Wow, I knew, that Phuket Taxis are a rip-off, but that much?
If you tell them, that you know the prices, you should get better one! (Even being together with a Thai national!)

Last time, I paid 900 THB for the Transfer to Khao Lak (90km!!!).

Yeah our 1.5 hour (100+ KM) taxi from BKK to Pattaya was only 1,500.

metered taxi????

It is a flat rate from BKK or Dom Meung

It cost me 800B from the hotel to the airport in a taxi in December. If you have the hotel get their car it was 900B.

The fare I quoted was for the official airport limos, but I must admit many resorts are not willing to book this service for their guests inorder to promote their inhouse car service or external taxi provider which they have a long term arrangement.

Any chance anyone has any experience from this fall/summer here?

Any word on the renovation progress? Does anyone have any pictures of the newly renovated rooms?

I spent my vacation at this property earlier this month. Here is the reply from the property.

"Renovations are well on schedule, considering that we have actually decided to renovate the Oceanfront Deluxe Suites (formerly Superior Suites) and Oceanfront Grande Suites (formerly Royal Suites) as well. Current renovations are still scheduled to complete by the end of August 2011."

I have a picture of the newly renovated Deluxe Garden/Pool View Room which I have to upload one of these days.

Thyetus Lee

I know you did not specifically say it ; but knowing how FT members are like, you seem to "imply" that these suites are commonly available for platinum upgrades. AFAIK the 'standard' platinum upgrade at this property is to a Jr Suite .

My Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort review
I cross posted my review on this thread .. I tried to include everything but the formatting just didn't want to come across ... so I've put a small excerpt ...
================================================== =======

Frequent Flyers love the change of new places and countries, but they like consistency in hotels and service just as much as the change in locale - this tends to be a paradox of sorts. It with the search for consistency in mind, that I booked another �Free night� award at the Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort. I chose this hotel because I had stayed here 4 years ago and was really pleased with the hotel and service.

Plaudit #1 � Sheraton Towers, Singapore
Plaudit #2 � Le Meridien Jakarta, Indonesia.
Plaudit #3 � Sheraton Mustika, Indonesia
No Plaudits #1 � The Lagoon, Resort and Spa, Nusa Dua, Indonesia
Plaudit #4 � W Hotel Bali, Seminyak, Indonesia

One should note that this is an older hotel that is currently going through some renovations. This shows on the reception area. This is not a knock on the hotel, it�s just a reflection that this isn�t a newer hotel.

My Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort review

I prefer the newly renovated rooms over junior suites you get as a plat at this property. This hotel has the worst breakfast in the entire SPG system. This hotel has so many Russians, all the signs are in English/Russians.

There are a lot of Russians at this hotel, but then again there are a lot of Russians in the Phuket!
As I mentioned, you can find good rooms around, I just like the Plat Service... but YMMV on this.

Thanks for the update.
When I stayed there a couple of years back, PLT treatment was non-existent. Rooms were old. Service was bad.

i had a few nice stays here, as recent as a couple of years ago....i was upgraded to a suite each time, got good plat treatment & service was good....i haven't been back there since early 2009 so can't comment for the state of the property now....