This is our 8th time to Thailand and we were looking for a place to lay low before flying out. We loved our time here, and was a perfect choice.

The good:
* Fantastic breakfast - anything you can imagine. If you ask for something not there, they will find it.
* Excellent Pool areas. West pool (great Bar), middle pool (the kids will go wild)
* Health Club - fantastic - has all the equipment you need, air conditioned, showers, saunas, spas etc. Also can get books DVD's, board games, bikes etc here. Also, we used this area to shower and change before catching out late afternoon flight and it still felt like we were in the luxury of our room.
* Restaurants - great selections
* Bakery - unlimited choices and great coffee
* Kids club looks fun with circus acts: juggling, trapeze etc

The only thing I could say against this place is it is a fair way out of the action. But having been to Phuket before, we were happy to avoid it anyway in our last few days.

Oh one other thing. DO NOT GO TO Phuket Fantasea. It is a massive overpriced tourist trap. If you must go to see it, arrive just before the show starts at 9:30pm. I felt like killing concierge for recommending this show. We arrived at 6:00pm and were stuck in this tacky run down rip off joint for 3 1/2 hrs before the show started. The whole experience was very average. It would be laughable if it was not so expensive to attend this show!

The great reviews on tripadvisor helped me decide to book this hotel for a week in march and i wasn't disappointed. For once my high hopes were exceeded, the service is exceptional from the minute you arrive, and our room was a great size with a very comfortable bed.
There are 3 pool areas, all with a different feel, and great pool service including complimentary cold towels/drinks/fruit, a friendly baby elephant also makes an appearance daily!
The beach is unspoilt and you can have fun with kayaks and boats, watch out for some jellyfish though!
My friend was getting married at the Dusit Laguna hotel further down the coast, and we certainly felt we'd chosen a more exclusive hotel.
The only negatives really were that you are a bit isolated, which is great for a few days but the hotel restauarants are overpriced due to having a captive audience, so you may want to hire a car (not from the hotel lobby where you'll pay well over the odds!).
All in all, if you want luxury for up to a week, this hotel seems to be the best on Phuket.....

We stayed here for our honeymoon and had a wonderful time. At check-in, the staff greeted each of us with a fresh mojito. This was just a sign of things to come. This resort is all about class.

The room was fabulous, complete with a meditation corner and a gorgeous view of the ocean. The floors were a beautiful dark wood. The room was covered in flowers.

During the trip, we enjoyed the yoga classes, the pool, the beach, the spa, and some of the hotel restaurants. The spa was particularly noteworthy, as it's a mixed inside/outside environment.

It was a very peaceful trip. Everything was done very well. An excellent resort.

This hotel has the ability to make a holiday. I say that having just returned from an incredibly rainy 11-night break which would have been cut short had it not been for this stunning resort. My own fault for booking during the Monsoon season!
As a travel journalist, I've reviewed some pretty good hotels across the world but very few have equalled the level of care and attention to detail offered by the JW Marriot Phuket Resort & Spa. Whether it is the rose petals scattered in the oversized bath, the elephant sculptures crafted out of hand towels, the amazingly realistic flowers made out of tissues in the bathroom - nothing is ever too much for staff at this hotel.
We arrived early evening after a three-night stay in Singapore. Before checking in, we enquired whether it was possible to upgrade to a suite and were delighted to be told there was availability - at a much cheaper cost than the advertised price, so it's definitely worth asking!
The room itself was huge, with an almost equally large balcony which swept the entire length of the suite and overlooked the sea. There was also beautiful outside dining furniture on a platform at one end of the balcony.
The resort has a wide selection of restaurants/bars. We tried every one and didn't encounter a single disappointment. The Marriot Café, which usually operates as an A La Carte restaurant, has two buffet evenings during the week - one of which is a Thai evening. This is a must as you'll be presented with literally dozens of different local dishes to try. Even the fussiest diner couldn't complain about the choice.
Contrary to what many people have written here, I didn't find the food/drink prices particularly expensive. If you want cheap grub, don't stay in a five star hotel! We threw everything on our room bill - lunch, evening meals, poolside drinks, numerous champagne cocktails, lots of mini bar snacks and five lots of dry cleaning, and the end result after eight days was a little over £700. I wouldn't say that was excessive considering the quality of the resort and restaurants.
The swimming pools are large and attractively designed and at times you can find yourself wondering whether you're one of only five or so guests in the hotel (even though it's full), because there's so much choice in where to relax. Also, no sooner have you selected a sun bed, a member of staff appears at your side with iced water, which is refilled throughout the day.
You would honestly be hard-pressed to find anything in the service, friendliness, food quality, amenities, to complain about.
But there is one minus point. While the beach appears idyllic (pale sand, turquoise waters, mountains in the distance, rows of palm trees) on closer inspection it is shockingly filthy. While taking a stroll, we were amazed to find litter that had been brought in with the tide spanning the entire length of the beach. Every footstep was met with old toothbrushes, flip flops, drinks cans, glass bottles, medication, hair brushes. You name it, it was there. It was quite upsetting to look out at a vast blue ocean and picture the amount of rubbish it was clearly carrying. Unfortunately, this wasn't a one off and on subsequent walks along the beach we still found an incredible amount of rubbish.
So while the beach/sea will make spectacular photos, I would certainly think twice about taking children with me for a stroll. It's a pity that a hotel that goes to such lengths and effort elsewhere for its guests would not address this serious problem.
That said, this didn't detract from our stay and I would still rate this as one of the best hotels I have ever had the pleasure in staying in.