J.W Marriott Resort & Spa Khao Lak, Thailand Reviews

May 2021... It began with 32, but we ended up spending a total of 43 days here . It s been our longest hotel stay ever, and we loved every minute of it!

The food at Olive restaurant was excellent. Since it was the only restaurant open on the premises, it served a good selection of Italian, Thai, and a little Japanese.

Activities during Easter and Songkran were a lot of fun with mandatory masking at the semi self-serve and shielded breakfast buffet line. We have khun Pooh ( ) the manager to thank for that. She was so lovely and made sure that everybody who was walking around in that room had a mask on! We also had delicious room delivered chocolate Easter eggs, and special dinners for both events with live entertainment. Ta-Krai was also opened during Songkran and was serving Thai and Japanese food. Dinner there was superb!

We eventually decided it was time to go home when most of the nearby local restaurants, temples, and national parks were closed, either voluntarily or by law, because of low occupancy or afraid of Covid-19.

From security to housekeeping, reception to restaurant managers and servers, we would like to thank each and every hotel employee for their exceptional service. For their politeness, attention, patient, and lovely smile. Thank you chefs for all the delicious meals, desserts (lemon tart & vanilla ice cream ), and all of your specials at breakfast! And of course thank you JWM Khao Lak for such a wonderful package at a very good price.

Thank you all very much for wearing masks all the time. It s a pity that many guests are not as courteous and won t do the same. Of course, 43 days didn t fly by without a hitch, but we will be leaving that with Khun Lek (front office manager) for your consideration. Please allow us a couple of days to slap ourselves back to reality after such a lengthy and wonderful vacation!

As they say health is wealth , so we wish all of you good health and prosperity during this tough time. Hang in there gang! Hope to see you again soon.

PS: Half way back to Bangkok we discovered that we still have the key cards and will mail them to you ASAP! Sorry for any inconveniences.

Very nice hotel. Staff caring. Breakfast at the top.
Several pools and rooms very nice, spacious and well decorated.

very expensive, but ok, great rooms, breakfast too loud. good experience but we will not come again.

Nice long pool, great breakfast buffet. Good service. But also a bit impersonal due to the size.

The sea color right on the resort is really bad, but the swimming pool and spa that surrounds the resort is really good

Hotel worth very much its 5 stars. The facilities are well thought out, the rooms are very comfortable and well equipped, the staff is extremely kind and everything is done to make the guest feel unique. Thank you for the great attentions on my husband's birthday .. Nice pet-shaped towels, a little message to wish him .. And an excellent chocolate cake deposited in the evening and found on our return. Really congratulations for all the quality services of this hotel !!

Enjoyable pool, rich breakfast buffet
I am grateful that the staff are soft and have prepared a lot of water and towels.

Perfect ! Room with pool access can go for 1km around hotel ,beach very beautiful with sunset in front hotel . Don't miss Italian food at Olive for dinner food and service very good .

Nice and clean hotel. Bit far away from Khao Lak center. Beach in front of hotel is good. Atmosphere is calm, relaxed and peaceful. Bars and restaurants are bit on expensive side.

This has got to be one of the most relaxing holiday I've ever had the hotel is absolutely out standing by far I would say if you fancy an exotic holiday this is a hotel to stay at xx

Paradise on the Coast! You need to plan to stay back and enjoy this hotel for 2-3 days at least. Private beach with bar, lounge chairs, live music, water rides. Endless swimming pools. Maintained to best of standards. Wide spread of breakfast buffet. Amazing, Courteous and Professional Staff.

When is the worst municipal in the rainy season? If you go to the same place, 300 Batt Shuttle is 200 Batt 1200 Batt Tokyo Night You do not have enough food to eat the Japanese buffet.

Stayed for 6 nights. Hotel was under renovation but it was still great. Not much in the immediate area so as long as you like sitting by the pool/beach then it is perfect.

Hotel very clean, kindness and politeness of the staff. To recommend.

It was a mixed bag. Mostly good customer service via the resort staff, with some connecting services such as transport seeming a bit disorganised. We were left stranded during a market trip in the rain. Our ride was refunded by the reception staff. Haven't experienced a 5 star resort prior to this. Perhaps had super high expectations. Felt like it was a 4 star resort at times (once again, no experience to back this up). This is partly due to maintenance occurring, though understandably during low season. Some staff shone above the rest. Our room had sand on the floor upon arrival on our first night. Reception service staff were usually more than willing to respond. Overall my wife and I had a relaxed time on our honeymoon with more than enough food provided in our all inclusive 8 night package.

Decent resort, although not a luxurious one as they are hoping you to believe, property shows its age and needs a serious refurb in order to be classed as 5*. Also, none of the rooms are actually taking advantage of beachfront positioning of the property - are pool-view rooms. All of them. Don't be fooled - JW Marriott only by name, it's more like a very solid regular Marriott. Staff is lovely and food is great, though.

Hotel with the longest pool in the world! Clean rooms, good food & nice staff.

Way too loud music. The bass overshadows the whole beach any ocean noise and tranquility. Have booked extra this beach to switch off but instead you can hear the music for miles along the beach and feels like the Ballermann. Not good. Unfortunately not suitable for relaxing ...

Amazing resort. Are coming back for a second time this year. Can't wait.

I absolutely loved this place three years ago so I had to come back and it lived up to my expectations again! With or without kids (very child friendly) there is plenty to do or just laze about enjoying the gorgeous views and be pampered with the most wonderful spa treatments. It was also lovely to see familiar (staff) faces and have them remember us. The staff are amazing and very accommodating. Highly recommend!

Very relaxing atmosphere. Superb resort with friendly staff and amaaazing swimming pools. Would love to come back.

Been here more than 10 times. No. 1 Beach resort for my family. It is a wonderful resort with huge pool.( You can even bring your own rubber boat) You will love it here :)

Luxury, friendly & helpful staff, breakfast always awesome....I would go back if I could. The pool is pretty special.....you'll see....

Buffet breakfast really impressive, generally idyllic place, beach bar with simple daily menu proposals. Nice private beach. Ground floor rooms have pool entry from balcony, the pool has a net of canals leading to the main pool area. Free parking. Nice place to stay longer, however it is quite expensive place as for Thailand.

Top hotel in Khao Lak.
Chose it deliberately, the pool landscape and the ambience of the hotel is top for Thailand.
Choose a room with pool access, at the lagoon (wing 1 or 2, already renovated there), rooms 3 & 4 will be renovated in the middle of the year, and there is also the kids pool there. Great breakfast, gym, etc., service friendly and always helpful.

Eat on the beach on foot, good selection.

The only small drawback:
1 .: Beach chairs reservation - there is a clear rule here, and you are clearly informed that unused / reserved ones are removed before 11 a.m. Without consequence - from 8:30 a.m. you have no chance in the adult area in the first / second row. We are early risers, seen daily. Management should look here every day.
2 .: You try to separate adults and kids, like a separate beach area. With the rooms, this is clearly not always possible (wing 3 & 4) is the kids pool. We had rooms in wing 2, after 3 days 5, 6 rooms before a group with Australians and 3 rooms next to each other with 6 children were occupied. At times the quiet lagoon / our room was like being right at the kids pool. Even a friendly advice lasted only half an hour. Nothing against children, our room neighbors also had children, but it was quiet / normal. Here the management should also make sure that you don't book this for free, because you are looking for a bit of peace in a 5-star.

You don't notice anything about the expansion construction site next to Wing 1.

All in all a top facility!

I had a rather displeasing experience as Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite member. Perhaps one of the worst experiences I encounters in the past few years being a Platinum Elite member.

I personally do not recommend this hotel at all if you are Marriott Elite member. They do not value, honour, or even respect your loyalty. We got some sort of room downgrade and when asking for explanation, we were lied to in the face, not once but twice, citing error by the Marriott system. This is unacceptable. Communications were also poor, or I could say, they don't make an effort to communicate any room issue with the customer prior to checking-in.

The room, though, looked fantastic after the recent renovation, but wiring of lightings were confusing. Drainage in the room didn't work so well so while you were showering, you'd flood your feet. Staff doesn't seem to be professional enough that you can expect of from the standard the JW Marriott brand carries.

I'm very unlikely to repeat this hotel again in the future.

Really Lovely resort. Lovely Breakfast. Big waves next to the sea

the pool is really beautiful. have the softest sand on the beach, real thai food, motor renting, tourist agency in 5 mins' walk. everthing's perfect!

Great hotel, great facility, great service
great breakfast buffet except orange juice

Had our honeymoon there . Excellent service , happy helpful staff excellent food . The locals are just as friendly. Going back in 2 weeks for 3 weeks . I wanna live there.

Everything "perfect": service & atmosphere... up to food and drinks. I can highly recommend a stay: be it for romantic stays (lovely hideaways around the pool, romantic dinner arrangements at the beach) or for Singles. Guests from around the globe (China, Russia, France, US, Scandinavia, Germany etc.) made my conversations very inspiring.

Gorgeous property, beautiful beach with calm waters and the biggest pool I have ever swam in. The staff was so nice and so helpful. We borrowed bikes for an outing and you can easily walk down the beach for dinner or Thai massage if you don't want to pay resort prices.

The resort is priced a little higher. Unfortunately, this is just less noticeable on site. Lots of families with young children, high volume levels in many areas of the resort. However, there is almost always an "adults only" zone, which is quieter. Our actual room was not available due to overbooking and we had to sleep worse the first few nights in one category. Unfortunately very inappropriate in this price range. Unfortunately, there were only half-hearted compensations for this, e.g. a small price compensation and a meal voucher for a hotel restaurant of our choice. Unfortunately, the cleanliness in the entire resort left a lot to be desired. However, it was on a typical Thai level. But this also meant that at night large insects could get into the room under the door. Only the behavior of the employees can be traced back to the price category: All employees (including cleaning and gardening staff) were consistently competent, friendly and courteous and even greeted every guest as they passed. The huge pool area is very nice, as is the long, empty beach. And despite the many German holidaymakers, you hardly need to worry about berths. The breakfast selection is huge and the food very tasty.

Addendum: The move to the new room was very cumbersome; first we were chased out of the room with the information that our new room was ready. We would be picked up here at any moment. After waiting some time with luggage in the midday heat, we went to the reception. It wasn't even known which room was intended for us, despite being contacted by phone in the morning of the day. As a result of our inquiries, a free room was finally looked for and found after further waiting time. All while new guests arrived and were immediately assigned their rooms.
After a few days someone came up with the brilliant idea of repainting the door of our next-door room. With solvent-based spray paints. Since the doors in almost no room were completely sealed (we already had insects in the room several times) the vapors came into the room immediately and staying in it was impossible. Fortunately, our complaint stopped work. We decided not to offer to combat the smell of solvents with scented candles or the like.
I would definitely not recommend this hotel to others, and I am very disappointed with our vacation planned as cozy and relaxed.

Amazing hotel!
A bit far from the center, there are good restaurants in the hotel but there are also restaurants on the beach outside the hotel which are not bad at all and a quarter of the price of the restaurants in the hotel.
Great pool !!!
Excellent service!!!
Great Rooms !!!

Beautiful rooms, beautiful swimming pool, delicious food, excellent service staff.

Fantastic hotel with a fantastic beach! Unique and absolutely recommendable!

Good accommodation excellent staff. Expensive to eat and drink

The hotel is very beautiful, good atmosphere, friendly receptionist, talking to each other, very friendly, the pool is big, very long, the room is beautiful, but if anyone comes The road here is doing its way. Be careful when eating outside at night. Because the road is very dark and dangerous

Really good place a little long pool but it was nice people a little expensive food but we ate on the beach with delicious ma Nice rooms

Fabulous place to stay at. Away from the city though

Good for small kids , nice breakfast , gym, a hideaway ...

We came here to meet up with friends and the place is amazing. There is a 2.2km lazy river pool winding around the resort so a pool access room would be the best option. Food was great - we had them by the beach side and it was a refreshing experience.

Staying at the resort twice in 2 years. We enjoy the duplex suite and the great service. The staff at the beach cafe are particularly attentive. K. Don at the gym is also a great yoga instructor for adults and kids.

This huge resort holds one of longest pools in the world. You can literally swim from your room to the lobby, gym, restaurant and spa if you want. It has exchanged hands multiple times in the past. It has been called Novotel Coralia Magic Lagoon, Sofitel Magic Lagoon, Kempinski Beach Resort, Rixos Premium Resort, Cher Fah Resort and JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa since July 2014. It was tragically hit by the devastating tsunami in December 2004 when it was under the management of Sofitel. The amount of restoration work that has taken place since that fateful day is pretty incredible.

I arrived by car from Phuket International Airport. The northward drive took about 1 hour and 30 minutes and traffic was clear all the way. Huge contrast to what it could have been if I drove south into Phuket instead. The are two parking areas. One near the lobby and another one near the tennis courts. Parking is free and I never had any trouble finding available space.

We were offered really refreshing towels and drinks at check-in. I was also offered a welcome gift choice of a snack plus one beverage or 1,000 points. This was probably the only time that I did not choose the points as my welcome gift. Scroll down to the welcome gifts below and you will know what I mean. As if the welcome gift is not enough, we were offered two drink coupons for each night for redemption at Czar Bar.

As a Platinum member, I was also upgraded to the beautiful Duplex Suite! The staff also took the effort to decorate the room as they knew that my birthday was just a few days prior. Looking at the details, I could tell that it took them a lot of time. Outstanding first impression!

Platinum members are offered complimentary daily breakfast for two at Waterfront.

There is a back gate where you you will find annoying taxi touts and masseuses. Put on your ear plugs and a fake smile and continue walking a little to the right. You will find miles of clean, empty beach and sometimes, horses.

Besides the gym, you can stay active with complimentary activities or a game of tennis, squash or table-tennis.

If you have to leave for the airport early in the morning, the hotel provides take-away breakfast boxes for you to bring along. Be sure to submit the take-away form beforehand.

Conclusion
Hospitality was brilliant from the beginning. I really wished that there was an Executive Lounge but the amenities offered somehow made up for it. There are some restaurants located by the beach with a reasonably priced menu after you walk pass the taxi touts if you want cheaper dining options. If you can find a date that works for you at the cheapest rate of 3,150 THB/night, it is an outstanding value. The next time you decide to land in Phuket International Airport (HKT), considering going North instead.

Ratings
Breakfast: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Location: 9/10
Room: 10/10
Facilities: 10/10
Executive lounge: -
Elite member recognition: 10/10

Wow, everything is good. Location, food and service. The staff are very nice. Impressed. Would like to stay again.

Very nice facility, we liked it very much. Is a bit out of the way but just right for relaxing.

The Khao Lak Marriott is a little far from Phuket airport, just over an hour's drive. But that's where the downsides end. The staff were there to greet us and take our bags, and on arrival we were given ice cold towels and a delicious fruit drink. We were a little early to check in but we could use the facilities so just sat by the beautiful pool. We casually mentioned in conversation that we were there for our honeymoon, and the staff surprised us with a lovely towel display of two swans surrounded by rose petals in the shape of a love heart. And also a cake to say happy honeymoon! The service doesn't stop there - nothing is too much for the staff here. All incredible. There are plenty of places to eat within the hotel, and many more a few strides along the stunning beach. Enormous pool! Would thoroughly recommend to anyone - old, young, single, couples, etc. Etc.

Come on...Why even read a review you know it's going to be superb.

This place is insane, if you don't come for the scenery and to relax, come for the breakfast buffet.

Great hotel, for that alone there would be five stars. Service, ambience, staff top. However, the restaurants are overpriced and the spa - as nice as it looks - is absolutely overrated. The worst massage in the whole holiday ever. Every other "roadside" or beach was much better and much cheaper. Too bad.

All in all okay, but the 5 stars are no longer justified today.
Breakfast is not bad, many foods are very fresh and are prepared right in front of the guest. Unfortunately, the concept is not carried out consistently. The food is being prepared in too large a quantity, so that e.g. Bach goods no longer taste fresh. I can't imagine anyone liking the coffee that is served in plastic jugs that are from the last century and some are broken. We only found out after a few days that you can also order espresso, which is much better.
The beach is very nice. Unfortunately, because of jellyfish, you can't go into the sea at times (not the hotel's fault, but important for some travelers). There is a 12+ area on the beach, but this is not respected.
The pool is probably the star of the hotel and extremely large and beautiful.
Relaxation: Unfortunately during our stay there was very noisy construction work right next to the hotel. Between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. a loud hammering sound could be heard continuously.
It was announced that a wedding would take place over several days, but it was not written that they would put on music so loud and make such loud announcements with a microphone. Even some party hotels on the Ballermann would be jealous. Even your own headphones, which suppress noises, have not arrived.
About the room: The furniture in the room is nice but unfortunately heavily worn. Unfortunately there is no German television in the room and no streaming option.
Unfortunately, all additional items are too expensive (e.g. bike, courses, transfer). We only went to eat once in the hotel, but it was very good and very expensive. However, there are cheaper restaurants in the area.
The service is different, sometimes really very good but sometimes not that great.
Unfortunately, there are no offers for young adults, but they are probably not the target group either.
We stayed at the hotel for 9 nights.
All in all, everything was ok but with 5 stars and the price you simply expect more.

Good spa, good service, very old rooms. Some devices are not perfect. In the access pool Would like it very much because The pool is a kilo long

Top hotel! Very clean area and the rooms absolutely clean. Extremely friendly staff, great breakfast buffet. The pool area very clean and well maintained. Ideal for relaxing. The hotel has the 5 stars completely right. I expect that in this category. The next town about 5 km away. We are happy to come back

Very nice, all very nice friendly can highly recommend

Beautiful rooms, good atmosphere, lovely staff, good-natured, in the bathroom area, want to add a payment line, will be very good

Fabulous hotel with everything you could ask for, very friendly staff, beautiful beach and massive swimming pool, will definitely go back again

hotel is nice ,food is good , room is good , the buffet dinner so so ok , staff is friendly however the AC in the lobby should be fixed ASAP especially in the hottest season in Thailand .

Just wow. I've been a lot of places but I've never been more blown away with a hotel as I was with this one. This is the first time in my entire life I stayed on a hotel's property from the time I checked in until I checked out as I never understood why people would fly around the world to go on vacation to a resort until I saw this one. This is entirely due to the staff's tireless attention to detail. The biggest example of this occurred when I came back to the room (which was booked in my name) to find a birthday cake for my friend sitting on the table. I didn't tell the hotel it was his birthday and it was booked through my Marriott account so the only way they knew this was from checking his passport at check in. The hotel is beautiful and I dare you to find a more entertaining pool. If you somehow get tired of that, the beach is just as awesome. Dinner at Olive our first night there was the highlight of the trip and Enzo's cooking there was beyond anything you can imagine. The amazing check in experience with Am was wonderful. She immediately set the mood for the stay from the time we walked in the lobby.

Great resort,top service,excellent food,,top class facilities will definetley go back again next year

An excellent hotel with excellent service is recommended for anyone who wants a vacation in paradise

A very nice relaxing place... Great restaurants... And facilities. Only drawback... 90 min drive from Phuket...

Everything fine. Clean rooms, friendly stuff good food, perfect stay :)

The resort is beautiful but the dinning experience left a lot to be desired. We decided to take in the Japanese dinner with the expectation that it was a show based off the discription. They have a hibatchee at the back of the restaurant but it was not in use at the time. We ordered from the menu as our option and had two good rolls which were nice, for the next serving we ordered Chicken Udon Noodles and ordered this based on my wife's first choice was all out and being the only noodle bowl with no mushrooms. It had mushrooms and the soup was very pungent with Mushroom flavor. My wife did not eat her meal and no one asked if everything was okay. They cleared the plates and brought out the desert menu. And we both jumped at the Fried ice cream, that was out, we then asked for panna coti and it too was out. My wife settled on a brownie and when it arrived it was taken out of a box and thrown on a plate and scattered with nuts (which she can't eat)...in the end my wife did not get to eat much and they charged us for everything. For what I paid, 2600 baht I expected a good meal and service but was left with a sour taste in my mouth. Worst food experience on our journey so far. Surprising considering we are Marriott platinum members, the service and food we've experienced all over the world has always been exceptional.

When we came to the hotel we thought this would be the perfect place. Amazing garden and pool landscape. Great breakfast buffet and extraordinary staff. Wherever you walk people have a smile and greet you. Also the rooms are fantastic.

Why only three stars?
We came in peak season at the most expensive time. No one informed us before that a major resort expansion is underway with 4 piling machines pounding from 9am-5pm.
We stayed for 8 nights. During this time there were also two Indian weddings each lasting three days. I don t mind that parts of the resort were closed for the wedding, I however can t believe that music gets turned up to reach almost 90 decibels while at the beach (we measured using the phone).

In total I consider this highly unprofessional of the hotel management.

In spite of having a status with Marriott that guarantees free room upgrades I will try to book with other hotels next time.

Ps: On a positive note the loyalty manager tried her best to make the experience slightly better.