I departed Sheraton Krabi last week after a 5 night stay and wanted to provide a detailed account to complement the discussion above.

Our stay was a very satisfactory one. I redeemed points for 4 nights (“5th night free”) and used my 35% off points redemption earned upon Plat requalification. This made for quite a bargain at a rate of 3,640 points per night!

We arrived quite early on check-in day – about 1030am. We checked in at the Club Lounge. Our room would not be ready until 1pm, but we were invited to change in the restrooms and enjoy the property until that time.

Our room was an “upgrade” to a Deluxe Club room. I really don’t think there is any difference between most of the rooms on the property. There are a very limited number of suites. Most of the remaining rooms have the same footprint, but are distinguished by bedding type and other minor differences. I don’t know what the “Club” designation means as we would have Club access due to Plat status. Our room was on the third floor and might have been called “sea-facing” though the dense vegetation made it very difficult to see more than a tiny sliver of the sea from our room. We were in building C, which is two building away from the central building (lobby, club lounge, restaurants, etc.).

Despite the lack of an upgrade, the room met our expectations. The bathroom was open concept. It was all quite comfortable and served our needs well. Plenty of English-language television including CNN.

Note that I had entered a request to use my Suite Night Awards in advance. However, it could not be filled in advance and I was notified of this by email a few days before check-in. Overall, thanks to the guest experiences shared on this thread, combined with the fact that the property was sold out for many nights of our stay, our expectations were accurately set in this regard.

Let me address a few points which seem prevalent in this thread:

• I don’t understand the discussion of long walks at the resort. The property is not that large, and if you are able-bodied, I don’t think you will find any challenge or inconvenience getting between any two points at the resort.
• Unless you happen to hit the timing just right, don’t bother with the hotel shuttle to Ao Nang. If there are two or more of you, you will be better off using a taxi. (Lower price and more convenient.) When we went to Ao Nang, we paid 700 THB roundtrip, and the taxi waited for us as we had our dinner/massages. We had the driver’s phone number, and had someone call him when we were later than our expected time.
• Speaking of which, I don’t understand all of the conversation about the “taxi mafia” throughout this thread. We found the taxi service available just outside the Sheraton’s gate to be fair and reliable. Prices are posted, with some small negotiation possible. The prices seemed fair, especially considering the distances involved (e.g. 800 THB to the airport 40 minutes away). There is discussion in this thread about renting a car to avoid the “taxi scam.” I think this would be fair more trouble than it is worth. Note also that many of the roads are very rough, and different roads appeared to be closed each evening. The locals knew how to navigate around the closures, but I wouldn’t want to be dealing with it on my own in a rental car.
• FYI: hotel car to KBV was 1200 THB vs. 800 THB for a taxi for 2. The taxi from KBV to the hotel was 700 THB, arranged and pre-paid before leaving the airport. Both prices are exclusive of gratuity.

Some other things that we learned that might be useful for others:

• If you are interested in an excursion to one or more of the neighboring islands, don’t bother with the tours peddled by the concierge. Instead, arrange your own with the boats present at the beachfront. For example, the tour desk can arrange for you a “Hong Island” tour. ~1050 THB, including lunch, snorkel equipment, and park fee. You will be picked up at 8am and brought to the boat. (I bet you stop at another hotel or two en route.) Your boat departs at 9am. Then you are subject to the whims of the boat company, coming and going on their schedule, and packed on a boat with up to 35 others. Instead, we paid 1800 THB (for 2 pax – we added a tip for our driver as well) + 400 park fee to do this on our own. We left when we wanted (1030am, right from the Sheraton beach, after our leisurely breakfast), jumped out of the long boat when the mood struck, and left the beach when we were ready. All in all, this was a far superior solution, and I encourage folks to consider it. If you are into snorkeling, though, there are better options than Hong Island.
• Platinum/Club guests have three choices of where to take breakfast: the Club Lounge, Martini’s Restaurant, and Mangosteen’s. (I believe that children under 12 are not allowed in the Club.) Of the three, Mangosteen’s is the most elaborate spread, and unless you want a quick in-and-out, I don’t know why you would choose one of the other options. Note that each venue closes at 1030am, and they hold strictly to this schedule. It was a bit off-putting each day at 1015am when the staff would circulate among the guests tables announcing that the buffet would close in ten minutes (yes, BEFORE the stated closing time). Oh, if you ask for hot chocolate, it comes out really weak. Get an espresso cup, fill it with chocolate from the waffle/crepe/pancake station, and adjust your hot chocolate to your liking. If you are interested in pancakes, marvel as the chef creates artistic masterpieces with the batter. (They look more impressive than they taste.) Hint for the egg station: they use so much oil that if you ask them to make yours with NO oil, it should come out just fine, as remnants from prior orders will suffice for them to make your order.
• There are 2-for-1 drinks poolside each day from 4-5pm. The drinks are reasonably priced to begin with, making this a really great deal! In any case, skip the milkshakes – they are disappointing. Frozen (alcoholic) drinks were very good including Raspi___ and Frozen Margaritas.
• There is happy hour in the Club Lounge each day from 5-7pm. This includes a limited drinks (alcohol) menu. Try the Exotica. There is also a buffet with cheese, fruits, spreads, and a rotating pair of hot dishes (samosas, pork buns, etc.). Soft drinks are served all day, as are a few jars of underwhelming cookies and some fresh fruit.
• There are two pools. One is the “activity” pool, though both are pretty lax. The other pool was a bit more appealing and popular, and has a swim up bar. People do that annoying thing where they claim seats in the morning for the day by dropping a towel or book on them. The towel stand has a sign indicating a “one hour rule,” but this is not enforced.
• Each pool has a slightly different menu. The activity pool is tied in with Gecko’s, the Italian restaurant, whereas the other pool is associated with Malati, the Thai/Indian restaurant. The pool menus have some overlap and some differences. The staff would not serve food from one menu to the other pool, which seemed arbitrary given their very close proximity. In any case, the menus were varied and, for a resort of this nature, very reasonably priced. Platinums get a discount on dining throughout the resort, and as I write this, I realize that I failed to study our final folio to see if this was applied. I am pretty sure it was not as I augmented some automatic tips to result in round numbers, which ultimately appeared on our bill. I will look at this again later, though it is likely too little to pursue.
• The English language ability of much of the staff was surprisingly poor. Yes, I know we were in Thailand. I am comparing to other SE Asian resorts. It was surprising how weak the English was of many staff members, who would have to fetch a colleague to field all but the very most routine requests.
• There was a wedding one day while we were there. It was pretty unobtrusive, and looked beautiful.
• Security at the front gate saluted us as we entered/exited by foot each time. Eventually, I started to beat them to the punch and saluted them first. They seemed to be entertained by my antics. I am very charming.
• There is a “Kids Club” with activities for kids aged 4 and up. (Not sure the max age.) It seemed pretty underutilized throughout. And it closed fairly early each day, such that the parents couldn’t enjoy a grown-up dinner with the children being minded by the staff.
• Housekeeping was very generous with bottled water replenishment. (They use heavy glass Singha bottles.) Turndown service was also reliable, and they occasionally performed towel origami.
• Guests seemed to come predominantly from Scandinavia/Nordics, Russia, USA, SE Asia, and Australia. Very little representation from the continent. There were honeymooners, and lots of families. Of course, we were there at the tail end of the holiday period.
• We heard that the compulsory NYE banquet was very well done, despite the hefty ($200+) price tag. It seemed a bit cheap that, for this price, it was not open bar. One couple who was there for it expressed dismay that they were only informed of the mandatory gala a few months earlier. However, it was listed on the website (for those who know where to look) and drove our decision to arrive Jan 1.
• As is our practice on vacation, we did not have supper at the resort. We found a few good restaurants off-property that we heartily recommend. Gajanana is a Nepali/Indian restaurant right across from the entrance to the hotel. It was excellent! (And we’d been in Nepal ~1 week before.) It is run by a friendly family from Nepal. The food was fresh and delicious. Dinner for 2 was under 1200 THB without alcohol. Another outstanding restaurant was Frog and Catfish. This is a small restaurant at a 5-room inn run by Gary, a British expat, and his wife from Northern Thailand. The food was among the best we have ever had in Thailand. It was so good that after eating there on our penultimate night in Krabi, we booked a return visit for the following night (a real rarity for us to double up on a restaurant on vacation). The restaurant will send a car to the Sheraton for you. The roundtrip transport (800 THB) cost nearly as much as the dinner for two (~1000 THB). Do NOT miss out on the Tubtim fish. Thank me later. (I should note that after on the morning after our second visit, we were both ill, despite taking all precautions with food and drink during our travels. I’m not convinced the restaurant was to blame and since I’d go back, I still recommend it.)
• There was a very brief but powerful rainstorm one evening. The power went out quite briefly, at which point generators must have kicked in (as all of the neighborhood outside the front gate lacked power for quite a bit longer).
• Do not, under any circumstances, patronize “Star Tailor Shop” located just outside the Sheraton’s main entrance. The staff there is duplicitous, violent, and unethical. They failed to uphold promise after promise (literally a total of 6 consecutive missed promises) concerning the delivery of custom-made shirts I ordered, until ultimately they would fail to deliver before our departure from Krabi. Worse yet, they were not at all apologetic or ashamed of their performance. It seemed like they considered it normal to make promises and summarily ignore them. Ultimately, we had to phone the credit card company to dispute the charges we had made, which resulted in the shop’s employees threatening us with physical violence. The older man who is evidently “the boss” even made contact with my wife with his yard stick (meter stick?) as the younger chubby guy started to engage me physically. If we hadn’t been in a foreign country, I would have decked the old guy. Ultimately, we left the shop physically (and financially) unharmed. And there was a small measure of sweet justice as they clearly lost a few other customers who witnessed our final exchange with the employees. Bottom line is this: please learn from my experience and do not go to this conveniently located shop. There seems to be another tailor one or two stores down from this one. They all use the same factories for the actual work, so give the other one a try.

On to some photos from our stay: