I will shock some of the Novotel fans, but having spent considerable amount of time in Patong over the past decade, I suggest that one can easily find superior quality for a rate that beats the Novotels. The hotel located up the hill, is on the end of the bay towards Kalim. The beach is not desirable at that part and there is a large polluted canal that drains in that part of the Bay. It is far enough away from anything interesting that you will be paying an inflated tuk tuk fare to go to and from the hotel. Within Patong, IMO the Novotels are poor value. Patong is a disgusting place and rivals Pattaya as a destination of choice for sex tourists and cheap junkets. One must choose carefully as to what part of town to stay if one is foolish enough to stay in patong with its inflated rip off pricing on everything.

The Novotel located on Rat U This is in a noisy area. If one goes out, one must run what we used to call the gauntlet of menu wavers. Rat U is the main thoroughfare and is quite busy.

The Mercure, despite being a lower end brand compared to Novotel, is located in what some would consider a better area. It is near the OTOP shopping area which features over priced local Thai products. There are also lots of small bars with the ever present bar girls for hire and food stalls in that area. Both the Novotel and Mercure require crossing the brutal Rat U and dodging cars as there are no traffic lights, except at Bangla Rd.

However, not all is negative or gloomy. Consideration should be given to the Ibis brand. It is one of the better locations in terms of convenience and proximity to the beach. It is a relatively new hotel and I argue that it provides superior value to the Novotels. The walk to the beach is easier and the part of the beach Ibis is close to, is much better than the "Kalim" located Novotel.

As a side note, there are no sun chairs on the beach, the taxi fare from the airport to patong is super inflated running between 900 and 2000 baht in high season depending on how busy it is at the airport. The approved car service has a base cost of 800 baht.
There is relatively little shopping of interest on Phuket. Save around 25% and shop anywhere else in Thailand