ttusqrl

All,

I have searched this forum exhaustively and found reviews on the various MR properties in Phuket. That said, I have not found a comparison of them, nor a comparison to Koh Samui.

So here is my question -- I have 1 week planned in Thailand in November. I know this is rainy season, but this is the only time our calendars allow for a vacation. We will be arriving mid-month, so I expect a fair amount of rain, but we will be headed to the Maldives for a week which is my insurance policy in case we get rained out in Thailand. So back to the question, what would you do with 1 week? I have more than enough points available to me for any hotel in the region, so we can split this up as much as we want. Would you do the whole time at the JW Khao Lak? Split it up with the JW Phuket? Is it worth a short hop over to Koh Samui for the Ren?

Any and all advice is welcome. If, by some way, I missed a similar thread, then please feel free to point me in that direction and we can consolidate them.

Thank you in advance!

bspn

i would avoid Koh Samui, since Nov is one of the rainiest month.

ttusqrl

Yes, I know it's the rainiest month as previously mentioned, but do you think Phuket will have that much more sun? Thanks for the input!

SychoSly

We stayed at the JW Khao Lak this past December and it was a gorgeous property. Maybe about an hour north of Phuket.

Kacee

It is not rainy season in Phuket in November. The seasons are opposite in Samui and Phuket.

Beano HK

Personally I would go for the Khao Lak option, but I am content with sitting on a beach with a book all day. A week might be a bit long at this one place, so may be worth splitting. For me the JW in Phuket was OK, I didn't really like the property but scored a suite so can't really complain about that. I've never tried the Ren, but based on reviews here it seems good, SWMBO likes Khao Lak, so only got to try the JW on a trip back from Krabi to HKT.
Samui. We were there at Xmas, it's a bit tired in places, staff are great with excellent management team, the weather as mentioned is going to be a bit hit and miss, so would suggest elsewhere. KS is very commercial these days, and avoid Chaweng like the plague if you do go!

nissan720

Just a quick question - why are all of the Phuket and surrounding area properties in one huge thread?

I have tried to read through it several times and it is very hard to follow.

ttusqrl

Great, brief, write up -- thank you!!! So it sounds like maybe I should do 5 days in Khao Lak and another 2 in JW Phuket. We are arriving/departing from HKT, so those are both pretty easy. I'll keep monitoring this for other suggestions before I book in a week or so.


UPDATED -- switched our plans around and are doing JW KL for a few nights then headed over to the Ren for a pool villa. Hope we made the right choice!
A brief summary of our hotels on vacation as it stands now (in chron order):
Khao Lak (3 nights)
Renaissance Phuket (4 nights)
MLE Airport hotel (1 night)
W Maldives (6 nights)
Hong Kong Ritz (1 night)

cln

looks like a nice trip
JW Khao Lak is nice.. i can only recommend it.
W Maledives is not within my budget though but i hope to see a review of you :P

ttusqrl

I switched it around a little but we are still getting Khao Lak in. I would offer to post pictures of the W on here, but I might get scolded.

I have never done a trip report before, maybe this is the time to start. I will do my best to capture our trip in photos and a trip diary, and I will post up a trip report when we return.

jaejaez

Bumping this Thread: Since the merger I see many more options down around Phuket. Has anyone been to them all? Which would you say is the best option for someone who values:
1. Quality of Beach (Le Meridien Phuket comes to mind)
2. Best Luxury (the now-gone Le Meridien Khao Lak was pretty luxurious)
3. Best (Thai) food (It is Thailand, after all) in house

Thanks in advance!

hhoope01

You might want to check out the https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...-thailand.html thread.

DMSFCA

Stayed at the W on Koh Samui - it was nice, don't know if it was 40k/points/night nice. I think the rack rate was $1100/night.

The beach is really nice and the bar is nice. The place is right on the beach and it doesn't feel crowded even at capacity.

The downside is that it's pretty far from the main action of Koh Samui. We rented a scooter to get around (aka: tourst death ride) but next time I'd consider a non-SPG property closer to the fun stuff. Nobody wants to ride a scooter on the wrong side of the road after a night of festivities.

SQTraveller

I went to Phuket during rainy season and it was delightful. There was almost no one at the hotels. It did rain, but not as much. I was living in the region at the time, so wouldn't have been dreadful if it rained a lot.

If you're flying in long haul, then it's not worth taking the risk if you want it to be dry.

mhdena

I had the same question last year, the Marriott forum people thought lumping all the properties into one thread was a good idea , but like you said its hard to follw and search for the one you are looking for the info on.

Same with that "Marriott family" threads, each brand deserves its own thread not a 100+ page lump em all together thread.