There have been several times in prior years when I had reservations for this property, but I always ended up cancelling and going elsewhere. This year, I finally followed through, and boy, was I surprised. Last I checked this thread, the property had some ringing endorsements, such as:

This seems to have taken a significant turn for the worse. We were given coupons for the bar in the lobby lounge, to be used for one drink per person per day during the 5-7 happy hour, ordered from a special menu (limited to beer, wine, soft drinks, or choice of mixed drinks -- Mojito or Hurricane). Further drinks past the first round are chargeable (300THB for two drinks during happy hour). We sat down just after 5pm, and the two bar staff became flustered with an influx of conference attendees; our drinks arrived almost half an hour later, and our "canapes" (each person gets three fried items -- spring roll, wonton, shrimp) took an hour to arrive. The environment was busy and noisy, and frankly, this experience can be beat by most airport Sheratons. (m0hamed -- I realize this is an older post, and I'm not quoting it to pick an argument, but but because I've read many of your posts and know your exacting standards; this quote stuck in my mind, and was the reason I wanted to visit this hotel).

We received an upgrade to, I believe, a Discovery Suite in building 16 (at the highest point of the resort). Certainly a nice view, but not a very spectacular room -- Ikea-ish furniture in a bit of disrepair. Breakfast (included in our rate) was fine, but not at all memorable.

The disappointment with the Plat benefit pus the overall vibe of the hotel, coupled with rainy weather, lead us to depart after the first night. That may sound like an overreaction, and the hotel certainly isn't horrible enough to cause one to run away -- provided one goes in with the right expectations (which we didn't). This was our last beach hotel at the end of a two month trip that included some spectacular hotels (The Siam in Bangkok, IC Danang), some great elite experiences (GH Bali, GH Tokyo, LM KUL, IC HK), some laid-back but pleasant lower-end hotels (HR Danang, Sheraton Lombok), and we thought that Westin Phuket would be a nice conclusion to this trip; given our parameters, it was a huge letdown.