skunker

How much did you pay for you room? I stayed there in March on points, but at the time rooms were only going for $110/night.

adamak

Award stay, mid Dec right before XMas. As PL, didn't get the suite (fully booked), was "upgraded" to Zen room, on 3rd floor, building A (closest to the pool).

All in all, no complaints. Room is nicely appointed, decorated with West Elm furnitures. You can sort of peak into the ocean from the balcony.

Pros -
Everyone is sooo nice and helpful. Ra Ra is fun. Even though the hotel is full, I didn't feel like it on the ground. This is not Westin Maui crazy. Very relaxed environment. Love the free kayak.
Do try the grill station right across the hotel in the evening. Cheap & tasty. I still dream of that.
Infinity pool is standard affair, but still good. Plenty of chairs.
Spa is wonderful but no wow factor, maybe you should try the $10 beach massage (to the right of the hotel). I didn't discover it until the last day.
Try taking kick boxing class. The teacher Aay is great!
Free buffet. Plenty of fresh fruits, and you can stay as long as you want. Enough said.

Cons -
Middle of nowhere. No easy to go outside. Ah Ngang is OK (200B shuttle), but once is enough.
Food is not good. Drinks are even more horrible. I'm not into night lives, but would love to have quiet cocktails with friends. Other than the lounge in the hotel, you really don't have much choice in Sheraton, and that's expensive. And not much selection.
Internet - very slow, even when you get it for free (1hr) in the library.

All in all, I would still recommend this hotel. The ground is lovely and it's great if you want to have a relaxing time. But if you have lots of activites out of Ah Ngong, then it may be a waste of time to travel daily to that location. Either way, a mighty good deal for award redemption.

mario33

Do you mean free breakfast ?

Richard1148

My question as well. Do you get free breakfast on an award stay?

magic111

We were on an award stay in '06 and as a plat received comp breakfast buffet.

Also had a managers reception for plats & golds one evening with drinks and munchies.

adamak

Free breakfast buffet in either restaurants, part of Plat benefits (same for the 1 hr free internet). No manager's reception for us though. We also get a plat of fruit in the room, but not sure if that's part of the benefits.

skunker

As a gold on an award stay I did not. I also was not told about the SPG "meet-and-greet" and actually just stumbled upon it. But, 4 different managers did come talk to me in 30 minutes asking how everything was.

worldcupfan

I highly recommend the restaurant just outside the resort to the right. It is one of the best Thai meals that I've ever had.

As you exit the resort, follow the sidewalk to the right. Enter the 1st plaza of shops on your right. The restaurant is on the right side of the plaza. Food is amazing. (note that it has been ~ 2 years since I was there)

The restaurant direclty across the street from the resort is popular with hotel guests, but the food is average

SNA1K

There is also a decent restaurant if you head to the beach and go right about 150 yards--Reuan Siam I think was the name of it. They had a Thai and Western menu and were very reasonably priced at about a third the price of the restaurants on the resort. If you want something different, Paddy's Irish Pub is also a decent option. The food isn't excellent, but the bacon sandwich sure hit the spot one night when we needed a break from Thai fare. It would be about a 15 minute walk from the resort, or call and they will have their "Paddy Wagon" come pick you up.

As a bit of info for others staying at the resort on future New Year's Eves: this property, like many other resorts, has an "obligatory" Gala Ball for New Year's Eve. It was advertised as 8,000 baht per person, but when you go and reserve your table they then add 10% service charge plus VAT. For the two of us it was slightly over 18,000 baht. We were then informed that this incredible price does not include drinks, but we could preorder and get a 10% discount. I'm sorry, but 10% off of 3,000 baht for a bottle of Rosemont Shiraz is still extortion. The night before the event I called the manager to complain about this and see if I could at least get the bottle of wine comped and was told that we did not have to attend if we did not want to. She cancelled our reservation and we ended up heading to Ao Nang and had a wonderful time at the Luna Bar right on the beach. Our total for the evening was about 1500 baht!

TooMuchTravel73

Only if you are brave.... Many of the roads have no signs... (count three turns and go right... then count five dirt roads then turn left...)

Trip Report: December 2007.
Was upgraded to Zen Room. The only thing "zen" about the zen room over the standard room is that it has a nicer refrigerator and better ammenites in the room.

Pro:
Thai restaraunt is open, and has AMAZING Thai food. we ate there almost every night. It is much more expensive than off resort properties
Pool food. There are now three places to order food for the pool. Good: Pizza; Avoid: Nachos
Everyone was very friendly
Free breakfast buffet for Plats. (Don't forget to take an extra apple for Ra-Ra)
Internet for 500BHT for the week if you bring your laptop.
Airconditioner ran COLD....

Con:
Heavenly Mattress on top of plywood... not a Heavenly Bed. SPG should update their website to reflect that they do not have the "bed" but mattress only.
Mosquitos. 'nough said
Wireless Internet only availalbe in lounge...

DO: See Ra-Ra. (elephant on the beach)
DO: Go shopping just off plaza: Head right out of the resort, about 100 yards, down a hill small shops. In the back corner is an art shop. If you bring *any* picture the artist there will create a duplicate of it in any size you want. (we came back with 5 pictures, and have e-mailed him some others we want done) . He even took 4 post cards and created a painting out of the 4 things my wife liked.
DO: AO NANG. Shopping and food is good there.
DO: resort excursions - but Don't buy them at the resort 2x (or more) price vs price in AO NANG.
DO: explore the two convience food stores to the right of the resort... Thai Beer 30BHT in store (about 1$) 280BHT on property.
Do: Expect great and friendly service.
DO: Scuba Dive, but buy in AO NANG not at restort.

Don't: Book excursion at the hotel. just too expensive
Don't: forget mosquito repellant, get the 99% deet stuff too
Don't Expect comfortable bed
Don't expect to see the ocean from your room
Don't expect to be close to anything

SNA1K

I took my Garmin GPS with me and purchased the Thailand maps from them and that made this a breeze. We drove all around the area and then on to Phuket and we were thankful for the Garmin as once you get out of the touristy area none of the signs have Latin alphabet translations on them anymore.

I agree with your trip report TooMuchTravel--we were there for 5 days after Christmas so we may have overlapped with your time there.

adamak

I was there pre-XMas but I don't recall mosquito problem. Maybe because I'm at the pool before noon?
Another do : In the evening, there is a grill station right across from the hotel entrance. 5B or something like that for each skewer. It's so good, I'm still dreaming about it.

mario33

Can someone confirm that taxi fare from Krabi Airport is prepaid (like in Phuket) at BHT600 per car ??

lovtofly3

Hotel will pick you up in a van for 375 bht PP.

mario33

Does the van have a fixed schedule or does it depart according to flight arrivals ? Thanks