Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort

The main feedback is we had an enjoyable four nights at Le Meridien Phuket.

The hotel is very private and secluded, the beach is excellent though families with small kids should be aware of the strong rip currents.

The breakfast offering is what you would expect from a Meridien level Marriott brand hotel, food was decent and breakfast staff were very helpful.

The spa was very high level, we both had different massages every day with different therapists and all were excellent.

The hotel wasn’t overly busy when we were there in late July / early August, so booking into one of the hotel restaurants was easy. Food was good at the three restaurants that we tried.

Clientele was a mix of European, Middle Eastern and Asian.

Journey time from Phuket airport varies a lot depending on time of day. On the way to the hotel (9pm local time) it was at least a 90 minute journey. To catch an early flight back, the same took less than an hour.

The room we had (a small suite with beach view) was perfectly adequate. It had everything you could possibly need though some of the smaller finishing touches weren’t very well thought through. For example the shower door opens outwards and it’s impossible to keep the bathroom floor dry. If you put a foot towel outside the door, it is moved as the door opens.

In terms of gripes, there were a few. Twice we had a knock at our door at 7am while we were sleeping, both times it was a member of staff delivering to the wrong room. After opening the door to him, we could not go back to sleep.

On booking, Marriott offered a list of requests and we ticked the ‘feather free room’ option as feathers make me feel asthmatic. After offering this option when booking, the staff at Le Meridien hadn’t done their part. After a ten hour journey the hope was to sleep straight away and start the short break refreshed the next morning. This was not possible as staff at Le Meridien had ignored booking details submitted through their own website.

The hotel admitted it was ‘human error’, which was a theme that ran through the stay unfortunately. There are many ways that this hotel could be improved, the first being that people do their own jobs properly. Unfortunately during a very short stay, there were quite a few examples of this not happening, which suggests the fault lies with the management either not training staff or not monitoring standards.

Exceptional stay at this resort. Most impressive was the service. I celebrated my birthday at the resort, and the team went above and beyond to make it a truly memorable occasion. A special mention to Sergei, Kittitat , Patrick and the pastry team for their outstanding hospitality, anticipating our needs and consistently delivering thoughtful solutions with impeccable timing.