Kacee

Are you following what's going on in Thailand right now, including the lockdowns and travel bans? We were there in May and are not even considering returning to Thailand until there's a major improvement in the Covid situation and all the restrictions. And it's much, much worse now than it was when we were there.

AnttiV

Yes, but I have been living most of the last 6 years in Thailand and haven't visited our condo in over a year now so time to go back. Naturally hoping things will get a bit better in the next months but one can only hope.

goodeats21

Strongly considering Merlin Beach Marriott for my Sandbox stay in November. Rate is very attractive.

Any recent visits / reports?

merrickdb

I was there for 19 days in early August. Rooms are quite nice and breakfast is great, but suites are booked out (perhaps by management staying there), so little chance of an upgrade to a suite (though you should be able to get an oceanfront room). There are also lots of kids running around the property and the beach is mostly corral.

I'm currently at the Marriott Nai Yang, and just extended another 18 days here. It has a more upscale feel, few kids, and they upgrade elites to oceanfront villas with private pools. There is some construction noise from next door and it doesn't have the advantage of being close to Patong, however. Bangtao, a large expat area, is a 25-40-minute drive away, and there are some restaurants on the beach in Nai Yang. I also spent more than a week at the Renaissance Phuket. They too upgrade elites to villas (including the oceanfront ones if you're lucky) and it has a peaceful atmosphere. F&B is considerably pricier than the two Marriott properties and the location, at the far north of Phuket, is quite isolated.

Check out Megatix for discounted Marriott vouchers for up to 37.5% off, though it may be challenging to combine them with the Sandbox prepayment requirement. If you call or email a property, you may be able to work something out. The Marriott Nai Yang also sells vouchers with the same terms directly, and those might be easier to use to meet the Sandbox prepay requirements. Also check the "Summer Dreams" rate package at many Phuket properties, which includes a 1,000 THB/night property credit plus roundtrip airport transfers and 5,000 bonus Bonvoy points per stay. It's not combinable with Megatix, however.

goodeats21

Thanks very much for the info. I think the proximity to Patong is more important to me then the possibility of upgraded room. I really dislike feeling isolated on a resort. And compared to my last trip with being confined to room in Bangkok, this is going to be a dream.
And even without Megatix, etc. the rate is very attractive.

Kacee

I'm not normally a Patong fan, but given the low level of tourist activity right now, this is probably the right call. It's going to be really quiet around the Marriott resorts farther north.

goodeats21

Thanks Kacee. Always appreciate your input.
Hoping this all becomes irrelevant soon, with statement from PM that he wants no quarantine for USA arrivals effective Nov 1. Also wish they announce it early enough for to make plans.

ftrichard

We've got five nights booked next week on the all-inclusive rate. Both the restaurant and booze choices look good and better than the Le Meridien Khao Lak whose all-inclusive rate I've enjoyed. We didn't enjoy the Sheraton Samui's all-inc rate at all and it was a bit of a rip off.

No sign of a meaningful upgrade on the app yet. Tourism in Thailand seems to be down these last few weeks so I hope occupancy is low and we can get bumped up for our stay. Any Titaniums who can comment on recent upgrades?

ftrichard

Despite torrential rain and storms every day we just had an excellent five-night stay here on the all-inclusive package. It is - by some distance - the best all-inclusive package we’ve experienced recently at Bonvoy hotels in Thailand compared to the pretty-good Le Meridien Khao Lak and the execrable rip-off at the Sheraton Samui.

After checking in on line I received a personal message on the Bonvoy app welcoming me which I think is a first. I told them we would be happy with a King bed room (rather than the cheapest Twin Double I’d booked) if a better upgrade was possible and we expected to arrive at about 2pm but didn’t mind waiting if the room wasn’t ready. It never hurts to be helpful and polite.

In the event, the morning of our arrival we were upgraded to a King-bed suite with a sea view on the app and upon arrival at 1.30pm this was ready for us. Check in itself was great with a separate desk for elites. I don’t know if everyone gets this but we were offered a welcome drink at the desk. Usually this is an icy, syrupy concoction but here we were given a Chang beer and I spied a large fridge of them in the back. We also got a voucher for two cocktails in the beach bar which we didn’t need because of the all-inclusive rate we booked. The Director of Rooms arrived (having clearly been summoned) to welcome us and give us his card in case we needed anything during our stay so I was able to thank him directly for the suite upgrade. So far, so great.

We received two wristbands. One to identify us as all-inclusive. The second to identify us as Titanium (probably Platinum or greater). I’m not sure what this achieved but service was excellent throughout the hotel. As elites, we were invited to a drinks event on Wednesday from 5pm-6pm where we met some staff and won 4000 Bonvoy points in a raffle which posted to my account immediately.

The suite has clearly been recently renovated. They’ve maintained the fitted wooden furniture like skirting boards and interior doors but updated the flooring, rugs, wallpaper, paintwork, upholstery, electronics, so that the room feels largely fresh and not scuffed. I particularly liked the replacement wooden floors which help the suite feel clean in a sandy resort. Some legacy remains including somewhat dated phono connectors to connect your laptop to the TV (I was able to get to the HDMI at the back of the TV without a problem). We had a large wrap-around balcony that did indeed overlook the beach and also the children’s play area however we were not bothered by noise. Perhaps because the torrential rain kept them all indoors most days. Haha.

The main bathroom comes with a very complete set of amenities which I always appreciate in these cost-reduced times: toothbrushes, shaving kit, bath salts, sewing kit, comb etc. Interestingly, the second bathroom in the lounge also includes a shower and another full set of amenities so we could have a proper bathroom each.

The resort itself is wrapped around a large leisure pool with busy pool bar and on its own semi-private beach (a bit like the nearby Le Meridien). It’s slightly closer to Patong and the hotel runs a free shuttle bus to Bangla Road and the mall throughout the day.

We’ve tried all-inclusive rates at a few Bonvoy hotels in Thailand from the most mean-spirited waste of money at the Sheraton Samui to the quite-decent Le Meridien Khao Lak and this one blew them away. For comparison, all three properties serve free flow-booze from about 11am-11pm which is fine. The selection of wine at the Marriott is a little better with two of each type (red, white, rose, and sparkling) and we drank them out of Jacob’s Creek Le Petit Rose while we were there and trapped indoors by storms. The Marriott scores hugely with the all-inclusive food. You can eat whatever you want at any of the six restaurants (beach grill, sports bar, Italian, high-end Thai, main a la carte/buffet, and lounge) at any time off any menu. We were warned that certain items had a surcharge. This ended up being steak in the buffet and lobster in the Thai. A trivial THB150 surcharge which in the event wasn’t charged. Each night the hotel has a themed buffet mostly costing THB1200 which is also included in the all-inclusive. You could stuff yourself on three meals a day plus burgers in the sports bar and hot snacks in the lounge on this plan. This is all-inclusive done like a Caribbean resort. Top marks. (Now just compare to the shabby Sheraton Samui that charged us literally double the price per room per night and gives you the exact same cost-reduced three-course menu (think burgers and pad Thai sort of food with steak surcharge of THB1200 IIRC) for lunch and dinner at a single restaurant and we left our staycation weekend feeling utterly cheated.)

So, I have nothing but praise for the Phuket Marriott Merlin Beach for its elite treatment, staff service, hardware, F&B, and all-inclusive package. On with the pictures...


Ocean-view Suite Upgrade sitting room

Bedroom

Main bathroom

The ocean view about 60% of the stay

The ocean view about 20% of the stay

Beach bar

Beach front

Semi-private beach

The most important picture for all-inclusive guests

One wristband for all-inclusive, the other for Platinum/Titanium guests

travelinmanS

Looks nice. Thanks for the report. I've stayed at the LM a few times and always enjoy the beach there. Is this beach a fairly swimmable beach? It looks from the photo like there are lots of rocks in the water. Also, how much more were the all inclusive rates than the normal room rates?

ftrichard

I found this. It's THB2900 net per person per day. They sell a certain number of (room + all-inc) packages through the Marriott web site but if it's not showing up then it's also available as an upsell upon check-in. I'd check with them directly if you can add it to a basic room reservation if you're hoping to do this as they do limit the capacity. When they launched it, I was told they had 300 all-incs at one point and they had to stagger restaurant sittings as a result so they limit the capacity now. We definitely got our money's worth from this even taking into account we'd have got breakfast anyway. Of course, if you don't drink much alcohol and/or are on a holiday-of-a-lifetime to Thailand and intend to be off exploring Phuket most of the day then it's maybe less good value but if you're heavy drinkers and want a beach staycation (we live on Samui and just wanted to get off the island for a bit) it's absolutely perfect. Definitely we'll be back when the weather's better.

ftrichard

Difficult to say how swimmable the beach is because it was red flagged most of the time we were there and somewhat stormy. I did see some people in the water and there's nothing warning you not to. On the right of the beach is a coral reef which is promoted by the hotel for snorkelling and hunting in rock pools. However, you'd have been risking life and limb if you'd tried this our week what with the waves, driving rain, and high-velocity winds.

ExpatSomchai

Not particularly good as it is very shallow but if you walk far out you can certainly swim. Alternative is to hire a canoe to get you out there. TBH not many rocks to worry aout.

dayone

Is there a link to view that offer?

ftrichard

I contacted them directly on FaceBook Messenger and they sent me download links to a Google Drive where all their PDFs are. Suggest that's the best way to get an original.

It's not readily available on their FaceBook page and there's even less information on their Marriott web site reservation pages.