Andaman White Beach Resort — Hotel in Choeng Thale

So... Good bits first||The beach. Undeniably gorgeous and pretty clean. Theres a few bits of plastic hanging around that I'd have expected them to take the time to clear up, but overall very nice. The sand is soft and white. Perfect for that amazing sunset picture.||The facilities provided are comprehensive. Gym. Pool. Pool table. Canoes. Snorkeling body boards. Sun beds are quite plentiful (although somebody took ours from outside our beach bungalow, mid stay)||Restaurant is pleasant, clean, and gives amazing sunset views!||The staff are mostly lovely, and cannot help enough.||Location is good as it is just 6 miles from the airport yet is peaceful with only the occasional airplane noise.||The room air conditioning was really very good.||There was copious hot water available.||There are very few jet skis and they stay quite far off shore, so no bother really.||But...||Previous reports are correct....||The whole place is tired. It needs some serious investment to bring it up to standard as many areas needed attention.||There is an open drain on the beach...||Our room had an outdoor shower and an outdoor fountain of some sort... behind sliding doors that we daren't open for fear the doors would jam open and allow the visible horde of mosquitoes to join us.||A major issue, that prevented us from using the huge and attractive main pool was the presence of live electric cable situated a few inches from the constantly running fountains at the side of the pool. There were 4 different live cables, in different locations. An accident waiting to happen, in my mind.||The main pool was covered in black spots that resembled some kind of growth. But have not been removed.||Our accommodation had its own mini pool, and this needed a really good clean as it too had growth in the tile grout (and where tiles had fallen off, and not replaced).||The numerous palm trees were often heavily laden with coconuts. Directly over loungers and walkways. We awoke one morning to find a pretty huge coconut had fallen directly outside our apartment. It could have been a disaster.||There is a little bit of a rip tide, but not enough to scare me out of the water. Just keep an eye on children.||The food, while being mostly a good standard, was a complete rip off/expensive. I felt my Prawn dish used frozen prawns or that they were over cooked.||Grab snacks, beers, water before you arrive. Grab a taxi to the local town and get great quality food for a third, even a quarter of the hotel costs. Worth the 3 minute trip and 100 Baht.||A taxi is 100 Baht each way.||I would not walk the 15 minutes because of heat, humidity and hills. I especially would not walk it at night, as there are stretches without any pavement or somewhere safe to walk. ||Taxis... if you use one, and you can get their number, that is a bonus. You can flag a taxi down if they are passing... BUT... we asked the hotel to organise an airport transfer. They did so with a smile and then added 200 Baht to the cost we know this because local taxis advertise the costs of transfer.... I was pretty unhappy at this as a hotel has no right to add costs of this kind. It took just a little bit of a shine off the hotel, and left me feeling they were penny pinchers.||||Overall a good stay. But I'll not come back to this hotel, even though they have a gorgeous...

I have stayed at this hotel twice before, and I don’t know what happened this time. The staff didn’t seem as helpful, almost as if were bothering them. With the exception of the restaurant (the manager in the restaurant is really excellent, always checking up and having a friendly chat with everyone) and bar staff, the other staff seemed annoyed when we asked something. For example, when we arrived we noticed we were missing face towels. I called the front desk to ask for towels. The lady said she would send towels over. After about half an hour and the towels still not arriving, I called again, and I could hear by the way she responded that she has clearly forgotten to send the towels over. Kept waiting and waiting, still nothing. Eventually when we went outside later that night, we found someone had simply left the towels on the table outside the room. Also, one day we were waiting for the staff to come clean the room. I went to the front desk to ask when they were going to clean the rooms, because nobody had been there yet and we were in need of new towels. The lady said they only start cleaning after 2pm, which I thought was strange, because shouldn’t they clean the rooms before guests start checking in at 2pm? I got back to the room, and then realized it was already 2:30pm. Eventually about 4:45 they came around to clean the room, so I assumed that’s the way they do it at this hotel. But the next morning they showed up at 9am to clean the room, just very inconsistent. Also, on our second last day at the hotel, we got a letter stuck to the door, reminding us to check out at 11 the next day because the staff has to clean the room. Where is this coming from? My third time staying at this hotel, and this is the first time I received this note. We have never checked out late before, so I really don’t get it. It’s also really nice that they have the private beach, but it’s very dirty. They try to clean it up, but they don’t throw the trash away. They simply pick it up and throw it on both sides of the beach. Me and my girlfriend saw a lady (a guest staying at the hotel, not hotel staff) picking up trash on the beach, and decided we were going to help her. I went to the bar and asked for a trash bag, and the 3 of us picked up trash on the beach as much as we could. Luckily we made a friend that way. Like I said, I’ve stayed at this hotel and this was my third time, but I really feel like the standards have dropped. Now the main things about this hotel is just the private beach and the proximity to the airport. I will think twice before booking a stay here again. I feel there are hotels for the same price and cheaper that offer better service with more helpful staff. I just really want to thank the manager (the older gentleman with the white shirt in the restaurant) again for your excellent service....

I have stayed at this hotel twice before, and I don’t know what happened this time. The staff didn’t seem as helpful, almost as if were bothering them. With the exception of the restaurant (the manager in the restaurant is really excellent, always checking up and having a friendly chat with everyone) and bar staff, the other staff seemed annoyed when we asked something. For example, when we arrived we noticed we were missing face towels. I called the front desk to ask for towels. The lady said she would send towels over. After about half an hour and the towels still not arriving, I called again, and I could hear by the way she responded that she has clearly forgotten to send the towels over. Kept waiting and waiting, still nothing. Eventually when we went outside later that night, we found someone had simply left the towels on the table outside the room. Also, one day we were waiting for the staff to come clean the room. I went to the front desk to ask when they were going to clean the rooms, because nobody had been there yet and we were in need of new towels. The lady said they only start cleaning after 2pm, which I thought was strange, because shouldn’t they clean the rooms before guests start checking in at 2pm? I got back to the room, and then realized it was already 2:30pm. Eventually about 4:45 they came around to clean the room, so I assumed that’s the way they do it at this hotel. But the next morning they showed up at 9am to clean the room, just very inconsistent. Also, on our second last day at the hotel, we got a letter stuck to the door, reminding us to check out at 11 the next day because the staff has to clean the room. Where is this coming from? My third time staying at this hotel, and this is the first time I received this note. We have never checked out late before, so I really don’t get it. It’s also really nice that they have the private beach, but it’s very dirty. They try to clean it up, but they don’t throw the trash away. They simply pick it up and throw it on both sides of the beach. Me and my girlfriend saw a lady (a guest staying at the hotel, not hotel staff) picking up trash on the beach, and decided we were going to help her. I went to the bar and asked for a trash bag, and the 3 of us picked up trash on the beach as much as we could. Luckily we made a friend that way. Like I said, I’ve stayed at this hotel and this was my third time, but I really feel like the standards have dropped. Now the main things about this hotel is just the private beach and the proximity to the airport. I will think twice before booking a stay here again. I feel there are hotels for the same price and cheaper that offer better service with more helpful staff. I just really want to thank the manager (the older gentleman with the white shirt in the restaurant) again for your excellent service....