Simply one of the best hotels I ever stayed at.

We booked a package including airport transfer. You were greeted in the hotels arrival lounge at the airport and driven to the hotel which worked perfectly. The room was large and very well kept. We had a room overlooking the quiet spa pool. The beach is simply fabulous. Staff was extremely friendly and competent. We had a "romantic dinner" on the beach, which I can highly recommend. Even though we had quite a bit of rain the whole stay was just magical.

Although it has been a year since I visited this beautiful resort, fortunately nothing has changed! Every bit of my visit this january was as immaculate as the first visit was. Therefore I'm very disappointed about all the previous reviews here on tripadvisor. The majority of the complaints are about the distance to Khao Lak, which to me is absolutely not a problem! Only 5-10 minutes by car is not the end of the world people. If you want the seclusion which is offered by the resort, don't expect a lively scene around the corner.

Maybe it is for the best that not everybody likes this resort... This little gem must be kept a secret.

I'll be back next year!

At the time of booking we agonised between this hotel and the Marriott and oh do I regret our decision - after 2 nights here we moved to The Marriott down the road - which is in an entirely different class, even though they are exactly the same price.

I hate reading winging reviews so I'll try and be as helpful as possible, because this hotel marred our holiday and the Marriott thankfully saved the day!

This place reminded me more of a large all inclusive 3* resort in Mexico or disneyland rather what you'd expect for 5* hotel in Thailand. In my view, this place is aimed at the mass family market and certainly more geared towards European/German guests.

The GOOD: Nice gardens/landscaping, pool area attractive.

The BAD: rooms are functional but nothing special, but when you look closely all fittings are cheap/nasty, much is damaged and has the general feel of a Travelodge trying to look upmarket. Very crowded everywhere so you have to be up at the crack of dawn to get a beach bed. Beach very disappointing, not enough sunbeds and all crowded together with screaming kids on top of you. Poor choice of local restaurants or anything else for that matter nearby. Reception area sloppy and lots of people eating chips and burgers and gives air of general untidiness/grubbiness.

THE UGLY: huge and sprawling unattractive concrete building, rooms can be long walk through grey concrete corridor. Poor quality, very worn and soggy bed linen, appalling bath towels, thin and threadbare, beach towels were stained and you have to exchange them each day with card system (which you'd expect in 3* not 5*) in case you pinch them I guess - personally I'd bin them! Altogether very poor service, unhappy and sulky staff and not representative of any other service we received whilst in Thailand. Dirty/grubby particularly by the pool and restaurant area - rubbish in big carts on open view to guests, very limited choice of Thai food - mostly European food on menus in the restaurants. The food we ate at beach restaurant was worse than plane food, it was like cardboard. Horrible, pointless and unsightly "zoo" - which is just some deer in an ugly pen area in the grounds. They have got some ludicrous system playing idiotic and patronizing animal/jungle sounds in the lifts and in the reception area. Unsightly area of crazy golf and other games areas to the side of hotel.

So ..... I'm sure that it'll come as no surprise that my recommendation is if you are looking for a relaxing peaceful and luxurious holiday - stay in the Marriott rather than this hotel!

I am not a person who follows much on Travel Reviews website, but for the extraordinary holiday experience I had at Le Meridien Khao Lak, the hotel deserves a compliment. We stayed at this hotel for 4 consecutive years, every stay was a pleasant experience and we stayed 3 weeks at this hotel in January 2012.

The staffs are very attentive, and here are a few occasions they have impressed me – they remember our favorite table and drink in each restaurant, we booked our dinner and all were perfectly prepared and served. Khun Kob made the afford and took us for a tour to the local market on his day off and Khun Karn, chief security took us for a special bike tour in Khao Lak. There are more people we would like to recognize in this review but I just can’t remember all their names. In my perception all of them are wonderful people and they are the people who bring us back every year.

We dined in the resort’s restaurant most of the time and we love the food. We tried the food twice in the Rimlay restaurant on the beach for lunch and the location is beautiful and pleasant.

Our spa experience was very relaxing in a beautiful and spacious spa treatment room. The masseuses are well trained and are knowledgeable of the pressure points. For a 60 minutes massage we paid USD60 which is far cheaper than what we paid in Europe. We checked out the local beach massage once, but that was it and we will never return because of the hygiene issue.

We will return again next year to our holiday home in Khao Lak, see you soon.