Just to be clear: We travel a lot, including a world trip and we always look for the little 'special' things in a hotel - tranquility, privacy, passion, good food and authenticity.
So to start this off, Aleenta scores almost 10 out of 10 in every category.
Transfer & Service: We got picked up in a AC-Van from the Airport after a 2x 6h flight with massaging seats and a cold bottle of water as well as a cold towel. 30 mins later - checkin with cold towel and refreshing drink. Perfect. It was 8 am, so we could have breakfast with we only paid for one person instead of two. What? After that we lounged at the pool and at 11.30 am our garden villa was ready - 2 hours before checkin time. Great.
Room: We had a garden pool villa across the road and we wouldn't have wanted to change it for anything else. The private pool was perfect (surprisingly big) and always clean. The villa is huge and very comfy. Bed is absurdly gigantic and very comfortable. Room service and turn down service second to none. Small treats, good night stories ect included. We even used the outdoor bathtub a few times - posh!
Some reviews mentioned that rooms/environment is a little worn. While we could notice that with the ocean front villas (more salt i guess), the garden villa was in perfect condition.
FOOD: Outstanding! Breakfast is by far the best we had in Thailand, if not in all of Asia (let's exclude some 5* Hotels in Kuala Lumpur) the buffet is amazing, including frozen yogurt (!!!), and imported ham and cheeses. The made-to-order dishes from the menu are also very good. And most importantly: Good coffee, cappuccino, lattes ec.... as much as you want.
Lunch and dinner is also excellent, we don't understand how somebody would miss Thai flavours? The curries were some of best we had and even the burger is quite decent. We ate once down the road - no comparison.
ATMOSPHERE/VIBE: This is one of the few hotels where you always feel relaxed. Heading down to the beach or pool around noon and find empty beach chairs is something almost impossible at most hotels. Not here. Since everybody has his own pool, the common grounds are almost always empty.
The infinity pool is just - wow. Shame the beach umbrellas obstruct the view on the ocean a little and it could be a little cooler but that's Thailand. Enjoying the sunset in the pool with a - for Thai standards - very good mojito is pretty cool.
STAFF: All of them are incredible. From the driver to the cleaning lady, reception, waiters... We were served blue butterfly pea tea at the spa and asked if we can buy some. They moved heaven and earth to give us some and even made it an 'official' article of sale in their shop due to our request. That's listening to clients!
SPA: We had two spa treatments and both of them were very very enjoyable. Pricey, yes, but you're inside a great resort with all details perfectly planned for you. So just enjoy.
Any negative points? Yes - activities. Way overpriced and trainer not very keen on doing some effort for single sing-ups. And it's remote and taxi prices are fixed into Phuket but still worth a trip.
