I don’t usually do this. Dedicate an entire blog post to just one place we've stayed in as, considering we average about two hostels a week, you can imagine
why. Far too much work! However, after just three days at this resort, I feel
the need to express to you all just how GOOD it is. JW Marriott Khao Lak, we
salute you!
After three months of ‘slumming’ it in mostly hostels and a few guest houses we felt it was time to treat ourselves. After all, we’re no spring
chickens (well, Stevie certainly isn't ! Now, for those of you not familiar
with the site ‘TravelZoo’, I suggest you get it in your life immediately! I
look at it as an upmarket ‘Groupon’ – as well as local deals, it offers huge
discounts on hotels worldwide, and they’re all at least 4*; no Hotel Ibis deals
on this site! Now, after a few bad experiences with ‘Groupon’, I was a little
dubious, but having heard great things off of friends I decided to give it a
go. I came across our little gem of a deal a few months ago; the Marriott in
Khao Lak is ranked within the top four places to stay in Phuket, Thailand on
‘TripAdvisor’ and every single review raved about how relaxing it was, the
infinity pool bar, the food, amazing resort… I was sold!
We flew into Phuket airport from Singapore and, after about an hour and a
half taxi ride, we approached the hotel entrance. We then drove for about another
twenty minutes – this is how huge the place is – just to get to the reception,
where some lovely staff greeted us and took our bags. I think they were a bit
taken aback with the sight of two hefty rucksacks as opposed to the designer
luggage they’re no doubt used to, but hey, we’re all paying customers, albeit
heavily discounted ones! After a refreshing welcome drink we were shown to our
‘Deluxe Pool View’ room… most of the hostels we’d stayed in could've camped out
in just the bathroom! The room was lovely and spacious, great balcony, cosy
bathrobe and slippers… we were like two kids at Christmas!
Only being there for three days, we tried to utilise all the resort had on
offer. There is a state of the art gym on site (yawn), but we donned our gym
gear and headed off for the first proper workout of the trip. It’s more modern
than any gym I've ever been to – the treadmill was calculating about a thousand
things with every step I took; everything from the distance I ran (not long
enough) to how many calories I burnt per second, or so it seemed (again, far
too few for my liking). Also included in our ‘TravelZoo’ package was an hour
Thai massage each; after our experience in Bangkok, I wasn't holding out much
hope. This is the Marriott, though, remember? OF COURSE it’s going to be great!
The hour went by far too quickly, the massage itself was so relaxing,
especially after my gym session; the lady even braided my hair, bless her –
don’t think she realised she’d be there for an age due to the amount of hair I
have! Even the heat felt different whilst we were there – somehow more bearable.
Maybe this had something to do with the large, fluffy beach towels provided at
the pool or private beach, or the constant offerings of iced water/watermelon/cold
face towels all day; talk about sun bed service!
I've saved the best for last… that’s right, you've guessed it, the food.
Now, so far on our travels, as far as breakfast goes, the general opinion has
been ‘OK’. I mean, how excited can you get over some bread and a coffee? Well,
I’d obviously never been to the Marriott before! On day one, we thought we may
as well take advantage of the ‘free breakfast’, so off we trotted for what we
thought was the obligatory tea and toast. How wrong we were. The room was the
size of a small food court and had various stations offering everything from
fresh fruit shakes, cereals, breads, eggs-to-order, to Thai soups and noodles
plus Western favourites like sausages, bacon, waffles… We were in our element!
I have never eaten so much for breakfast in my life; it’s a good job we were
only there for three days! And, with five, well priced restaurants on site, there
are plenty of choices for dinner (much) later on.
So, as you can fathom, we had a crap time and are urging people to never go
here. Or not. Seriously, I can’t recommend it enough. It would be perfect for a
honeymoon (I hear the suites are to die for) or for those just wanting a
relaxed getaway. The service is outstanding; the resort is absolutely fabulous… I'm just sorry we only had three days. I’ll be avidly checking ‘TravelZoo’ from
now on as I’d buy the deal again without hesitation.
Our next destination wouldn't be QUITE as glamorous – a weekend-long water
fight in the North of Thailand to celebrate Thai New Year. Oh, go on then…
No comments:
Post a Comment