JY1024

Had a recent stay here, so figured I’d chime in with some info and experiences:

Location: 30-minute taxi ride from Phuket airport (HKT). Property is north of the airport, so you can easily see planes taking off from the beach at the hotel. Ren is towards the end of a local road. As others have mentioned, once you turn down this road, you first hit a few local “shopping plazas” (more to come on that), followed by a string of hotels and resorts: Marriott Vacation Club, Marriott Mai Khao Beach, Anantara Resorts, JW Marriott, SALA, then finally Renaissance.

To/from airport: Taxis and shuttles are available at both domestic and international terminals. Grab is an option, much to the chagrin of the local tuktuk and taxi mafia; however, the pickup point is outside the airport on the main road. Not all Grabs can pick-up from the hotel, so you’re slightly beholden to taxis and shuttle services.

Property: Kind of a U-shaped resort. Beach, pool, villas at the open-ended side. Spa in the middle. Two main wings of rooms ranging from 2-4 stories along the edges. Open-air lobby, bar, coffee shop, gym at the curved part of the U. No executive lounge.

Restaurants: Loca Vore is where the breakfast buffet is served. Also open for lunch and dinner I believe. Monday evenings Loca Vore has a buffet dinner (1000++ baht per person, kids under 7 eat free) with free flow beer (Singha and Chang only, 490++). The Lounge is the hotel bar. Doppio is the coffee shop. Takieng is the Thai restaurant open only for dinner. Sandbox is the beachside bar/restaurant open all day serving in pizza, burgers, sandwiches, and Mediterranean fare. Happy hour is basically just a small selection of slightly discounted cocktails, spirits, wine, beer, soda, and juices; 5-6pm at Sandbox, then 6-8pm at The Lounge. Room service is available all day.

Facilities: Small gym, small kids pool, small adult pool but never felt super crowded. Deck chairs and lawn chairs available with staff roaming around to take drinks orders or fill up your water glass. (No chairs are technically allowed on the beach per Thai regulations.) Direct access to beach, which never felt crowded. Be mindful of the posted flags, though! (Red = no entry into water; yellow = strong swimmers only; green = all good.) Spa on site. There’s a massage hut on the beach that’s not affiliated with the hotel - basically 300 baht for 30-min, 500 baht for one hour - Thai, oil, neck, foot massages.

Getting around: You can rent a free bike from the hotel to explore the lake and local environs. There’s also a “shuttle” (aka a songthaew that seats about 10 people) that runs every hour during the day, then every half hour from 6-10pm. Hotel also contracts with a local operator that runs shuttles to Phuket town (520 baht r/t) and Patong (720 baht r/t) a few times a day. You can also rent out the hotel vehicles to Phuket town (3200 baht r/t) or Patong (3400 baht r/t); the Mercedes E-class seats 3, and the Toyota van seats 7.

Elite benefits: Plat/Titanium/Ambassador can pick either 1000 points, full buffet breakfast, 3 local beers, or local snacks as the check-in amenity. I was upgraded to a corner suite, and contrary to what others have reported on FT, was told that complimentary upgrades to villas were not standard. Then there’s the usual raft of on-site discounts: 20% food and bev discount with minimum $10 USD spend (excludes room service), 20% discount at spa, 20% discount on laundry (excludes dry cleaning).

Miscellaneous: I don’t remember all the details, but there’s a list of on-site discounts and programs that kick in once it starts raining: All bars immediately go to happy hour menu. You can ask for a DVD and snack to be sent to the room for free. If you book at the spa, you get an extra 15 min treatment. Free hot chocolate at one of the restaurants. Free tea at the coffee shop.