A quick update: We've been furthering the thinking process, and have finally decided on Khao Lak, which we thought might be just a bit less crowded because of the distance from Phuket and the tsunami.

As far as price goes, we're ending up using 10,000 Starpoints (this is Flyertalk after all) for 4 nights at the Le Meridien Khao Lak (rooms are priced USD260++/night during this period), quite a good value in my opinion.

Thanks again to everyone.