Nong Pla

Review of J.W Marriott Resort & Spa Khao...

We had a short stay at JW Marriott Khao Lak to che...

We had a short stay at JW Marriott Khao Lak to check out this property and were positively impressed by almost all aspects of the stay, the service, the room, the pool, the beach, dining, etc. and can highly recommend it.

I booked two rooms and as Ambassador Elite one of them was upgraded to a duplex suite. The hotel closed during covid from April to October last year and they took the opportunity to renovate the rooms. Based on a close-up of the cushions, upholstery, the hardwood floors, etc. we might have been among the first to stay in that specific room because everything looked great. The suite was spacious at 85 square meters and even had two full bathrooms, a small one near the entrance with shower only, and a larger one on the upper floor off the bedroom, with shower plus a separate bathtub. Unfortunately because of the layout of the resort none of the rooms have sea views and instead overlook various parts of the swimming pool.

Given low occupancy only one restaurant was open; it had seating both indoors and outdoors. I thought the design of the restaurant was pleasant but the main positive was that instead of covid cutbacks for breakfast, there is now a very extensive a la carte menu with great choices either international or Thai served fresh out of the kitchen.

Happy hour was at the beach bar which is in a killer location on the beach looking straight at the sunset plus live music. I thought the beach was a strong point of the hotel: it was very long and walkable, unlike some hotels in Phuket which are either on a much smaller beach, or you need to cross a busy road to reach the beach, or you need to take a shuttle to go to a public beach.

The swimming pool has lots of twists and turns which give direct pool access to almost all, if not all guest rooms on the ground floor of the low-rise buildings, in addition to the large pool section in the middle of the resort with a swim-up bar which was unfortunately closed due to lack of guests.

Overall our stay was excellent and in this price range it would be hard to beat. JWM is currently priced much lower than the room rates at Pullman and also cheaper than at Le Meridien nearby despite the fact that JWM is a higher level brand than LM. In times of high occupancy perhaps it would not be the quietest resort for couples but it would be a good choice of families with young children thanks to the kids club and the several games available on the resort. For people looking to pay 500 USD per night for a luxury villa with private pool and sea views then obviously JWM would not be a good fit but in fairness in this price range JWM executes very well on what it was intended to be in my opinion.