The Andamanee Boutique Resort certainly does not belong any boutique category of any sort based on its configuration and quality of its facilities, food and beverage offerings, standard of service and level of its public relations that we experienced during our stay. Based on our experience with them recently, we would say that they are overpriced vis a vis what they delivered.

We were a party of a dozen mid aged and seniors who checked in for 4 nights from 4-8 Feb 2008. The reservation was easily done via AGODA the online representatives were helpful. We were fully aware that the hotel was not on the beachfront and opted for this property given that it appeared that it was the newest kid on the block i.e. with the newest rooms and therefore hopefully the best maintained. We had read about poor hotel room conditions in many of the even larger and more established Krabi hotel properties.

We noted on a number of website some complaints about the two sister owners of the Andamanee Boutique Resort but attributed that to perhaps overly sensitive guests and hoped that after a year's operating experience that they would have improved by the time we checked in. Alas this was not to be so.

After booking through AGODA, I then contacted the hotel owners cum operators directly at the end of Nov 2007 and mentioned to them that many in our party were seniors and could not make it up the staircase in their hotel which has no elevator access so they responded by replying that they would keep 4 rooms (out of the 6 rooms we booked) on the ground floor for us and I have this on record. When we arrived we found that none of the rooms were on the ground floor and spent 1 1/2 hours at the reception desk juggling rooms and even ended up having to ask another existing guest on the ground floor to vacate their room for us. We ended up only having 2 rooms on the ground floor and there rest had to hike up 4 flights of stairs to their rooms. The hotel tried to defend its actions by stating that we were a last minute reservation (Nov 2007 mind you) and that in their latest email about two weeks before we arrived (which responded to our email reminder that we were arriving at their property soon) mentioned that the rooms on the ground floor may not be available, that is after they had undertaken in writing to block these for us previously. Frankly what choice did we have, the hotel had been paid in full (though AGODA) already.


PROS

1. Perhaps the only saving grace of the property was the waterfall shower in the bathroom. Essentially comprising a rather crude end of a water pipe resting on a protruding receptacle from the wall which rendered a waterfall shower effect. Sadly however the shower curtain and shower boundary were inadequate in containing the effective splash from the shower, thus wetting the external shower area.

2. Bedsheets, pillow cases and towels were clean and changed.


CONS

1. Operated by two sisters who have very clearly no professional hotel management experience and frankly the entire operation can be best classified as MBC or Management By Crisis. Also one of the sisters tended to be very curt and at times rude. Their level of public relations skills are dismal

2. The reception desk (as in the rest of the property) is clearly understaffed. It was manned mainly by two girls whose command of the English language was poor, they tended to agree (nod) most of the time but did not execute instructions. At other times one of the drivers of the hotel van manned the desk and he totally did not speak a word of English and had to phone for either of the girls or the sister owners. A couple of the staff did mention that working conditions there were spartan/harsh and that they were looking forward to getting jobs elsewhere.

3. We were on the ground floor and the sliding doors to our balcony could not lock properly from the inside and could be pulled open easily from anybody on the outside. This was raised with the management upon check in at noon. However there was no attempt to rectify in until I complained about it again at about 11pm at night when they sent someone to look at it but could not rectify it either. The next day I barked the problem to them again and saw that they changed the lock entirely. Two other guests (2 sisters) in our party had the same problem with their balcony door but we were given the answer not to worry as it was too high for any intruder to climb up to the balcony of their room which was on the third floor.

4. Similarly upon check in we discovered that the mini refrigerator in our room was not working in the room, the plug had been pulled out to conserve electricity. When we plugged it in and discovered that the unit instead started giving off heat and the top of it was getting really hot. We reported this at noon and again got a nod and nothing was done. Nothing had been done when we returned to the hotel even after dinner. Close to midnight I hollered and them again and only then did they start to get their butt moving and replaced the defective unit with a another unit which could best described as very mildly cool in terms of temperature.

5. The daily breakfast served buffet style was of a poor standarded and was duplicated every day. Fried eggs sunny side up or omelletes, sausage bits or bacon, insipid small triangular pieces of what they called ham, bread for toasting and croissants cut in half for economy, watery supposedly orange juice, milk, 2 offerings of rather cheap cereal, butter and jam.

6. When asked for an extra blanket for my 81 year old mother whom I was sharing the room with. I was asked and I quote "How many people do you have in your room as their is a quilt provided on the bed?"..."Why do you need an extra blanket as you can adjust the air conditioning temperature?" and I explained that I was sharing the room with my mother and I was feeling warm and she at her age was sensitive to the cold. The answer given by one of the sister owners was "We are fully booked all rooms are occupied and we have no extra blankets" and was informed that I could purchase a blanket if I really wanted one, at one of the stores in town.

7. The swimming pool was poorly maintained and its bluish tiles cleverly helped to mask this effect. Algae and slime was found to be accumulating in many areas of the outdoor pool and jacuzzi. Two guests in our party are joint owners of a swimming pool consulting company were horrified by the condition of the pool.

8. In the afternoon of our day of arrival another guest and I decided to take a trip down to the beach strip. A hotel staffmember mentioned that 2 European room guests were going down to the strip and stopped the hotel van and asked the 2 van European guests in the van if they "minded sharing the van" with my guest and I thus representing to us that we were sharing the van cost. In the van the 2 guests mentioned that it was costing them 200 Bhat to go down to the strip and suggested that we split the cost evenly and we gladly handed them 100 Bhat.

Upon checkout we discovered that we had been billed for 200 Bhat for the same trip to the strip. When questioned the sister owner replied that trips to the strip were charged at 200 Bhat per room. I said we were not made aware of this and mention the private transaction with the 2 European guests whom were split the bill with. She adamantly said that we each (room) had to pay 200 Bhat. We related to her the incident where the hotal staff gave us and the European guests the impression that we were sharing the van and therefore the cost. The sister owner immediately hit the roof and demanded to know the identity of the hotel staff concerned and said that the staff member would therefore be penalised and have to pay for it. We told here not to penalise the staff member and that we would go ahead and pay whatever was necessary. Eventually we met the 2 European guests at breakfast and explained to them the situation ...they were equally bewildered and disgusted at the incident and refunded the 100 Bhat to the sister owner who greedily gobbled up the cash.

A hotel manged by people who shouldnt be in the tourist industry.as they clearly are not there to please the guests

Breakfast was some sort of joke as they constantly ran out of food . Even when the staff were told no more food arrived for at least 10 mins.

No chance of having any fun here as the bar closes at 10pm

A swimming pool that was a health hazard. The steps to the pool and the stone seats inside the pool were slimy . The swimming pool closed at 7pm even when we were in it. we were asked to get out ,

The swimming pool had a poolside bar but no drinks in it, If you need a drink take your own

Beds that were rock hard

A bathroom that had the most ridiculous shower in it. The water came out over a brick and filled the entire bathroom with water at the same time. The floor was dirty sandstone and when you step out of the shower your feet just get dirty from the sandstone floor.

You only get one poor quality toilet roll so if you are ill you have no chance!!!

This hotel had the most unfriendliest staff I have ever come across. The only nice people we came across near this hotel were the tut tut boys outside the hotel gates who to our delight took us away from this hell hole every day.

A hotel never to be visited again by any sane human being who wants a relaxing holiday. Change the management and this hotel could be a success

We were slotted in here after it turned out our other hotel reservation fell through. The beds are as hard as rocks, I had hundreds of spider bites on my legs and the food (what there is of it) is absolutely awful. And the owner/manager is definitely nutty - we tried to leave early and she confiscated our luggage! It's so far away from town, and you have to drive through the slums to get to it. Don't waste your money, stay in town.

First off all… the beach is not 600 meters from the hotel as it states on their website. Maybe 600 meters from the main road but it takes another 400 meters to get to the main road from the hotel. That wasn’t even the worst part!! 220 baht for a large beer at the hotel was incriminating!! That’s almost $7 US a beer in THAILAND! Unheard of!! We were charged a hefty price on meals and alcohol because there were no restaurants or markets in the vicinity of the hotel. One word… Extortion.

The service wasn’t what I expected either! We had and extra person with us so we asked if we could be charged an extra person in the room. They declined and we had to book another room. We had no choice…either book an extra room or have our friend sleep on the streets! Not cool. Fortunately we had a great time in Krabi due to all the activities outside the hotel but I would never again book a room at the Andamanee Resort!!