We stayed here on two separate occasions during our travels in Thailand. Generally, we felt the resort reminded us of a big Mexican resort in the 1990s. Here's a breakdown of our stay:

1. Rooms: Spacious and modern. As Starwood Preferred Guest members, we upgraded to a partly ocean view room that overlooked the swimming pool area during our first stay. The bathroom had a rain shower with good water pressure but there was no bath tub. The water temperature kept fluctuating from cold to hot so we were either freezing or nearly burnt to death each time we showered. We complained upon check-out but the front desk attendant either did not understand or did not care so my husband had to specifically ask her to write down our room number and have someone look into it so that the next guest would not have the same problem. For our second stay which happened about a week later, we were not automatically upgraded and was given a room with a view that backed onto the garden. There is a Starwood Preferred Guest Floor so I called front desk to ask if we could change our room to a room on the Starwood Preferred Guest Floor. After waiting for a long time on the phone, the front desk attendant stated that an upgrade to the Starwood Preferred Guest Floor is not automatic and depends on availability but that they would allow us to move our room to the Starwood Preferred Guest Floor. This really irritated me because we've always been given a room the Starwood Preferred Guest Floor without having to ask for it and without having the speech about how it is not an automatic upgrade. It felt like he was doing us a favour by moving us to the Starwood Preferred Guest Floor. But there was absolutely no difference between the room that we were originally assigned and the room on the Starwood Preferred Guest Floor. Both had exactly the same layout and interior, including a shower over the bath tub and a shower curtain. The shower curtain had a moldy smell so we had to air out the room for a few hours. Our major complaint with this room was that the design of the shower and the bath tub was such that if you showered over the bath tub, the water leaked everywhere onto the bathroom floor. There is no way to stop the water from leaking which meant that we had to constantly wipe the floor or throw towels on the floor. Our second complaint with the rooms here is that there is no coffeemaker in the rooms. There is a kettle and you are given instant coffee. What type of luxury resort provides instant coffee???

2. Beach: Private. That's about it. The beach itself is nothing to write home about. Don't bother snorkling because there is absolutely nothing in the water to see. There are beach chairs, some under shades and some not. It seemed like a lot of people woke up early to "reserve" the beach chairs for the entire day. We were lucky enough to grab a couple of chairs but not under a shade in the middle of the afternoon. But we witnessed two families fighting over who "reserved" the chairs first and the argument lasted a long time with lots of yelling. We noticed two hotel staff walking past the families arguing and neither stopped to inquire about what the problem was or bothered to even assist in resolving the issue. Oh, and there is a baby elephant that comes around on the beach so that you can take photos with the elephant.

3. Location: Excellent for those who want to stay on the resort but inconvenient for those who want to venture out and get off the resort. The hotel offers a shuttle to Patong Beach area but you have to pay for the shuttle service (which seems a bit ridiculous considering the ride is only 10 - 15 minutes) and there is no shuttle service in the afternoon so if you want to go out to Patong Beach at 2 pm, you have to arrange for a separate transportation to take you there. There is a transportation desk that will assist you in making transportation arrangements but it was still annoying to have to wait for the shuttle or pay for a separate car. We used the Le Meridien car (black Toyota Camry) to take us from the resort to Phuket Town and the one-way ride cost us 11,000 baht. We arranged for separate airport transportation on our own and we paid a few hundred baht less than the hotel's price.

4. Wi-fi: Free in the lobby area. There is a Business Center but it is located behind the left luggage desk and consists of three computers in a really cramped space and a printer that was not functioning. I've never seen a Business Center as crappy as this in a high-end hotel. Very old, outdated, smelly and claustrophobic. If you needed to print something, you had to send your materials to be printed to the front desk to get it printed. The hotel really needs to renovate this area to make it more appealing to their guests.

5. Restaurants: There are quite a few on the resort but we only tried their main restaurant where you have breakfast on a pirate theme night. We paid about 12,000 baht per person for a seafood buffet that was good but could be much better. There was plenty of seafood selection but not enough hot food selection. The entertainment provided during the dinner which consisted of dancing in pirate costumes and singing was good for children. The resort seems to be a family-friendly hotel so you'll come across a lot of children on the resort.

6. Service: Mediocre and hit and miss depending on the person you're dealing with, which was very disappointing. We had issues with the front desk on multiple occasions either because of language barrier or because they just did not understand what customer service means. Firstly, during our first stay, I accidentally left a shower scrub towel in our room. I called the hotel a few hours later to ask if housekeeping had turned it into lost & found because I wanted the to hold it until our next stay which was going to be about a week later. I had to keep calling and calling to find out that they did not have it. Secondly, we requested a late check-out because our flight out of Phuket was in the late evening. We were flatly denied the first time we asked, which was surprising because even at full capacity, the other Starwood hotels we've stayed at in Thailand at least tried to accommodate as late a check-out as possible (so maybe not 4 pm but 2 or 3 pm). I had to inquire separately at front desk and after a lot of back and forth, we were given a 2 pm check-out. They could have surely saved me some time had they just given us a 2 pm check-out in the first place!

7. Hotel grounds: Spacious and clean but outdated in some parts of the hotel like the elevator. The elevator smells of pine wood and is very small and old. Not a pleasant experience, especially in a high-end resort. There is always a security guard on duty right by the elevators in the evenings, which made us feel somewhat safe. The swimming pools are clean and fairly big with lots of space to do your own thing without having to bump into other people. Again, this is a family-friendly resort so there will be children running around and screaming.

Overall, our experience with this particular hotel was a bit underwhelming. If you want to stay in a more central place within walking distance to restaurants and shops, look at Holiday Inn or the new Novotel. If you do choose to stay at Le Meridien, hire a car and drive along the coast to visit some of the other beaches away from Patong Beach. We got a glimpse of these areas on our drive to the airport and were disappointed that we had not ventured out far enough to see the beautiful beaches and scenery outside of Patong Beach area.

If you're looking for a good massage place outside the hotel, read my review on Sweet Lemongrass.

We recently spent a few nights here and can say that the resort is perfectly located for those who seek to combine relaxation with evenings full of action, or for the family seeing as the many facilities can keep your children highly entertained. The hotel has an amazing beach together with crystal blue pools, the food at the restaurants are well priced whose portions are quite large. The only thing that is slightly off-putting are the rooms as they were not the best 5* quality rooms I have experienced, as well as the aging facade and facilities. This could potentially be the best resort/hotel on the island, but it needs a little loving and updating.

I stayed here for 2 nights after exploring the beaches in Thailand and I really enjoyed this property. The Lobby (free wifi) is really nice and they have a lounge area with a bunch of MAC monitors that are free of charge (never had to wait to use one). The staff were very nice and attentive. I had an ocean view room with a balcony and the room itself was modern and great. There is No Free WIFI in the rooms. The master pool is so Great and heavenly you can spend hours floating around that pool and feel so relaxed! The hotel has plenty of dining options and I recommend just eating on hotel premises rather than making a trip to Patong (where most of the restaurants are Not Clean). There won't be a huge difference in price because you have to take a tuk tuk to and from the hotel. I find Patong to be a grunge place and I do Not really recommend leaving the hotel premises to go there. If you have to get it out of your system go to the New Shopping Mall there but nothing special). I would just stay put at the resort. ONLY USE THE HOTEL TRANSFER SERVICE TO/FROM THE AIRPORT. It is Not a huge difference in price. EVEN if you get a public taxi at the taxi stand they are very dishonest and most times are very confused where to go (even the most popular sites and hotels). When I took a taxi to Phuket from the Airport I took a public taxi and the driver had absolutely No Idea where to go. It is mandatory that they stop off at this tourist office (even if you are in the biggest rush) and a rep will harass to buy their packages and the driver will disappear for a few minutes. From everyone who I've spoken to they had the same story about the taxi. BE SAFE TAKE THE HOTEL TRANSFER and HAVE A GREAT TIME!!!

We stayed here in December for 1 week, whilst I was on a course.

The rooms were nice, spacious, clean and modern. I really liked the bathroom design which had a glass wall partitioning the bathroom and the bedroom. For privacy, there were blinds provided. nice touch.

The bed was glorious, so were the pillows. Had a good night's sleep every night, no worries.

The conference facilities were top notch. Water was always available and the staff were always courteous and helpful.

Will definitely come back for a holiday stay!