We stayed at the Grand Hotel for a week with our three year old daughter, who especially enjoyed the selection of pools. The hotel location affords it a great view and the compound it self has enough to offer, that we were happy to lounge around the hotel grounds for almost the entire time.
Our stay was somewhat out of season, which meant that more than half of the 11 on-site restaurants were closed. Something worth keeping in mind, when planning a stay. On the other hand, most of everything else was still open and never had to share pool space with other guests. In fact, on multiple occasions, we had entire pool areas to ourselves.
The hotel is starting to show it's age and one could argue, that it's due for an overhaul, but in general, it is a very nice place to stay and most of the grounds are very well kept.
The kids club(renowned to be one of the best in Pattaya) felt worn down and lacklustre. With no daylight reaching anywhere inside and the interior lighting being nothing short of appalling, I wouldn't recommend spending more than an hour at a time. Staff was also being quite insisting when the prepaid hour was about to expire. Almost like they were afraid we would leave witout paying.
In general the service is very good. Albeit much of the staff have limited English language skills, which can present a challenge. I found that this not uncommon in Thailand, but for a five star hotel with an international appeal, I was expecting a bit more.
The food is somewhere between decent and great, depending on the dish. Prices are significantly higher than comparable offerings around town though. In fact, the hotel seems to overcharge for every service they provide, but that is to be expected at luxury resorts.
The breakfast buffet at the Beach Hotel / Panorama Restaurant got old quite fast, even though the quality of the food was good, the selection just seemed a bit uninspired and repetitive.
All in all, we had a great stay and would whole heartedly recommend the Royal Cliff Grand Hotel to other families.
