Centara Hotels and Resorts
 

Anyone stayed in these properties in Phuket? I am looking at the Centara Grand resort and the Centara Karon Beach resort. They both seem really nice for good prices. It looks like a Thai owned company. What is the reputation of them? Thanks.

Seanthepilot lives in Phuket. If he doesn't respond here, just send him a PM and I'm sure that he'll be happy to give you some help.

I stayed in the Centara Grand at Karon last August during the off season. We loved it. Even though it's a Thai company the clientele was completely foreign, and there were a good number of families. But it being the offseason, I'm sure fewer guests meant fewer services than normal. I guess it would depend on when you go.

The resort is tucked away on a private stretch of Karon beach. There may be some places to walk to a little further down the beach, but we ended up just taking taxis to Patong and Rawai. (And taxis, like in the rest of Phuket, are expensive.) Karon seems like a really quiet town with not all that much available. The resort itself is quite picturesque though. We stayed in a regular room with a small balcony and outdoor seating. It felt very refreshing and clean. The bathroom was spacious with a tub and shower stall, and two sliding door entrances. All of the resort's facilities feel very new, and the service is pretty top notch. There is a breakfast buffet every morning which is pretty solid (perhaps not the best I've ever had, but still rather good), and the dinner buffet has a rotating schedule of themes (if memory serves me correctly, Asian nights and Mediterranean nights were part of the rotation). The dinners were good as well, but quite pricy. We also ate at a bar which was fairly average.

I think the food is generally expensive on the resort grounds, but that shouldn't be surprising. Also, while you do get free water in the room, no other water is free. That part bugged us a little bit as we had previously stayed at the JW Marriott where free water seemed available to us left and right. At Centara Grand you have to pay for water you order poolside or in the restaurants, and I don't imagine that has changed since we last stayed there. Also the wifi was not free.

Speaking of the pools, they had a good assortment. Families will spend a lot of time in the main pool area which also includes a mini lazy river and slide. There's also an adult pool a good distance away from the main pools. We spent all our time there and it was quite peaceful.

If at some point you get bored of the resort you do have Patong within a 10 minute drive and Phuket town not that much farther away. It's a good location for a quiet retreat. The service generally may not match that of JW Marriott but it's still professional and the resort facilities are excellent.

I hope that's at least somewhat helpful.

We have stayed at the Centara Grand in Bangkok & loved it. Very professional & helpful staff.

I have stayed at Centara Grand Central World and really did not appreciate it. I booked a Club room as well as limousine transfer from the airport. Apart from transfer and check-in, the hotel did not leave a professional impression on me with the sky bar telling me i can pay in cash only (not by card or to the room), totally pretentious staff in the club lounge that was only serving "their" guests and one of the worst breakfast experiences ever (it reminded me of a hotel in china where a group was raiding the buffet and staff was simply not present).

i had raised the issues to the gm and got a reply from the eam who was not able to fully understand my issue, just saying it will be looked into and that i should feel free to get in touch the next time i stay... though after i stayed at centara in samui where i was also not impressed, i do not intend to stay with them again.

Never got the chance to stay in their resorts in Phuket, but for every visit we made to Bangkok, we always make a stay in either Central World or Grand Lad Prao.

For us convenience and comfort is the ultimate key, Centara Central World is on the pricey side, but we found great value having a property above a massive mall with all the amenities we need - shops, restaurants, cinemas, supermarket, food court and cafes. The best part is, Central World Mall is linked to all the major attractions and BTS via the skywalk way. This is an extreme perk for us, as we can walk in comfort and shelter to where ever we needed to go.
The rooms are in an odd shaped layout because of the building's tower spherical shape, but never really bothered me, as we are always put on the top floor with exceptional views of the city.
Service staff were always polite and professional, we were always checked in with welcome drinks or exchange for coupons for drinks at the pool.
We dined a few times on different occasions on the sky bar and I believe a Mexican restaurant.
The bar I must admit was a little too pretentious for our liking, but the restaurants staffs were amazing.
We got free h'ordeuvres accompanied with our happy hour drinks, and the sunset views on a 70th floor building is truly spectacular.
Breakfast service, I can't complain. It gets really busy, but you get your typical buffet selection and an egg station.
Overall, Central World beats hands down on location compared to all the big chain properties we stayed with.

We also loved Grand Lad Prao for the closest proximity to the weekend Chaktukchak market.
The hotel arranges free private shuttle services to the weekend market, but if you flag a cab or do a grabcar, it's about a 5 minute drive to the market.
It's a real gem for a full service hotel of this size to be close to one of the biggest attraction in the city.
Needless to say, this location is also linked to another Central Mall in Ladprao.
You might have to walk through a seedy parking lot to get into the mall, but as mentioned, the convenience factor again is the key to our value.
This property has a pool, looks kind of dated, but on my last visit, they had renovated most of the rooms, and we were upgraded to a corner renovated room.