I'm not a fan of Rayavadee either - I didn't like the design of the rooms but mostly I didn't like the way the beach was full of trippers and hawkers, there was endless noise from the boats and the water seemed to be murky. A pity as the surrounding landscape is sensational.
I stayed at The Phi Phi Island Resort in its early days, long before The Beach made the islands famous. The hotel was rustic (like the old Pansea on Phuket) with fantastic seafood dinners. The beach was dramatically tidal with great snorkelling as well.
Frankly, Phuket these days is not especially appealing unless you want to arrive at a hotel like Amanpuri or Trisara and never leave your room. Amanpuri has the better beach - the Pansea beach, one of the best on the island. Trisara's beach is poor. If money or room availability was an issue I'd consider the Surin which is on the same beach as Amanpuri and used be the Chedi and before that the old Pansea. I remember the Pansea in the days when they had a beach bar where teenage kids used to split lobsters in half and serve them grilled for about $5 which you ate with a bottle of Chablis which cost $50. Those were the days!