FlyerTalk Forums - Review Pullman Phuket Arcadia Naithon Beach

Introduction First and foremost, I would like to point out before my review that the Platinum treatment I received at Pullman Phuket Arcadia was by far, the BEST Platinum treatment I have received ever personally over all the hotel I have visited personally.Decided to hold my family vacation here since I missed this resort so much. This is my third stay at the hotel. We booked 7 rooms here for our trip one month ago. We were Accor LeClub Plus Platinum and Silver members (5 Accor Plus Members in the family). We were a group of 16 with 5 families and 2 young children. Pre-Arrival Prior to my arrival, I emailed my contact at the resort who was now Director of Rooms (DOR) to help me arrange certain details of my reservations and the Airport Pick-up. I really have to acknowledge the DOR so much for helping me arrange everything pertaining my trip. I must admit that without the DOR, the trip might not have been so easy to plan and successful. Additionally, do yourself a favour and book the Hotel Airport Limousine Transfers directly with the Hotel, it is reasonably priced and gives you a chance to relax from the moment you step out of arrivals at the Airport. In comparison, the Airport Limousine you book at the Airport cost THB650. Might as well arrange everything before hand for the ease. The price located below is how much the Hotel charges:Toyota Camry (THB 800.-Net/way, maximum 3 people)Toyota Commuter (THB 900.-Net/way, maximum 7 people) Check In Upon arrival at the Airport, we were immediately greeted by a cheerful Pullman staff member who directed us to our transport to the resort. Upon arrival at the resort, we were whisked up to the lobby to Check-In. Check-In was fast and the DOR came out to greet us and even handle the Check-In for us by herself. The Check-In was excellent as I did not need to remind someone for Welcome Drink Vouchers and we were continually thanked for our Loyalty. The DOR and her team even proactively told us to remember to keep our Accor Plus cards with us always and to use the Dining Benefits as much as we wanted too. As we arrived way before the official Check-In time at 10am, the resort managed to give Early Check-In for 3 of the 7 rooms immediately. The rest of the rooms were released to us around 12-1pm. Majority of the rooms were located at Block 3. In addition, the GM, Mr Brett, happen to be in the Lobby and came to greet us as we were Platinum Guest and returning Guest. The day after, I bumped into the Director of Operations, Mr Benoit and he wished us a good stay and if we needed anything, to look for him. Room Five out of the Seven rooms we booked were Ocean rooms, the 3rd highest category of rooms in the resort. One good thing about booking this room category is that you are near the Lobby with great views of the Ocean. Rooms were well appointed with a spacious balcony. Beds were huge, unlike those King size beds, its bigger than that here. Bathrooms were big with the hotel providing all the amenities we needed. One thing to note is that the resort still restricts the coffee capsules to 2 capsules for the entire trip :( The other two rooms were Grand Deluxe rooms, these are the 4th category of rooms in the resort. The rooms are bigger than Ocean rooms for sure however offer garden views and no ocean view, for that you need to book Ocean Grand Deluxe. These rooms are located significantly higher on the hilly resort. As one of family members were celebrating their 3rd Wedding Anniversary, the staff at the resort decided to decorate the room abit. We also received our Welcome Amenities and 2 platters of Chocolates thanking us for our loyalty. On our last night, I enquired with the DOR to see if I could try out the Pool Villa for 1 night to see if we would book it in the future and DOR offered to complimentary upgrade us for 1 night to test the villa out. We got Villa 3 which is a Two Bedroom Villa. I must say that the Villa was amazing. The ease of having your own pool was just fantastic as you need not crowd with others at the main pool. Additionally, the peaceful serenity was appreciated as the villa was literally surrounded with greenery. However, we also had a nasty little guest in our garden patio. It wasn't dangerous or poisonous but might cause a concern for those who travel with children. I immediately notified the hotel and within 3 mins, someone was there to clear it. (See photo below to see who was our unexpected guest) The 2nd Bedroom which is Twin Configuration is located below the main Pool Villa. The only bad part I have to point out is that the rooms aren't connected directly. One has to exit the main Villa to walk over to the second room. It gives a sense of privacy but if you have children, you might not want to be so far way from your children. Our unexpected guest! A small Garden Snake! It wasn't all glitz and glamour during out stay. The one area of improvement that resort needs to handle is housekeeping in the rooms. Housekeeping in the rooms itself needs improvement, I am not saying the rooms are very dirty but the attention to detail needs to be improved. For example I understand that nature cannot be controlled but the amount of ants I encountered was good enough to annoy me. Perhaps Pest Control needs to be improved. Furthermore, even though I was complimentary upgraded to the Pool Villa, I gave the Director of Operation constructive feedback noting that housekeeping in the Villa needs improvement as if I were a paying guest, the attention to detail given was not on par with the price I would have had to pay. He noted my feedback and ensured me that he will highlight this issue with the team. Dining I must highlight that compared to my previous stay, the food & beverage here is significantly better than last time. It wasn’t bad last time but this time the food quality & selection and beverages was excellent. With regards to Breakfast buffet, the buffet is excellent and caters to almost everyone's taste buds. The bakery section here is just heaven. I thoroughly enjoyed all my morning meals here. The selection at breakfast is just delectable and quality is up to Pullman Standard. Furthermore, our family also had several lunches and dinners at the resort's restaurants which offered good and tasty food. We tried both Elements and Very for dinner and must say the food was excellent. Service at the restaurant was good, not excellent but good enough. We tried Elements Thai buffet which turned out to be quite delicious. We also had several drinks at the 2 bars located in the hotel. Although abit on the pricey side, when you are on a family vacation, you try not to spoil the fun by looking at prices on Alcoholic drinks. Breakfast Buffet Spread Bloody Mary Station for those who need Alcohol to wake up the right way! Also, I would like to highlight one more detail. I would like to thank the F&B team for being so innovative by creating a breakfast 3-tier platter that is served daily to Accor Platinum members only. Talk about Platinum benefits yeah!! (See photos below.)Day 1Day 2Day 3 Lunch and Dinner at Elements Restaurant & Vero Italian Restaurant (I didn't take much photos for lunch and the lighting for dinner at Vero was bad.) Thai NIght Buffet Pool, Gym, Kids Club, Connectivity Lounge The hotel has 2 pools. The main pool which is the highlight of the resort is an infinity pool that overlooks the beach and ocean. As with the previous reviews, all of us did note that the pool tiles are having problems in the sense that they were coming out. You'll be glad to know that it has somewhat been rectified in a sense that they are slowly repairing it. The second pool (Lap pool) is much less crowded then the main pool. The 2nd pool is located adjacent to the Gym and the Kids Club. The gym here is well sized with the average equipment one needs, hardly ever crowded which is a good thing to those who want to work out. Kids Club here looks great too and with a dedicated playground next to it, makes it fantastic. My 2 Nieces thoroughly enjoyed their activities at the Club. A positive thing to those who travel with children. The Connectivity Lounge was good too as they had a brand new Pool Table which I used every night to play with my family members. Other than that, they have 3 computers for guest to use and 2 small rooms to hold meeting in should you need them. Beach The beach here can vary alot in terms of wave currents. Generally, the waves here are quite strong, however at certain times of the day, I notice the waves are slight calmer during the late morning and early afternoon. Unlucky for me, the waves during my trip was quite bad as it was generally strong throughout my trip. Except for 1 day where it was quite clam, so almost everyone took advantage of that opportunity and took a dip in the ocean. (As you can see from the photos, the waves were quite rough majority of the time except for the last photo where you can see it got calmer then usual. That was the day alot of people rushed into the ocean as that was when the Lifeguards at the beach let us into the ocean)Calm Waves The beach is not directly infront of the resort as the resort is located to the side of the beach, however access to the beach is easy due to the stairs down near the pool. (The photo of the bridge linking the resort to the beach is below) Location Location of the resort is AWESOME in my opinion. The resort is located just 10-15 mins away from Phuket International Airport which makes it a convenient getaway. Patong is just overcrowded and 40 mins away from the Airport and thus, this resort just wins my heart in terms of location. Overall Overall, my entire family, all 16 of us thoroughly enjoy our vacation. The resort is great, rooms are great, view is wonderful, beach is nice and its just 10-15 minutes away from the airport. I can't wait to return here in the future. If you are considering booking this resort, do not hesitate any further. If you need any more information, don't be afraid of asking questions on the Resort thread on FT or PM me directly.