ENIAC

I stayed at the SG Laguna Phuket and was very impresssed. It was a stay 4, get one free points stay from 11 to 16 Jan. Those were the earliest days after New Year for which points could be used, so I'd expected limited upgrades. From the previous threads I knew experiences had been mixed.

However, on checkin we were told that we'd been upgraded to a villa, then whisked away by a special "Villa Host" to the boat dock. Then we were taken across the lagoon in a personal boat to the villa.

The Grande Villa privilages seem much as described earlier, and include cocktail hour, a great private breakfast at Puccini, DVD library, use of a special pool area, croissants hung on the door, etc. However, there seems to be a whole new wing of villas, which we were told (by the dubious timeshare sales guy -- see below) had been added in recent months. These are actually on the far side of the property from Puccini (where the breakfast and cocktails are), the Villa hosts desk, and Villa pool area. They are described in the hotel newsletter at http://www.sheratonphuket.com/postsc...2=lagoondining

As you can see from the photos they were very modern in design, with a very Westin vibe to the decor, perhaps with a little more warmth. Downstairs, thevilla had a back sun porch connected to a boat landing, a living room, small bath room, minibar area and a living room with a sofa, Bose Wave CD and big TV. The floors were beautiful white ceramic tiles. Upstairs was a bedroom with very, very nice hardwood floors and light, airy decoration. It held another TV and DVD player. The bathroom had a shower stall on one side, and a big glass door that opened to an outdoor rainfall type shower and big jacuzzi tub on the other. The outdoor pool was walled for privacy, but open to the sky. Excellent toiletries. The entire wall on the lagoon side was basically glass. Well designed cozy lighting.

One ammenity I wasn't used to was the aroma therapy turndown -- you checked a box on a card to choose the oil you wanted. It was so nice that we brought some in the spa shop to take home.

I can honestly say that this was about the nicest room upgrade I've ever had from Starwood. And if the number of villas really increased then the upgrade odds must have improved dramatically. Time will tell, but for platinums this may deserve a reputation on a par with the Diplomat in Florida. (In contrast, I met a honeymooning guy from Dubai who was very disappointed with his non-upgraded room).

Other aspects of the stay were pretty much perfect, including the beautiful empty beach and its restaurants, the two elephants onsite, and the beautifully maintained grounds.

One hint. The Village Bakery in the Canal Village shopping area now offers free internet access via wifi with any purchase. Much better value than anything else in the area -- just buy a latte and surf away.

Also a warning. In the same Canal Village we were stopped and solicited for a timeshare presentation for a new Laguna development. As an incentive you could choose a free half day island tour and one other gift (we took the Fantasea show). I'd been eyeing the tour in the Laguna execursions brochure in the room. However, the tour provided was in a very, very cramped and small minibus with bad air conditioning which held only people who'd been to the timeshare presentation. It was so rushed as to allow very little time at the different destinations, but the bus was not comfortable for sightseeing. (We'd been on some great, inexpensive bus excursions from Chiang Mai in small but comfortable buses -- this was different). My wife got so sick that we got out at the first stop, Charon beach, and had to spend 500 baht for a long ride back in a Tuk Tuk taxi. I assume that the tour given to paying customers is better, but after this experience could not recommend that you find out. In any event, avoid the timeshare gift tour.

prncess674

Has anyone stayed here during the renovations? The website homepage talks about renovations. We are only at the SGLP for two nights to golf before heading on to Bali for a week.

http://www.sheraton.phuket.com/

Renovation Plan Notice

Details of our ongoing projects are as follows:

Room Refurbishment:

Start Date:
7 June 2005

Finish Date:
Ongoing during 2006 (pool access and garden rooms only).

Project:
The hotel is carrying out renovations to the interior of some rooms. Rooms will be updated with new furnishings and interior decor and the bathrooms will undergo an upgrade with new marble wash basins and tiling.

Update:
Work has been fully completed in a majority of the rooms. As previously work will continue in stages with both bathroom and bedroom areas being refurbished.

Details:
The work will proceed in stages with no guests being allocated within any accommodation block carrying out this procedure.
The interior decoration of each room will result in NO audible, visual or dust disturbance throughout the Resort at anytime.
The renovation work to each bathroom will involve NO visual or dust disturbance, however there will be minimal noise disturbance when the existing flooring and fittings are removed. This noise will only be heard in close proximity to the room(s) being worked on.
This will not affect the overall guest experience and all bookings in this area.


Public Areas:

Start Date:
Ongoing 2006

Project:
The hotel is continuing to do minor renovations in some public areas i.e. The lobby, corridors, landscaping upgrade etc.

Details:
The work will proceed in minor stages which will not effect the overall guest experience.

genoval

How far is this hotel from the airport?

Starwood Lurker

The Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket? Approximately 20 kilometers.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

jchand

If I recall ( from a few years back , around 30 / 40 mins). Get a pick up from the hotel , not alot of $. Email them and they can arrange.

FatManInNYC

A few years back for me as well, I remember getting the hotel pick-up and then thinking it was too expensive relative to the local taxis.

BTW: this is a very nice property, IMHO.

belynch

Depending on what time you arrive can determine the time (traffic). We arrived at like 830pm and made it from the airport to the hotel in about 20 - 25 min.

I ventured into the realm of public taxi, which I hired at the airport. The process is super easy and you pay in advance (so you won't get screwed) right after you exit immigration.

Saved about $15 USD doing it this way. The "limos" the hotel can arrange for you are usually Camry's.

Enjoy Thailand, everything about it is fantastic. PM me if you want some HKT info or day trip advice.

mtacchi

My villa is 6 minutes to Laguna..

The Taxi fare should run you about 400 baht and take 15 - 20 minutes traffic depending.

jchand

I stayed here in April, When the wather was prity good.

Has anyone stayed here in August / Wet season and if so how bad was the rain ???? Is it a no no of is it still worth a visit. ??

TomT

Greetings:

We have stayed here three times...excellent upgrade for Plat (So far!) We like the place.....remember to check out the food along the beach, to the right and to the left.

I think the hotel car is worth the few bucks more.......my reason, they know your coming, they have time to "roll out red carpert", you stand out of the "pack"...etc, etc, I do this at all Thailand hotels, seems to work for us.

Enjoy.............

MatthewClement

Several times. It's a misnomer -- though you'll get fairly regular afternoon thunderstorms during the wet season, they usually don't last more than an hour or two.

The up-side is that the resorts are much quieter...

FatManInNYC

FWIW: As stated above, on my one stay I used the hotel car and as TomT stated, they were waiting and they did roll out the red carpet. Whether the same would have occured without the hotel car, but with a flight number and time, I can't say.

lovtofly3

Have stayed at Luguna 5 times and all 5 times took a metered taxi . all 5 times charge was 200mBHT +100bht= 300,or about $8.00

TimMeineke

When we took the a taxi from here to the airport, the cabbie tried to charge us double, saying it was our responsibility to pay for him to drive back to the hotel. I gave him the one-way fare, and told him to call the cops if he wanted to pursue the issue further. I usually try to find out the exact amount before getting in a cab, but since they picked me up on property I figured I wouldnt have to deal with this problem...

HAM

Hello,

maybe we come with a rent-car from Krabi. Is there a parking zone? It's free or like some resorts 20 US per day?

Thanks HAM