Novotel Phuket Resort Hotel

Stayed for 3 nights in June, when the weather wasn't great. The rooms are really nice, we had a sea view, with two large beds in each room, nice touch like slippers, dressing gown etc. The air con didn't work the first night I stayed there. As I was on my own the first night, I didn't ring maintenance but they came and fixed it the next morning. They supply drinking water, which you can fit in the mini bar and they have tea/coffee facilities in the room. The best bit about the hotel is the pool, which is split over 3 levels, so you can always find somewhere quiet to lie. The breakfasts were nice, but could be hard to find a table. One morning, after I had been seated and had started on breakfast, another couple came and tried to move me off as they had also been seated at the same table. An easy mistake to make but I had left my book and room key on the table and I didn't like being questioned about it while in the middle of my breakfast. The location of the hotel is at the far end of the beach but I didn't make it to the beach at all. The grounds are lovely, and we were lucky to stay near the reception. I'm glad I wasn't in any of the other rooms up the hill, as I would not like to be walking up and down to those rooms. The worst thing I’d have to say about the hotel is when we were leaving we asked them to get us a taxi to the airport. As the hotel car was in use, they said the only thing available was the hotel's van, and they price they quoted us was 3 times the price we paid to get to the hotel from the airport. And they plain and simple wouldn’t call us another taxi so in the end we had to walk down the driveway, which is rather long, in the heat with all our bags and get a taxi at the bottom of the driveway. I have never been treated like that in any other hotel I’ve ever stayed in.

Lovely hotel with the best service EVER. The pools are amazing, the rooms have great views, the food was to die for and the thai hospitality is seen in all the staff! Would definitely go back! The only bad thing would have to be the stairs - there are no lifts! but it was great to hike them after eatiung so much!!! A great resort!

We were meant to stay here for the whole 5 days of our trip to Phuket. This was my first time in Phuket and had only heard rave reviews about the area. The entrance is magnificent, but then you go to the rooms. They are small and a good walk from entrance. I was very dissapointed after having come from stays at Kota Kinabula and Singapore where same price hotels are cleaner and more modern. We ended up booking another hotel further away with great access to the beach ond no more money.

We rate the hotel as 3.5 stars although in certain areas it is at least 4 star rating. Our room was 2nd floor with ocean views which were simply outstanding and far better than views at Le Merridien resort on the other side of Patong Beach (But in no way beats the Merridian, it's 5 star all the way). This hotel had communication issues with many of the staff having no idea about English and in comparison the Merridien Resort had no such problems. However we enjoyed our stay and stocked the fridge with cheap beer and spirits from down down. Generally the staff were friendly and helpfull. We had breakfast each day and it was very nice. One evening we actually had dinner there ( we ate mostly down town) and it was an amazing Australian BBQ with heaps of food. If you want to stay at this hotel ONLY STAY at ocean view rooms and not higher than 2nd floor, ok? It's all about views. Also the fact that you need to get TukTuk down town is fine..it's good to be away from the crowds and noise at 150 baht. Whilst we enjoyed our stay please remember it's only about a 3.5 to 4 star and we would stay at Le Merridien anyday. Hope this helps

We stayed in this hotel over the new year period it was brillant. The hotel staff really make you welcome and will always be there to help. The food was off first class standards. Cool refreshing towels and fresh fruit is served to you at the pool side. On New Years eve the hotel put on a gala dinner and firework diplay the was asbolutly brillant the staff put a lot of hard word in the preperation for the night. The beech was a 5 min walk away and really lovely. You could walk to the centr of town in about 30mins along the beach or you can take a Tuk Tuk for very little charge.

My family of 3, (2 Adults and 1 Child) Stayed at the Novotel in Phuket for 11 nights in April 2007. The hotel is situated up high on a hill top (so yes there is a lot of stairs and walking to get around the hotel). The views from the Ocean View Rooms are truly spectacular overlooking the Anderman Sea. The hotel is only a 15 minute walk or a 5 minute tuk tuk ride away to Patong shops and entertainment areas. For us it was close enough, but far enough away from the busy Patong. We found majority of staff warm, friendly and polite at all times during our stay. The room was of a good standard and well cleaned every day (my one and only complaint is that the bed was a little too hard for me). All though the hotel was fully booked at the time of our stay the noise level was very low in and around our room both day and night. The pool's are just amazing and are well catered for all ages. The breakfast is also amazing with every type of breakfast item you could imagine, and of a very high standard. The food and restaurants at the hotel are of a very good standard with our favourite being the Ruen Thong Thai Restaurant. All the restaurants where very well priced we thought. I would highly recommend this hotel and I would definitely stay at the Novotel again.

My boyfriend and I have just returned from Phuket, having had a wonderful stay at the Novotel. Our room was lovely and clean, the hotel facilities were excellent (lovely breakfast, and bars and restaurants all served tasty food and had excellent service). The pool area was great, plenty of beds available, wonderful views, and the cold flannels and watermelon which staff brought round the poolside each afternoon was an nice (and very welcome) touch. Patong beach is busy yes, but we happily spent time relaxing there and a walk along the beach at sunset was lovely. I would agree that there are a lot of steps around the complex - this is unavoidable - but we did not find it too much of an inconvienience and it is the fact that the hotel is built on a hillside which provides the stunning views. I would comepletely disagree with a previous comment which said staff were not polite or helpful - EVERYONE we dealt with did everything they could for us, and they were always so happy and smiley! It was this excellent service which made our stay - would not hesitate to stay there again. Excellent holiday, excellent hotel.

We stayed there overe a year ago for 12 days. The staff were excellent, food great & overall we had a fantastic time & didn't want to leave. Yes, the resort is on a hill & a little up hill walking is required from time to time but we didn't consider it to be too bigger deal knowing scerenity awaited us at the other end. It's only a brisk 10 minute's walk from the centre of town where all the action is if that is what you desire. The highlight of our trip was the canoeing through grotto's ending up in lagoons in the middle of uninhabited islands.....a must! We will return!

This hotel is really nice, amazing views over Patong beach, esp if you have a sea view room...we did room 524 had lovely views over the sea and was a standard double. The hotel I would rate as four star. Can be quite expensive if you chose to stay and eat in, but the food is superb and service is excellent. Nice location as far away enough from rowdyness patong has to offer (we found patong streets very smelly!) and patong is about 15min walk away which is lovely to do esp along the beach. People very friendly and views amazing. Would definitely stay here again. The hotel's thai restaurant was our faveourite and is a must, although fairly pricey. Maybe do for a special occasions or birthday.

My husband and I just got back from Phuket today. We would never stay at this resort again. We booked a guided tour all over Thailand (from far north all the way to Phuket) and had the highest expectations of tranquility and relaxation at the Novotel. We had a wonderful experience with all of our hotels and tours throughout the entire trip until the Novotel. Because we had gone on quite possibly every tour Thailand offers, we wanted to relax at the end of the trip, being the Novotel. We aren't the type of tourist who expect staff to roll out the red carpet and shine our shoes, but we experienced extremely rude staff (not all staff or course), but enough to leave us very disappointed. The property is extremely hilly, thus, it's a hike to get anywhere. The "short cut" to the beach has 170 stairs to climb up and down. There is a shuttle, which I will get to here shortly. The beach is public, so very crowded. You have to cross the somewhat busy street to get to it. The pool was the best feature, but if you are sun lovers, you had better get up early and save yourself a spot, because they get filled fairly quick (like any other place). When we first arrived, I was very hungry. I ordered a hamburger (keep in mind I absolutely was the only person who ordered food in their bar at this time). After a 1/2 hour, I politely asked if this was the place I waited for the burger. The bar attendant got on the phone and told me it would be another 10 minutes. I tried canceling this order to just go and walk to another restaurant, aggravated by this point, and had to talk to 3 staff members to not be charged for canceling this. They didn't understand my frustration with waiting 40 minutes for a burger being the only customer to order food there. I spoke with another person on our tour group who had a similar experience with a drink. She waited 45 minutes before canceling her beverage order at the empty bar. Breakfast was good and their Thai restaurant was very good (service extremely slow). It took 1.5 hours to eat at the Thai restaurant and there were only 4 customers total in the restaurant while we were there). Needless to say, if you are hungry, go find a restaurant in town. It's a bit of a walk to the center of town, but not hilly as our resort was, so it's really not all that bad. There were some really great restaurants, bars, etc. in town. After walking about 5 hours around town (including shopping, dinner, bars), we walked back to the hotel. Though we were fine walking all this time, the extreme hike or room was not appealing. We asked the guards if a shuttle still ran and they told us to have a seat. We waited about 15 minutes and asked again if there was still shuttle service. They couldn't speak English. One of the guards handed me a phone indicating he wanted me to call someone. The person on the other end of the line told me that the shuttles were "off". I was very irritated at the fact that there wasn't a posting anywhere of the shuttle hours and that the guards told us to sit for the shuttle. Anyhow, we started up the hill, aggravated of course, but a shuttle came down the hill shortly after (this was around midnight). I still don't know if there are hours of operation or not. Another shuttle experience we had was during the day. We saw a shuttle and he stopped at the front lobby. He got off and when he past us, we asked a couple times if he'd take us to our room. He appeared very angry that we had bothered him and sped up this hill and slammed on his breaks when he dropped us off up the hill. My husband and I travel to resorts fairly often. It doesn't take a lot to make us happy. We've had the opportunity to stay at 5 star resorts, but are truly fine and more often stay at 3.5 maybe 4 star resorts. We can even look past poor service who speaks very limited English. Our major disappointments were the extreme hills of the property, it's not located right on the beach (though not far), and the beach isn't private, thus very crowded. I prefer quiet, remote, and relaxing if on an island. This was far from it. Instead we got exercise, long waits for anything, more exercise, rude staff, and more exercise.