Emerald Bay left us with a departing tear in our eyes, stayed 1st-15th Oct. We shall return for 4 or 5 weeks next time, if you never did indoor camping and want shiny Hilton styling, do not go. If you want a quiet beach 3 good meals a day and can live with the odd fly, a regular supply of refreshment, palms and the indian ocean, it has those, yes it is tired, and due a refurb, but add elephants, and turtles. Hot sun and a relaxation, not the high street, you may enjoy it. We used a young man with dreadlocked hair for our Tuk Tuk rides and trips out, you will find him on the beach or outside across the road, he was honest and fair, we visited his home and he took us to the orphanage, for whom we bought dried foods, give if you can. We also visited Yala the national park with him and his driver friend in an air conned mini bus, good value and fun. any questions please email me. Ken

I, with a group of two other families checked into this hotel late in the evening. We were greeted warmly by the reception staff. There were a couple of stray dogs roaming inside the hotel. The rooms were pretty old with non-functioning shower & flush. However these were rectified very fast. Running water was a bit salty. The restaurant was stunning with a good view of the beach. However there were a lot of house flies inside the pantry. The food was really tasty & wholesome. Due to the good behavior of the hotel staff, we forgot all these short comings and decided to extend one more night stay in the hotel & informed the manager. However all our excitement was spoiled the very next day due to the surprisingly rude behavior of the restaurant lady in green. She was really ignorant about hospitality & entirely different from the other courteous hotel staff. She had a big attitude problem & a very arrogant behavior. Because of this we had to cancel our stay instead of extending it.

This hotel is the WORST I have ever seen!!! Old, dirty, nosiy, cold food, annoying staff... At first, there was chaotic welcome at the reception. Then, waiting in lobby with welcome drink, there were dirty dogs everywhere. Next thing - waiting for the bags like 40 minutes. ONLY SALTY WATER in bathroom, no drinking water to make tea and coffee. Dinner was cold, SALTY WATER AGAIN!!! Salty tea was disgusting! It was just absolute NIGHTMARE! Dirty bathroom, broken AC, broken hair dryier, hair on the floor... Night was noisy from both sides - sea and road. I felt like in a freakin motel. Breakfast was poor with salty tea again... Pool was small, furniture plastic... I wouldn't put my finger in that pool anyway because of all the dirty dogs there. Oh God, this hotel should be burned down!

Just back after two excellent weeks of rest and relaxation; yes, the place does need its 2012 refurbishment but as experienced travellers we can say that the staff are the best we have ever found. Nothing was too much trouble - for example, porridge provided at breakfast along with specially made ginger tea; a teapot brought to the bedroom because we said we drank a lot of tea. The food is more than adequate and belies its 3 star status; as "fish vegetarians" we ate well and had to cut down as we were eating too much! The all inclusive drinks were very refreshing but note that the local brandy and whisky are very weak compared with the usual brands here!Our roomboy Nawan was excellent and decorated our bed with flowers most days. The hotel was bought by new owners on 1 September and they are trying really hard to update the hotel and gardens. By the way we recommend not putting a sunbed under the palm trees as coconuts do drop unexpectedly! We took some stuff in a tuk tuk to the local orphanage/school after which the reception staff treated us like royalty. Also we recommend a room on the first floor as a pack of dogs do roam the gardens, some of them flea-carriers, one of which infested a downstairs room - some people pet and feed them but suggest not unless you want a possible trip to hospital for an anti-rabies shot as rabies in endemic in the country's dog population.Our disappointments - often the satellite goes down so no TV for long periods (Star Movies and BBC World); sometimes things go wrong - the aircon decided to switch itself off and on at irregular intervals on our final evening - but just see the maintenance manager who gets things fixed fast. The Mercury rep is fine but her excursions are expensive and we heard that day trips out were not returning until 9pm. We met some really lovely people, particularly Trevor and Tracy, and it is easy to make friends; just under half were german speaking but they were all friendly. Plenty of sunbeds but be aware that a fairly large snake was spotted in the hotel garden, another reason for avoiding the ground floor? Overall we got what we paid for, a fortnight's rest at a small and very friendly hotel.