The Anantara Hua Hin is NOT comparable to a Four Seasons, or Ritz Carlton, or a Sheraton; not even close. It aspires to the big league, but unfortunately falls short largely due to disappointing service.

Firstly on the positives. The hotel is reasonably pretty, with well grown-out gardens, wood carvings and furniture, and so forth. Also, the food is good. Unfortunately, these are about the only good things I can say about it.

In terms of areas for improvement, the hotel needs to focus on a lot of things. On our second day there, it was very hot during lunchtime, so we were seeking somewhere indoors or in the shade to eat, but got rejected by both restaurants. The Italian restaurant was hosting a group lunch for a large corporate's employees, while the Thai restaurant was hosting a tour group and wouldn't let us sit in the shaded area even though there were empty tables. And we were fully paying guests! I guess this is another takeaway: this isn't really a romantic place you'd go to, as they do bring in tourists by the busloads.

Secondly, we reserved a car "limousine" to bring us from Hua Hin to Bangkok airport to catch a relatively early flight; we went up to the front desk to make this reservation the day before our departure. On the morning we were supposed to leave, our car didn't arrive at the appointed time of 6.30am. Fifteen minutes passed, so we went to ask the front desk what was taking the car so long. The three men at the desk said "Sorry late, five more minutes", several times. Their body language (nervous, not looking us in the eye, speaking to each other in Thai) betrayed them however; we eventually found out that the reservation had not been sent to the car transportation firm the day before. The front desk lied, and didn't even have the courtesy to aplogise to us. This to me is utterly unacceptable.

I will not stay at an Anantara ever again.

We booked the Anantara online only three days before we arrived in Thailand. It had been recommended by a friend so we decided to give it a try.

Initially we were shown to Room 500, and I name this only because in my opinion Room 500 is far from their best room, and the hotel was far from fully booked when we arrived. Anyway, we asked to see what else was available and were shown to Room 724 which is a suite. So impressed were we that we took it on the spot.

It is not easy to find superlatives enough for the buildings, grounds, gardens and pools of Anantara. It is a truly stunning place to spend two weeks where the friendly staff and a team of gardeners work from the early hoursmaking sure you are well looked after and keeping the whole place tidy (and that includes cleaning debris off the beach). We absloutely loved it.

Here are a couple of points to watch out for - and then decide for yourself what you think of them. The concierge sold us (at breathtaking speed) a "meal-ticket" arrangement that in fact works out quite well, but at the time felt as though we were being conned into something. All the onsite restaurant/cafe/bar arrangements are good - excellent, but be aware that some of the theme evenings can be undersubscribed and a bit lifeless. Furthermore the breakfast set-up by the beach could do with refreshing more often. The only real gripe we had was with the fruit juice(!) Believe it or not in a place of this quality, they serve some kind of syrupy nectar juice instead of fresh juice, which in my opinion is a crime. We demanded fresh orange juice every day and we got it (or at least mandarin juice), I suggest you do the same as it can't be that hard for them to get the real thing in.

Other recommendations - if you're there for massage, go down to the beach, turn left 50 metres and clamber up to the lady with the blue sign, she and her team are true healers! Having been smitten by Anantara we plan to try some of the others in the chain and will definitely return to Hua Hin.

We have just returned from a 3 day break in Anantara, Hua Hin. Having spent the previous 2 days at The Peninsular in Bangkok and also having spent time last year at Banyan Tree in Phuket the resort had a lot to live up to - and it did! We had a garden suite near the main pool. The garden rooms can be a little dark as the foliage is so lush but the room was spacious, beautifully decorated and extremely comfortable. Perhaps next visit we will choose a lagoon or sea view suite but it was a very minor drawback not having a view as we spent most of the day by the pool. The food was excellent - we had dinner at the Italian restaurant and the Thai restaurant - both very good - the Italian restaurant in particular was outstanding. And the light meals such as panninis available for lunch near the pool were great as well. Breakfast was good though quite not up to the standard of the other food experiences especially at the beach restaurant. The spa was of a high standard (though not cheap!) and the evening entertainment in the lobby bar very pleasant (a quite talented trio). And what really made the experience was that the staff were wonderful - we couldn't fault the service and really appreciated their personal and friendly care. All in all a great place to utterly relax.

my wife and i stayed at anantara for a few days after getting married, we booked a seaview room. it was very romantic and we had a memorable vacation. the room was very good with a view over the ocean. the food was very good with a very nice buffee in the evening. we also tried the spa. all and all the anantara was very good we will definately go there again.