We are members of the Absolute and recently took advantage of a generous offer of an extra week at the Sea Pearl. We have always loved Phuket and the staff there are like family, no exception this time. However, the room we were initially allocated was not anywhere near our expectation, but quickly remedied. However, we are unlikely to return as we found the whole environment of Phuket a bit overwhelming and high pressure - right from eating breakfast where taxi/tuk tuk drivers lined the fence waiting for business. Even while swimming in the pool there were people trying to sell sunglasses over the fence. Relaxing on the beach was impossible with a steady stream of hawkers demanding a sale, and they would not take no for an answer, until we became rude in our responses. It was very obvious that the low season and recession have caught up with the businesses in Phuket, as they were on a mission to sell and you could not even stop and browse without getting pounced on, especially from the taxi drivers, tailors, and stall holders. Even walking down the beach side exposed us to hassles from the hair braiders, massagers etc. I found it very tiresome and made our holiday much less enjoyable than we had looked forward to. The quality of the shopping is still good, but a lot harder to get the true value as many of the traders started the bartering process off way too high - it was easier to walk away than work the price down. There are still many good points, and while the Absolute Sea Pearl is under renovation at the moment, it is getting a little tired and in need of a good spruce up - the staff however are wonderful, and the girls in the massage parlour downstairs good fun and a good way to spend an hour or two during the day. The pharmacy downstairs was also kept busy with lots of tummy bugs, but the pharmacist is excellent and very helpful. One other gripe we had was the scouts on the motorbikes promoting the Absolute chain - when you refused to take one of their "scratchies" which leads to a 90 minute promotion of their properties, they were quite rude, even though we were already members. I think it might be sometime before we revisit, but I can definitely recommend the Absolute Club and will seek other destinations in the immediate future.

We had a week at this hotel and one of our worst holidays ever ,only went for a relaxing week as my other half had a knee operation and we wanted to take it easy around the pool taking in some nice warm sunshine, NOT to be , got polluted with cigarette smoke from time- share chain smoking sales people, even going to breakfast in the al fresco we had to put up with the pollution as these people did not give any concern for other hotel users. The only thing going for the place is the location , right overlooking the beach. Our room had a filthy view of a derelict old building 2mts away and looking down from the balcony a rat infested waist area . GIVE iT A MISS.

I stayed at the Sea Pearl Beach resort in May 2012 and it was a lovely experience. The resort is on the foot of the patong beach and is very well located. We got a room facing the sea and that's why it was memorable. We had a balcony over-looking the beautiful sea and the holiday was relaxing though we stayed there just for 4 nights instead of 6 nights that we were entitled to; the reason being we had to go back to Bangkok. We got a one bed-room apartment suitable for 4 adults and it was very spacious. It had a good kitchen with all the amenities for a week long cooking if you wished to. The bathroom had two connections; one from the bed room and the other from the common area. Worth a stay! Relaxing! They have a cafe which serves good breakfast. They also have a good Indian restaurant where we used to normally have lunch / dinner. Taxis wait just outside the resort. The pool was in un-usable state. I can rate this property 3-star.