sfvoyage

Southern part of the island? We're talking about Marriott Nai Yang Resort, 6km from HKT.

Srisarin

This property is SOUTH of the airport (as opposed to the Ren/JW which is north of the airport).

Savage25

I just walked up to the taxi stand at the airport and asked how much to the hotel in broken Thai. Driver next to the counter said 300, I said ok.

Yes its 400 for the hotel Camry. Well worth it if you don't want the hassle. Not worth another 200 for the Merc.

Savage25

Yes, shorts and sandals are preferred. Honestly, if you're not going onto the road/off the beach into the village, you can just walk around barefoot on the beach all the time. No sandals needed. There are restaurants beachside at the village.

The sand was also firm enough to run barefoot on from the hotel to the cape bordering the airport and back for some great morning exercise.

JBord

So to sum it up , since I'll be there next month, best plan is to slip some sandals or shoes in your backpack for the trek so you have what you need when you need it!

markzz2

Just come back from 3 nights here (combined with 3 nights at the Ren in Mai Khao). The Nai Yang property is very nicely done. Lovely resort and the staff were excellent (with the exception of the pool attendants the which we found to be a bit inattentive).
The restaurants both good, and a nice happy hour in each bar which made drinking affordable. As already mentioned here no breakfast for elites but a 20% discount on F&B which I think would be a wonderful benefit if it could be expanded to all resorts Worldwide. As Platinum who generally stays in resorts or at weekends in cities I feel a bit undervalued generally at Marriotts but the 20% helped alot and also encouraged me to spend more in the hotel outlets.
We got a nice room upgrade to a Pool Cabana room which was one of the rooms in the new building.
All in all a lovely stay, but the hotel is VERY quiet so may not suit everyone. We loved it.

sfvoyage

Do they offer the 20% F&B discount even during happy hour? Glad to hear you enjoyed the resort.

sfvoyage

Thanks for the info. I like the idea of running barefoot on the beach!

Are the beach side restaurants mostly make-shift mom-and-pop type of eateries? Do you recall if they offer vegetarian food? I guess they can cook anything you'd like...

I read there's a mini-mart nearby - is it walking distance? Big enough to offer a variety of drinks and snacks?

Savage25

Yeah, it was pretty cool running barefoot on the beach. I hadn't done that in years.

There were proper beachside restaurants....well, plastic tables in the sand farang prices and 10page laminated menus in Thai, English and Russian, so they probably had vegetarian food but I really don't remember.

The minimart was just on the road behind the restaurants. Well stocked like any 7-11.

dc2005b

No, the 20% discount did not apply to the already discounted happy hour prices (I tried!)

Overall, I really enjoyed this resort - it was very quiet and peaceful. I had booked a One Bedroom Suite which was located on the second floor of the building immediately next to the main pool and even in this central location I was never bothered by noise. The suite was large and modern with large bathroom with separate shower and soaking tub, walk through closet, guest bath and dining table for 4-6. They had true HD tv as well and reliable wifi. The large balcony had more seating and great views over the resort and to the ocean.

In general the F&B was reasonably priced even without the discount, they didn't seem to gouge you like many places. The breakfast was included in my rate and was expansive and of good quality. In addition to the fixed restaurants they set up themed dinners on the beach a few nights a week which was a nice change of pace.

The resort is located in a small cove of sorts and due to lack of any other properties nearby the beach is quite sparsely populated, plenty of space to spread out. You can also easily planespot as HKT is nearby and at least one of their flight paths is basically parallel to the hotel out over the sea. As others have noted there is a small village about 15 minutes walk down the beach which includes basic restaurants, massage places and a mini-mart.

No upgrades were available to this Plat as they were fully sold out but they did allow a late checkout to 6pm which I thought was generous. The welcome gift had a number of f&b options you could choose in place of the 500 points, for example 2 beers & a cheese plate which they would deliver whenever you choose to your room.

Overall, I had a great stay and Id be happy to return to this quiet, lovely resort someday.

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the review/update. Much appreciated.

Cheers.

JLSocks

Any recent experiences here? I'm planning a trip at end of November with some friends and we're debating the Nai Yang and the Renaissance. I'm leaning toward the Nai Yang due to location, but the Rena also looks rather nice.

JBord

I stayed here last November, so fairly recently, but not much different than the last one in Oct 2017. I won't go back through all the prior posts, but here's my quick review:

- 10 minute taxi ride from the airport
- On sort of an odd bay that has dramatic tides. You can walk out at least a hundred yards during low tide. So not really a beach where you can swim or get any size waves.
- Very nice resort overall, but very isolated. Long walk or short taxi ride into town, you won't really see anyone on the beach that isn't staying at the hotel.
- Rooms seemed very modern. As a Gold (at the time) I booked a garden view room, and was upgraded to a very nice pool side room, which had a private patio. The patio had a table and chairs as well as a 2-person chaise lounge/bed, with canopy. Large hedges on both sides, so it was private except for the view and walkway to the pool which was about 25 feet away. Great room if you don't feel like splurging on a villa.
- Family friendly, but not overrun with kids.
- Restaurants were all very good, although I think the upscale place (forget the name) was overpriced compared to the others. There was a fantastic Thai buffet one night. Definitely take advantage of that if you stay here. The breakfast buffet was also very good, but expensive, even with the elite discount (compared to the Marriott's in Bangkok where I got almost similar quality buffets for free). A pad Thai station was set up by the pool one day at lunch, which was kind of fun.
- Very friendly, good service, what you'd expect in Thailand.

Haven't stayed at the Ren. From what I can tell though, neither has a lot to do in the surrounding areas. If you're looking for nightlife of any kind, I probably wouldn't choose either of these hotels. If you want to relax, mainly stay at the resort, and forget the rest of the world for a few days, the Nai Yang fits the bill.

quant88

Stayed here this past weekend as a platinum in the new combined program for 3k THB++ per night including an extra 1,000 bonus points per night. When I arrived they seemed to think I was only a gold member which was odd but sorted out in a few minutes. Breakfast for two is one of the choices for the new platinum amenity which is a big improvement in the new program. The 20% food discount remains for platinum although it excludes happy hour and room service. I believe silver gets 10% off and new gold gets 15% off. I received an upgrade to a premium pool access room although I think this was allocated when they thought I was a gold member in the new program. I also asked for a 6pm late checkout and received a 4pm late checkout which is reasonable.

Overall I quite liked the resort especially the food and drinks and overall atmosphere. We didn't leave the resort other than to walk on the beach which was fine for a weekend although the resort isn't huge and is fairly isolated so that may be less appealing for longer stays. As others have mentioned the beach is kinda odd and wasn't swimmable while we were there but is pleasant for walking especially during low tide. The premium pool access room seemed only partially renovated as the bathroom in particular was quite old and not nearly as sleek as the rest of the resort. Judging from pictures on the website it seems they may have renovated the bathrooms in deluxe rooms but not premium pool view/access rooms. The room overall was fine and the upgrade was appreciated although I certainly wouldn't pay the 30-40% premium in rates for the pool access room.

We had breakfast both days at Andaman Kitchen which had a large and fairly high quality selection. We ate here for our lunches and dinner and thought the Thai food was pretty good as well as reasonably priced. We didn't eat at the only other restaurant Big Fish but had many cocktails at the bar part of Big Fish as well as the Lounge. Both Big Fish and the Lounge have good views of the sea. The happy hour is now a selection of drinks at a 25-33% discount so not much savings for platinum members as the 20% discount doesn't stack. The cocktails were quite good and innovative as well as reasonably priced at 250-300 THB. Service was good and responsive although not particularly memorable.

I had stayed at the Ren in March and would slightly prefer the Nai Yang property although would consider returning to both for weekend trips depending on rates. Both are nice although not really 5-star resorts that provide good value for platinums especially in low season when rates are low.

CL9

I thought to try the Marriott Nai Yang but now I am not sure.
For me it is import to swim into sea. I looked at the tide/flood timetable the max peak last weekend was at 07:15 in the morning and 20:20 in the afternoon.
So even early in the morning it was not possible to swimm?

At Ren or JW you never have problem with tide but there is often a very strong current, big waves and problem with jellyfish.