady - "Jinny" said the restaurant was privately booked and that we would need to return the next day "and why had we waited to book?" She would not book us for the following night - HOW RUDE!! Fortunately she was the only rude G.O we met I'm sure she wouldn't have been so rude with any Japanese guests (I have encountered this rude Japanese approach before - especially with Australians - Ugo (Head of the resort) take NOTE please. Thanks Fulvia for sorting this out and helping- very kind.

To balance this I must say the other G.O's were very pleasant and without any shadow of a doubt the STAR of Club Med Phuket who was extremely polite, helpful and willing to do anything, anytime to assist guests was Swapnil - the yoga instructor - young, active and a true gentleman. He was also very polite to other G.O's.

There are many many activities which you can participate in with a daily schedule printed and posted. The water-based ones were great as you kept cool - eg water polo, water volleyball, water basketball...as well as water aerobics.

I would not recommend this resort for honeymooners or young couples as there are lots of kids and can be noisy at times but the many pros meant this was still a good stay for us with older teenagers.

The result of having so many young families is that the nightlife was dampened sometimes as parents would take their kids to sleep as the night progressed - but still it was better than most resorts that have no shows or entertainment at all!!.

The 9pm shows were very good (eg amazingly good acrobatic shows, pool acrobatic shows etc) as well as the shows near the bar after the main show especially ICE Sensation - a really great night. The best nights of all were the 2 beach parties with both live music and then really modern DJ music on the beach which was set up with cabanas and deck-chairs, a bar, lights etc etc ( they go to a lot of trouble).

Drinks and cocktails at the bar were quick and free-flowing to obtain - they did not try to save money but tried to provide top service, I must say.

The resort is very large and has only one main pool but also a very lovely adults-only quiet pool with stylish double bed cabanas nearlby - really nice. The fact is only has one main pool is Ok as the beach is 30 seconds away and SO nice.

If the rooms were upgraded I would probably give this a 4.5 star or higher rating. We are fairly fussy travellers with high food and accomodation standards - we will be back as no-one else offers this mix of features and one must balance the pros and cons.

PS This resort is not at Karon, but Kata beach - (it used to be at Karon and I understand that one was sold off to become the Movenpick)

This is my 3rd time to Club Med Phuket, each time travelling with 3 small kids (7yo, 5yo and 3yo). We have also been to their Bintan resort in Indonesia.
I used to love the Club Med concept, particularly for our circumstance. However Club Med has been clearly reducing quality of service, food and accomodation through cost cutting. At the same time other resorts have picked up their acts particularly for kids. As a result, I will now avoid club med until they either pick up their quality or reduce their price substantially. Instead i would recommend Westin, Shangri La or JW Marriott.

The club med experience is a holiday for the parents becuase the kids are very well taken care of (the kids have great fun as well) - but you do compromise on the quality of the resort and the food. The formula used to work because the level of accomodation, facilities was ok enough for you to deal with as the kids are so well catered for.
However, it is very clear that club med is cost cutting and this has made the ok aspects not so great anymore. At the same time, there are many resorts which have now caught up with catering for the kids in much the same way as Club Med - such as Westin or Shangri-La (especially Shangri La Sentosa Singapore - excellent resort).
These other resorts offer true 5 star experience as well as club-med standard kids stuff at basically the same price (even when you include the food).
The cost cutting i noticed is most felt in the food - the "all you can eat) buffet has much less variety of food than ever, the food is not replaced very often which means when other greedy people take you have to wait for ever for new stuff to come out. Most important, the food was not very fresh or of a good standard.
Finally, the hygene is a big problem - I knew 10 people (myself and wife included) who caught a 24hr food bug which is not very pleasant at all - this can only come from the swimming pool (which is in desparate need of fixing) or the food.
People without kids should definitely not waste their time here.

The property is nice and is excellent for families with small kids. on the upside the beach is right across the road (literally!), its all you can eat and drink, and there's a bunch of things to do all day for everyone including the kids. But all the same, prepare yourself to experience a different kind of atmosphere here. For starters, there's NO room service. You can eat all you want in the restaurant but they won't serve you in your room. What if you get hungry in the night? Nothing doing.

Very few Indians stay at this property and if you're a vegetarian or would like to have Indian food for at least one of your meals, that's not going to happen. The majority of guests are European, Japanese and Chinese so you get those foods.

On the whole a good experience but for the food.

The resort itself was very clean and when ever something was needed it was always done. All the activities were really good and it seemed like there was always something to do. All the shows were amazing and done very well. The G.O's were all really nice and friendly espicially the G.O Picky who worked in the teens club. Overall everything was amazing!