Originally Posted by
nroscoe
so far removed? Really? The shuttle was 100 BHT (about $3 USD) and took less than 5 mins to Patong, a city that I wouldn't want to be any closer to that the Le Meridien.
Patong is essentially Ensenada but with Thai food. Seriously, if I wanted a broken down, crappy beach community, I could drive into Mexico.
To the South, our average taxi ride to Karon was 5-10 mins.
Kata and Karon are well over 10 minutes and the ride each direction is at least 300 baht (about $10 - it's actually 400 using the car service). So to go to dinner after a day of scuba diving we'd blow $20 just on transportation. The meals in Karon/Kata were fine but the hassle of getting a car and getting into town just wasn't something we enjoyed.
Remember the hotel has the word "resort" in it's name, so I hope you weren't expecting an in-city hotel?
I believed a friend who told me the place was great. She and I have very different ideas of a good hotel or resort. Being in the middle of nowhere with little kids everywhere and charged excessively for mediocre food is not my idea of a good time. I've spent months in Thailand and I've never felt so economically abused as my regretful time at the Le Meridien (Sheraton Krabi comes close). $20 for a breakfast buffet in Thailand?
At the same time the hotel has it's own secluded beach "relax bay" to itself, providing a rare beach on Phuket that's not overrun with tourists, hawkers, etc.
Shrug. It was a beach and it was overrun with little kids. For what we wanted, Le Meridien wasn't very nice or very efficient.
Mama Tri's had so many locations (let alone billboards and side businesses) that we avoided it like the plague.
Just outside the hotel's gate was a very inexpensive, but tasty local restaurant that's impossible to miss. If the hotel was holding you "hostage" why didn't you walk over there?
Mom Tri's Boathouse was sensational. Easily the best meal we had in Phuket and possibly in Thailand.
I know the little shop you speak of; they did my laundry for 30 baht a kilo. Overall, Phuket was just one horrific tourist trap and Le Meridien exemplified everything we disliked about the island: loud, overpriced, inefficient, run-down. Only the scuba diving made that portion of the trip worthwhile. Even then we could opt for Phi Phi next time and at least enjoy shorter boat rides for great diving.
SPG's offerings in southern Thailand, in my eyes, leave a lot to be desired.