Phuket is our second home; we lived here for 6 years and return once or twice each year. A stay in Town is more convenient for our needs than a Beach destination and, over the years, RPC has become our 'regular' hotel.

On this stay we booked 2 room for 15 nights - a total of 30 nights.

The RPC has never been anywhere near a 5 star hotel, but, with all of it's faults, we've considered it good value for money up until now. We all know that you get what you pay for and, keeping in ,mind the reasonable rates, RPC has always kept us reasonably satisfied - that is until this last visit, which we're sorry to say will probably be our last one at the hotel.

Here are a summary of experiences during our stay:

~ On check in I was told that the Hotel policy is now to receive full payment at check in. I've checked the terms and conditions attached to our booking and this was never mentioned - so left me feeling slightly irritated.

~ On check in I was told that the Hotel policy was to take 1,000 Baht per room, cash, as a deposit for any damage. I pointed out that I had just paid for the total cost of 30 nights in the hotel and had no intention of leaving any deposit. I didn't and wasn't 'chased'

~ When we arrived to our room we were extremely embarrassed to find it already occupied and walked in on a middle aged woman lying down. This is the first time I've ever experienced this.

~ We were moved to two connecting rooms and 'unpacked'. It was a little disconcerting to be greeted by a laminated sheet of paper in the room, explaining hotel policy in the event of things going missing from the room. Is this a problem I wonder?

~ Of the two rooms, only one shower was usable - the other had no pressure at all.

~ One of the bathrooms (the one that had a working shower) had a leak from the back of the toilet. We pointed this out to housekeeping on the morning of day 2 - it was finally fixed on day 13 of our stay

~ There was maintenance work going on on our floor - quite a bit of drilling. This work seemed to move to the floor above us during our stay and started regularly in the mornings and went on throughout the day. I was disappointed that the hotel did not refer to the work at my time of booking or check in (which, in my experience, is normal practice)

~ We returned to the hotel after a day out, only to be stopped from accessing the lifts by a security guard who explained that the hotel had just been fumigated. A guest then emerged from the lift, barely able to breathe and advising us not to go up. When we enquired as to why guests weren't told about the fumigation, the front desk advised that they'd phoned our room the day before but there was no answer. Is there no facility to deliver a simple note under the door a few days in advance?

~ When we return on 'fumigation day' we found the hotel still quite smelly. We contacted the front desk to ask what chemicals had been used - as one of our little ones has respiratory sensitivity. The front desk explained that they had no idea but would find out for us - 30 minutes later they called to say that no-one in the hotel has any idea what chemicals were used. A bit worrying - but no harm done, little one was fine.

~ On one evening the TV failed and we were told that all of the higher floors had lost TV connection. The front desk did not seem to be too concerned until we asked for the contact details of the GM (which they avoided to give quite skillfully :-)) but we were offered access to a room on a lower floor until the TV was fixed - this was a good solution and was appreciated by us.

~ Breakfast was very poor - we used it twice in 15 days - and even then only for fruit, toast and juice.

~ The general repair of public areas is poor and it is common to pass by leaks, holes in ceilings, loose electrical sockets etc

~ We had been expecting a delivery to the hotel and when it hadn't arrived called the vendor who told us that it was delivered a few days before. I asked at the front desk and no-one had any idea what I was talking about - someone then appeared and said 'is this it?' - it was, and I was allowed to take it without signing for it. I tried to ask why no-one had called me to say it had been delivered - but my question fell on deaf ears.

~ Level of English of most of the hotel staff is very poor.

So - as I say - you get what you pay for, but I'm afraid that the general state of repair of this hotel, alongside discernible deterioration in customer service, means that we no longer consider this value for money and our future stays will be elsewhere.

This is a large, characterless city center hotel with well sized rooms but it needs to improve it's housekeeping. It claims to be "smoke-free" but they are clearly not enforcing this. I had to try three rooms before I could find one that did not stink of smoke. This is probably due to the hotel's primary market being the Thai business people. Also, although the rooms are clean and well maintained, the common areas are not. The carpets in the halls and elevators are stained and look like they haven't been vacuumed in weeks.

They also charge extra for wi-fi in the rooms where the signal is very weak and often non-existent.

Good location for Phuket Old Town though.