TalkingPoint

Had a couple days to kill in phuket on my way from Sydney to Istanbul so decided to return to Khao Lak for a few nights. Usually prefer the JW but decided to come back here due to a good promotion they ran a couple months ago. Hotel occupancy is quite low, not helped by the fact that they're now listing 7500b/night on their website so they can qualify for Luxury Escapes. OTAs have continued listing the 2700b rate so you can pricematch down to 2025b. Jan Heim is away getting GM training and Julien from Surawongse is here as acting manager (and Trevor has been here more regularly and has temporarily moved some staff from Merlin over as well). They no longer upgrade elites to Villas or Suites, as it's Julien's understanding that elites are only entitled to a single category upgrade. He said the change is because Marriott asked hotels in April to be more consistent about not over-upgrading so they can deliver a consistent experience/expectations across the portfolio. Suites are now a 2000b up-charge and villas are 3500b. That's a new negative change and changes this from one of the most generous to one of the least.

While I agree it feels like a canteen, occupancy is so low it's a lot better now. The presentation at breakfast has actually improved, but food quality is down. The selection also now caters to a new demographic so no pork and mostly vegetarian dishes which has become common at lower end properties in Thailand since the pandemic. The service is well intentioned but nowhere comparable to JW, and English ability is poor. All of the restaurants have reopened and are operating regular hours.