evergrn

Just wrapped up our vacation there, so got to know the property well. All in all, it was a fantastic place I thought. The grounds were beautiful with lush landscaping, water flowing everywhere, birds chirping all around. We never left the hotel except to go to the adjacent beach. Despite numerous comments in this thread talking about the stinginess of the management here, I did not feel that way. Of course they're not generous like in Singapore and HKG (where you get free rollaway, 4pm checkout, etc). But certainly a lot more generous than N.America or Jpn. I do think that different things are falling apart here and they probably need a major staged upgrade here. But the housekeeping does a great job of upkeeping rooms, and we had a very comfortable stay.

Airport transfer: We went for the hotel arrangement for airport pickup. 70-80min each way. The hotel car drops you off and picks you up at the main lobby (as opposed to the Welcome lobby from where you'd have to take another shuttle to get to the main lobby). So the hotel airport transfer was definitely a good idea.

Clientele: This is really rough, but... ~15% Chinese, ~10% non-Chinese Asian, ~15% Russian, ~25% N.American, ~20% non-American English speakers, ~15% everyone else.

Diamond treatment: They apologized for no upgrade, but instead they gave our family of 4 a free buffet dinner one night. This was not necessary, so much appreciated. 2pm late checkout seems standard here.

Pools: 3 main pool areas here... Seafarer, Garden, OBC. OBC was my favorite, but the other two have water slides. Garden's slide is longer. Note that water slides are only for kids (adults forbidden). Garden Pool has trees growing around and over the poolside, which results in more leaves and sometimes bird poops on the lounge chairs. So did not like Garden Pool much, although good for kids. Seafarer seems the most popular. OBC is the best for swimming and also nice in that it's right across the road from the beach. Problem is, a lot of people stake out lounge chairs at OBC, then not even use it as they go off and enjoy the beach while hogging the pool chairs.

Beach: The beach is right across the road from Hilton. 3/4 of the time, there is a guardman who will stop the traffic to help you get across the road which is quite busy. The part of the beach near Hilton is fantastic. The best sand ever! Water can be choppy, and the water gets deep pretty quick. Still I felt it perfectly safe for my little kids to play in the water and for me to go swimming and bodysurfing. Just a great beach.

Buildings: We booked a Deluxe Plus Seaview room, which was in Andaman Bldg A. The main lobby is in Andaman Bldg B. Andaman A is great because it's right by OBC pool and the beach. EL (it's called Panorama Lounge here, but I will just call it EL) is at the top of Lotus Tower, and it took 6-7min from our room to the EL. I did not discern any noise issues at Lotus Tower every time I went there. Then again I wasn't staying there. Being 6-7min away from EL was not a major issue, since EL doesn't offer any food outside of breakfast and evening cocktail (5-6.30pm) hours. I think I would choose to stay in Andaman A again given the ridiculously easy beach access. The ocean view from our 5th floor room was great, but Andaman A is only 6 floors high. Although Lotus Tower is set further back in the property, it is 12 floors high, and the ocean view from the higher floors there is more expansive and simply amazing.

EL: As mentioned above, no food outside of breakfast and evening cocktail (5-6.30pm) hours. But they do offer you non-alcoholic beverages. Drinks are not self-serve there. Breakfast offering is decent and offers ~half of what's offered downstairs in the restaurant. Diamonds have the option to east downstairs, of course. Evening spread is quite impressive, even compared to other properties in Asia, with many different hot high-quality items. But Panorama Lounge gets quite busy during even cocktail. There's an overflow lounge area setup in Saitong Bldg, though. Kids under 10 are no allowed in Panorama Lounge after 5pm, so families with smaller kids go to the overflow lounge. No buffet spread in the overflow "lounge." They bring plates of food to your table there.

- Service: Housekeepers and restaurant staff very friendly. On the other hand, EL ladies and gym/pool staff not very friendly.

- Tipping: Contrary to what I was advised on the tipping thread on FT, it seems tipping is commonplace at this property. We were originally not going to tip. But I saw many people tipping bellmen. There was even a tip line on the hotel receipt when settling incidental charges at the time of checkout. Never seen that before. We tipped the airport driver and left tip on the bed each day for the housekeeper.

- Miscellaneous: Wifi is very spotty depending on where you are on the property. Breakfast buffet is at two different venues... Sails which offers slightly more items; Buon Appetit which has stunning lakeside location. Breakfast buffet was quite good with excellent selection, but not quite on par with what I've had at Singapore Hilton or Tokyo Hilton.

tide

Great review and glad you enjoyed your stay. I love it when people come back and close the loop.

I think the message on FT is that tipping is entirely "up to you" in Thailand. Locals tip too, mostly at F&B, entertainment etc but also many times, non-monetary tips like food/souvenirs for the guards at their condo etc. This is called "nam jai" or literally "water from the heart" i.e. generosity. If it makes you happy to tip then tip.

evergrn

Water from the heart... that sounds wonderful. Tipping never makes me happy, except I have to say the housekeepers at Hilton Phuket were so courteous and hard-working that I will not hesitate to tip them when I return.

eddibabyyeah

I agree with tipping. I lived in Thailand for a few years and many times my Thai friends would be surprised when I tipped for food and drinks no matter how bad the service was. Some even told me not to bother with tipping, as its not really part of their culture to tip every meal. This was mainly north/central Thailand away from tourist areas. Maybe in tourist areas such as Phuket, its more common, as tourists tip. The gift for guards is also common, as you say. I would often buy the guards at my condo some food and drink, as I noticed that locals did this a lot.

Cthunder86

epericolososporgersi

Any recomendations for the airport transfer?
I hate arguing with taxi drivers. There are a lot of transfer-offers in the net.

Kacee

I've used the hotel's service. Their price is reasonable. It's a long drive (around an hour).

SK AAR

Just book your car transfer at the airport - there are plenty of desks as you leave the luggage area. No reason to shop around - fares are fixed/the same.

As I recall it the fare was 1,100 B to Karon but might be too low now.

l380

Was here two weeks ago. I used klook for both ways. It costed about 700THB per way. The vehicle was a van for just the two of us. Highly recommended

KRUXED

flockavelliFT

I am planning a 4 night stay end of March here as a Diamond +1 as part of the glorious HX error fare and was looking for a homebase for also a few day trips to some of the adjacent islands. I already read the last 10 pages of this thread.
Does anyone have recommendations on day trips to Phi Phi islands & others? I think we should have time for 2 nice day trips. Thanks!

thbe

Be aware of the traffic jam. Traffic can be really horrible at Phuket.

KRUXED

Points Payne

Booked for two weeks in April through songkran. We are only Gold HH members

Anyone had upgrade at this level ??

flockavelliFT

The hotel send me a welcome email for our stay next week.
They offered 500 THB + 18.7% tax per night to upgrade my room (basic king room booked during Asia sale) to a Deluxe Plus Sea View Room and I took the offer. It was cheaper than upgrading the room through the Hilton app.

Also saw this in their email:
Is the dinner worth it?