hardeight44

Say what? I wasn't informed of this benefit. I must have spent $200 US on cocktails there the week of 2/14. I was upgraded to the elevation suite no pool.

m0hamed

Because there is no club lounge, there is Platinum Cocktail hour from 5:30-6:30 or 6:00 to 7:00, I don't recall. It is at the Prego Moon Deck most days, and Splash Bar on Mondays.

One night we missed it, and was surprised to see the lobby bar prices double than what Prego had on their menu. Basically they serve you a menu with prices, but no bill is presented.

UASPG

The Manager was the guy that is always picking up things on the floor, after his staff; you must have seen him.

http://phuketnews.phuketindex.com/bu...et-184152.html

ung1

Sounds like I stayed here at a good time (seeing as it'll be becoming more expensive soon). I thought I'd share some comments on my stay.

This isn't a place you want to go for the sand or the water. In fact, because of jellyfish and rocks, one is advised not to go into the water, which looks brown, muddy and unappealing. A couple of interns at the hotel that I was chatting with told me sand had been brought in to create a beach, so by Thai standards, it's terrible.

The resort makes up for this shortcoming. The three pools afford nice views of the bay. The staff are very helpful, proactive and engaged in their duties. The rooms are well appointed, though the construction quality is visibly poor. The toilet design is awkward with the door opening into the w/c requiring one to squeeze in. A lot of mosquitoes hovering around the bed for some reason.

Food and drink was similar to what I'd pay in Singapore at an average restaurant. Tried the Thai food at the one where they serve breakfast but it was disappointing. Prego, the Italian restaurant, has good pizzas.

The hilly terrain makes for great unobstructed views from all the rooms, but while golf carts are always on the ready to take you wherever you need to go, one can't nip into the lobby to use the wifi for a few minutes.

Thankfully I didn't have to experience the taxi mafia as I rented my own ride, but there really is nothing for miles around and only a couple of taxi services outside the resort which I imagine are over priced.

m0hamed

We ate room service for everything other than breakfast. The prices were ridiculously cheap for a 5 star hotel.

cln

i can see a Post Opening Offer for 3000++ which is a good price i think ( though it's low season @ hkt )

gleff

My extensive review of the property, with tons of photos, and outlining the good and the bad:
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...ay-bay-phuket/

cln

excellent review, nice pictures -> Thank you a lot.

Is there nothing in walking distance from the Hotel ? Any local restaurant ?
I'm bored after 3 days of "Hotel" food.... same menu everywhere.

PatMike

Nothing within walking distance.
Even with a car, it is a bit of a hack to get anywhere.
The hotel does have a shuttle to Phuket Town.

Thunderroad

Very useful, balanced review. It makes me less inclined to check out the place than I'd previously been, particularly since it compares unfavorably with Le Meridien Khao Lak (which I love), but so it goes. You seemed very fair in balancing the advantaged and disadvantages. Thanks.

PatMike

I would stick to LM Khao Lak. I just returned from a trip that included Siray Bay. It is a good place to stay if you are heading to Phi Phi, but, if not, it did not thrill me. It was beautiful, but just too out of the way and isolated with a really bad beach. If I want something out of the way and isolated, I'll return to the Langkawi Andaman, with their great beach and rainforest.

starpoint_galaxy

I have stayed at both LM KL and LM SB. Not easy to compare them. LM LK is quite isolated; but I loved the upgraded rooms and as a scuba diver, the Similians, now closed for the season, are better than Phuket for diving when in season.

As for LM SB, I actually have stayed there over 40 nights while on a few extended scuba diving trips to Phuket. Was upgraded to a pool villa and found the GM (Greg) and his number two (Sean) to be great, top-shelf, managers. I was very well taken care of and would not hesitate to go again, and I am sure I will.

My favorite story is, one day when working on my Internet projects, there was another Phuket rainstorm, knocking out power and surging my computer, on and off, losing work. I sent a casual, friendly SMS to the #2 (Sean), mentioning this, not expecting anything - just providing a heads-up about power issues.

.... well, it was not long that there was a knock on my door and there was Sean, sweating from a long walk on a hot Phuket day, humid after a storm, with a UPS in hand, to protect my computer (and my work) from surges. Wow!

Well, I'm in the SGS lounge drinking at the moment (wine not so good, LOL).... just wanted to say that I have had great experiences at the WSB in Phuket; and the management team is doing a great job there!

cln

here my quick review of the Westin Siray Bay....

Location: ^ Located hillside near Phuket Town on the eastern coast of Phuket.
Strongly recommend to rent a car ( budget.co.th is great ). The beach is like everyone else mentioned not really nice. The view is awesome though...
I really like that part of Phuket because there almost no tourists in that area before you reach the hotel... nice local market/food... no "massage mister" "hello my friend" "cheap cheap" you can just walk around without beeing bothered and see the "real" thai life.... Phuket town is 15 minutes away, not bad for shopping/dining.. the hotel is running a shuttel bus if i remember correct. On the way to the hotel you can see some "golden monkey statues" this is a place to stop. you can buy bananas and peanuts and feed the monkeys which are living in the mangroves from a balcony at a safe distance... If you want the nightlife/massages/overpriced tourist restaurants go to Patong.....

Room: We were upgraded to a 2 storey elevation suite which i think is the same like a standard room with a second floor/balcony...
I spent about 5 minutes upstairs.. The room was ok, the bed was heavenly... the view from the balcony was great. there was a nice big lounge chair on the balcony.. The light in the shower did not work. I reported this at checkout to the front desk and was told there was no light in the shower. There was one ... it just did not work. Bathroom was quite unimpressive...

Hotel:^ nice grounds, shuttles/buggys available to take you to the room / pick u up. everything looked really nice.... Lobby was nice too. A lot of asian travel groups...

Food: ^ Breakfast was decent, but nothing less I would have xpected from a Westin.

We had dinner in room. I ordered around 6 different dishes, one was not delivered so i had to order it again. My fiancee ordered and only ate the Caesars Salad with King Prawns... two hours later she felt sick and was vomiting all night... I tried little bit and it was really fishy... but it was too late already cause she was finished already... So we had a sleepless night in the heavenly bed
Need to be careful with cream in Thailand. I had similiar problems before with Caesar Salad or Spaghetti Carbonara in different Hotels. If the Salad is prepared before the other dishes it can get bad so quick... This was my last time i order a cream dish together with other items...

Next morning i kindly asked to remove the Caesars Salad from the bill. After explaining the situation the third time they accepted to remove the Salad from the bill...

The other dishes were good.... To really say sorry they should have offered to wipe the total bill for this order...

Next negative point was: I only booked one night.... it was low season so i wanted to see the hotel and extend my stay if we would have enjoyed... I asked at check-in if we could add a second night, they were fully booked for the next day and i was asked to ask again in the morning. If somebody would cancel i would get the room. So i was called next morning 9am. I was told there was a room available for this night now and i said i was not sure because we had a bad night already. I replied that if we stay again i would contact her again. We also were asked to move to another room if we would stay. So after a really bad night we packed the bags and decided to change not only the room but also the hotel.... We switched to the Renaissance Phuket.
In the evening i luckily checked my spg account and saw a booking for this night that i never made or confirmed..... so i needed to call plat hotline and called the hotel and after 15 minutes it was finally removed.....


I liked the style of the hotel but we experienced too many problems . It was not really a good experience and a return to this hotel is very unlikely...

cln

they offer rooms for 2011 THB again but i wont even return for that price....

UTA_flyinghigh

I am considering going to the Westin Siray Bay property with a lady friend.
I notice that pool villas have their own independent pools. How secluded are they and is it possible to indulge in, let's say, non-swimming aquatic activity without getting arrested?

UTA