thebluejean

Just did a quick 3 nights stay at Casa de la Flora last month as a Platinum Member and this is a mini trip report.

Room: Beachfront Pool Suite Villa vs. Duplex Grand Pool Villa

Beachfront Pool Suite Villa (2112)

We booked two nights on the duplex grand pool villa with hotel's Ultimate Upgrade package. We were supposed to get one upgrade to the Beachfront Pool Villa but got further upgrade to the Beachfront Pool Suite Villa. The suite had a larger plunge pool and a separate living room when comparing to the regular beachfront pool villa. All the rooms had the same smart TV setup that users can connect to the internet. We used this feature to watch Netflix which was pretty neat. The bedroom had multiple light settings such as welcome and romantic. There were multiple power outlets conveniently located next to the bed.

We got a bottle of sparking wine and a fruit plate as our welcome amenity since we were celebrating our anniversary. All the items in the minibar were included in the room rate and items were replenished daily. Don’t get too excited about items in the mini bar since it only had one small bottle of Evian water, one Heineken beer, one Tiger beer and two small fruit juices. There were plenty of house water bottles through out the room. I believed I count 6 of them.

The bathroom was half size of the bedroom and featured a biggest tub I’ve ever seen in a hotel room. The tub was way too big in my opinion that it would take forever to fill it up. The tub seemed kind of wasted space since the walk way was tight to the shower and toilet. Since this was a “design” hotel (like W”) so naturally the toilet door was transparent which I disliked. Why can’t they put an actual door instead you have to leave the bathroom if your partner/other half wants to use it. The shower pressure was also pretty weak that I just gave up trying to get the right pressure. It did have two rain shower heads so two people can take shower together.

The bedroom had the ceiling to floor sliding door which featured a nice ocean view when laying on the bed. The sliding door was supposed to be opened and guests can access to the plunge pool but I guess it’s not safe so the door was not operable. Each room featured its own air conditioner and can be controlled by a remote control.

The living room size was not big but functional. Both rooms had custom furnitures but with hard edge. Both my husband and I were bumped into the side of the bed frame couple time and it was definitely form over function.

The plunge pool was the highlight of the villa and the size was actually quite decent. The depth was around 4 to 4 1/2 feet and there were three jet streams that can be turned on. There was a lounge sofa with a cover and an umbrella to provide more shade.

In term of privacy there was a grass area in front of the villa where other guests can use the lounge chairs. There were some vegetations to make it more private but other guests may still be able to see the room but not the pool. Because of the vegetation I can’t see the ocean when I laid on the lounge sofa. Villa 2112 was on the far left side of the hotel. Villa 2111 next to us was the most private since virtually there was no foot traffic due to it was the last villa and hotel put kayaks in front of the villa so there were no lounge chairs. You do want to avoid villa 2116 because it is next to the restaurant.

We were very happy with the room and appreciated the extra living space. On our first day we just dipped in the pool, drinking, laying on the lounge chair and repeated.




Deluxe Grand Pool Villa (2316)

On the third night we changed to the Deluxe Grand Pool Villa. The villa had three floors and the front door facing the bathroom’s sinks so basically the bathroom was on the second floor when we walked in. The living room was on the first floor and the bedroom was on the third floor. The setup is odd because there are a lot of up and down. The bedroom has the same ceiling to floor sliding door and you can see ocean in the distant. The bathroom has the similar layout but the shower is exposed without any door. The only redeeming point is the larger lap pool that you can almost swim laps in it. The pool looks pretty private but the wall between villa is not tall enough that I can see next door’s pool if I want to.

Villa 2316 is next to the main pool so it may get some noisy during the daytime but it’s pretty quiet at night. Personally I would recommend to stay at the beachfront villa if you can due to better layout and the view.



F&B

There is only one restaurant and the bar is inside the restaurant. However they can setup a private dinner anywhere on the property including the restaurant roof top or by the pool.

Breakfast

Breakfast was the another highlight of the stay and served from 6:30 am to 10:30 am. The breakfast was also included in the rate when we booked it through SPG. The basic items such as bread/juice/fruits/cereals/cold cuts were buffet styles but there was a made-to-order menu which can be ordered as many times as you want and the selections were great. The selection had traditional items such as egg benedict but it also had some local fares such as pad thai or chicken noodle soup. The weakest point of the breakfast was the juice which seemed all from boxes and not fresh squeezed kind, including orange juice and pineapple juice. The juices all tasted awfully sweet, the artificial kind.




Lunch/Dinner

Lunch and dinner shared the same menu but on Friday night, there was a grilled seafood buffet which was 1,800 baht for dinner. We were not that hungry so we just had items from the regular menu. The menu was quit simple with international/local thai food items like club sandwich/thai curry. We had both lunch and dinner once and we were happy with the food. There were a lot of other restaurants within walking distance.

Happy Hour

Happy hour was from 5 pm to 6:30 pm. Yes that’s right, only 90 minutes and only few drinks were on the list. During happy hour guests can get one cocktail and second one free. The drinks were pretty weak and more like fruit punch but we did enjoy these drinks while watching the sunset. The price was also very reasonable.

Facilities

Pool

It had one main infinity pool and featured 5 lounge chairs. The pool was not big but most lounge chair did get occupied since not all the rooms had a private pool. It’s decent size with a nice view of the ocean.

Spa

We had one spa treatment which was the thai message. The price was much higher than the one from the street but the facility made up for it. It was still not too expensive and we did enjoy our treatment. If you have the treatment in the morning, it comes with extra 15 minutes head message.

Gym

I worked out at the gym once and was surprised how sparse the number of equipment they had. Due to the building shape, it’s underground so there was no window. Only two treadmills and few weight machines. Definitly pretty subpar considering the rate they were charging.

Overall

I would definitly recommend this hotel if you are looking for an intimated stay. As a Platinum you won't get any upgrade but everyone gets breakfast since it is already included on all the booking. Plus all the items in the mini fridge are included in the room rate. The hotel only has 37 rooms so it’s quite small. Khao Lak is a very quiet town comparing to Phuket and it’s one hour north of the airport. We like Khao Lak much more than the tourist trap part like Phuket’s Patong Beach. It also doesn’t hurt when you can BRG this hotel pretty easily. We got our rate almost 2/3 off the published rate thanks to the BRG. Plus all the prices included the tax/service charge so it was great. The price we saw on the spa or lunch menu were all included tax and service charge.

travelswithmyself

Thanks for the EXCELLENT update. I stayed before it was joined SPG and when LeM Khao Lak was still LeM . It looks like nothing has changed, which is not a bad thing. Still pricey though.

I notice you mention nothing about a beach - so presumably it's as it was - zero beach once the tide comes in?

m0hamed

Thanks for the detailed review. TBH, I found the room photos and descriptors on the website unhelpful. Worse, SPG had no inventory loaded for the end of 2017 so I have up and we decided on the Four Seasons Hoi An instead.

thebluejean

There was beach even it was high tide.



By the way, the water was super warm like 82 degree and pretty shallow. I think it really depends on the season. I can see there will be no beach during the raining season.

I think you can call SPG to ask the hotel to load the inventory. Design Hotel is unique in its own way that SPG may only see a subset of inventory which works great when BRGing. For example I only saw a duplex pool villa available when I booked when the hotel was selling the base room.

m0hamed

I can't be bothered. These pseudo relationships should work without my intervention.

UASPG

Thank you for your detailed report.

Not sure this property is right for us.

We selected the InterContinental Danang for the end of the year and, yes, we will have to pay for breakfast (sadly, IHG never came up with that amenity offered by Starwood, Marriott & Hilton).

m0hamed

We came to a similar decision. The rooms interiors are all very small, dark and rather then being enveloped in light there's a lot of concrete that looks quite dark. I looked at the top room types and many of the living rooms don't have direct ocean views.

I get the concept but it's not for us.

In the Wood

We stayed for three nights at Casa De La Flora the past weekend. It has been our most disappointing stay so far with SPG in Thailand.

We stayed in a duplex pool villa on the side of the hotel, which I won't recommend as it is near the wall toward the neighbor property, which happened to have their restaurant there, thus a lot of noise.

Aside this, the hotel has not aged very well and seems to have had no renovation since 2012. All the IT and internet equipment is from another time, the design of the furniture may look nice but are totally impractical.

Breakfast was below average, we even found hair in our food several times. There was no beach at all since they constructed the new wall, even at low tide. (Although strong wind may have pushed the water up a bit).

All in all we didn't have a good time and would not recommend this place before they do any major renovation work