This was our first trip to Thailand, Phuket and there were many hotels to choose from. We settled on the JW Marriott as the 'JW' series are the best Marriott hotels and it looked good online and was a long way from places like Patong Beach given that we just wanted a week of rest and relaxation at a nice resort.
We used the hotel limousine service from the airport to the hotel at a cost of 1400 Baht. The limo was a Mercedes sedan and the driver was pleasant and had a fresh bottle of water for each of us. (A taxi from the airport to the hotel is 500 Baht, but we didn't realise that until we were at the hotel. Hence when we left, we just got a taxi back to the airport.) The hotel is about a 20-25 minute drive from the airport.
The hotel reception area is a very busy area. Upon arrival we were greeted and given a drink etc and a cold towelette which was nice. Throughout our stay we went back to the reception area on a number of occasions to enquire about different things and they have about 5 counters. There is no easy way to queue to be served and we found that other guests would often push in front to get served etc. The hotel needs a formal queue system etc in order to get served at reception.
We had an Ocean Front Suite on the first level of the hotel (room 276). The room was very large with a large walk-in wardrobe area and a very large bathroom area and a second toilet just near the entrance to the suite. The bed was extremely hard, and whilst we like hard beds, this was particularly hard. The room was well appointed with a very large TV (we didn't use it), a small fridge (mini bar), writing desk and chair, lounge, outdoor patio with sun lounges and jacuzzi (spa). We used the spa on a number of occasions and it was nice, despite not all the jets working.
Overall the room was nice, but the furnishing are a little 'tired' and the room and indeed the whole hotel needs some reinvestment and updating.
Each day a fresh tray of fruit was left in our room which was very nice.
The toiletry items in the bathroom were of poor quality (ie shampoo, conditioner and liquid soap) and I would have expected a name brand for a JW Marriott.
During our stay we experienced a few problems with the room including the toilet not flushing properly on a couple of occasions which required maintenance. We lost all power in our room one afternoon. It took them about an hour to get it working again. On one occasion we tried to get into our room and neither of our electronic cards would allow us in. A maid was nearby and her card couldn't get us in. Maintenance was called about we waited outside our room for about 15 minutes and they took about 45 minutes to solve the problem.
There are 3 pools at the hotel. We were staying in the southern wing and hence near the souther pool. This is the pool with the swim-up bar. Whilst the pool is nice, it is in desperate need of updating. The pool furniture is old and paint/stain is missing from most of the wood. It was also often hard to find vacant sun lounges and guests would just claim luonges and leave their stuff there all day whilst they wandered around the resort. The swim-up bar is very dated and needs to be completely re-done.
We found this pool very noisy as there were many young kids with their parents etc. Whilst the main pool is really the family pool, obviously this pool is also highly popular with families. Not a great place to relax and read a book due to all the noise. We have children (who didn't join us on this break), so we are certainly not anti kids, just wanted a place of peace and quiet to relax.
We didn't use the main pool as it was a family pool and looked like a great place for kids to enjoy.
There is a pool on the north side of the resort. When we arrived the person who showed us to our room told us that the north pool was for adults only and kids were not allowed in that pool. In search of a quieter pool we went to the north pool on a couple of occasions, however there were always kids in that pool as well, alas, no peace and quiet. :-)
The hotel has a happy hour at the Rim Nam Pool Bar next to the main pool from between 5pm and 6.30pm. We went there most days and enjoyed a drink and chatted to other guests. The service at the bar was good.
Breakfast was included in our room rate and was served in the Marriott Cafe each morning. I would describe the cafe as a hive of activity and noisy. All the food was very good, but certainly not a place to relax and enjoy breakfast. Because the cafe was always very busy, you had to be careful whilst walking with a plate of food. I found that the staff would never 'give way' to guests and often pushed in front of you as they were moving about the cafe, clearing tables etc.
We ate all our meals at the hotel and here is my take on the restaurants:-
Ginja Taste – this is the hotels Thai restaurant. You need to make a reservation as we just turned up one night and couldn’t get a table. The food was certainly traditional Thai, but from our point of view, no better than any Thai restaurant that we would normally eat at back at home. It was very expensive for Thai food.
Cucina – this is the hotels Italian restaurant. It was a pleasant setting and the food was reasonably priced but really only average Italian food.
Andaman Grill – this is the steak and seafood restaurant that looks out onto the beach area. Very pleasant setting however underwhelming food.
Kabuki – Japanese restaurant. We had the teppanyaki and it was sensational. We ate here on 2 occasions as the food was so good. Excellent service and excellent food.
Siam Deli – this is a deli style shop that sells not only food, coffee etcs., but also alcohol, snacks and other goods. The food is really good and inexpensive. Indeed, this deli is a great concept for a hotel and more hotels should have them.
Sala Sawasdee Lobby Bar – nice bar overlooking the reflection pond. Has some great drinks including Grey Goose mojiotos. They also serve light snacks that looked really good but we didn’t have any.
The gym at the hotel is excellent with loads of equipment and clean and nice showers and change rooms etc. You can also hire bikes from the gym and we went on a ride organised by the hotel one afternoon. It was about 1.5 hours and was a great guided ride around the surrounding villages and area.
Just on the beach front you can get a massage (traditional Thai or oil massage) for 400 Baht. They are well worth the money.
The beach is not very nice and certainly not a beach to swim at. While we were there the hotel had red flags up on the path near the beach to indicate not to swim because of the stingers in the sea. Having seen photos of beaches further south on Phuket, if you are after a beach to lie on or swim at, then head further south.
The resort had 2 small baby elephants that would wander along the grass and path between the resort and the beach. Each had a handler and if you give them 100 Baht they will give you a bunch of bananas to feed the elephants. I found that some guests were really rude to the elephant handler and once they had given some money one chap in particular was making all sorts of demands from the handler including wanted the elephant to sit down. Other guests were trying to take the bananas from my hand that I had given money for etc. which I found particularly rude. I was happy to give the handler several hundred Baht as no doubt it is expensive to keep and elephant and feed it.
There is a small shopping village about 600m from the hotel called Turtle Village. I only went there once and didn’t really think much of it. It has a 7/11 style store, and ice-cream parlour and many souvenir shops etc.
All in all it was an ok holiday, however certainly not up to the standard that I expected from a JW Marriott hotel. We may go back with the kids in the future, but our expectations will certainly be lower than this time.