The Marin Phuket — Hotel in Kamala

The Good: This place is ridiculously beautiful. Like insane. It’s not cheap for looks quality, it’s actual quality. Beds are mad comfy, full feather pillows (critical iykyk), couch in with a roll out extender, microwave, full little kitchenette with dishes and instant coffee and tea, huge bathtub, biodegradable toiletries. There’s a rooftop pool, and a ground floor pool. Both are pristine. I want it to be very clear that from an aesthetic standpoint, this place is lowkey IT.

Cleanliness 10/10 Vibes 10/10

The staff is SO kind and helpful. I couldn’t say a bad thing about them. They’ve only been wonderful and diligent and kind.

Housekeeping 10/10

The Bad: I think it’s different on the lower floors, but on the 5th floor, you will hear insanely loud music from the rooftop bar until 11pm or a little after. Or, instead of music, you will hear and feel the bass bumping all the way in your room. There’s no stopping it and nothing to be done. The music on the ground floor, for example at the pool, is also deafening so it’s safe to assume ground floor rooms and 5th floor rooms are not your best sleeping bet. It’s not the worst music. It’s also not that good.

Music 1/10

The Ugly: If you’re coming from any other area of Thailand, be prepared for a couple things. This is a tourist hotspot so a) prices for food and coffee and drinks are 2-4x more than industry average everywhere else b) it’s not that great either. Not many options on grab for delivery and most are very touristy/fast food/everything/unhealthy, or have delivery fees of 75+.

Food Accessibility: 6/10

The room service is god awful. And I mean - less than frozen food quality for an obscene price. I don’t know how to relay to you how bad it is. Their desserts are alright. Everything else was pretty tough but it def soaked up the 3 glasses of Brut I had.

In House Food: 2/10

Location here is NOT walkable and a grab car will cost you 300+ to go the couple km to the beach town at Kamala. Grabbikes are still super cheap but if you’re more than a person or two, that’s not always an option. HOWEVER, you can access Kamala Beach right across the street from the hotel and technically you can walk the beach down to the town rather than taking the roads which is safer and shorter and prettier. Location is a mixed bag because of the above as well as regarding food, however it is right next to carnival magic and fantasea which are pretty cool.

Location: 5/10

I’d love to give them more stars because it really is gorgeous and the staff is so amazing. You also need to know the reality of the location so you can make...

For us, this place was so nearly perfect. The rooms are amazing, the two bedroom suite is spacious, ideal for a family with a couple of kids with a super king in the main bedroom plus two singles in the second bedroom. This unit also has two bathrooms, the main bathroom having both a deep tub plus a walk in shower, the second a walk in shower. Both with great pressure.

The pools are amazing. The ground floor pool is beautiful for the family, set in tropical surroundings, Max depth 1.3m and nice and warm. There are two jacuzzi in the middle of the pool, that bubble but are not heated. Finding the switch can be tricky...

The roof top is the hotels best feature. It's like a cool beachclub with evening BBQ, swim up bar, plenty of seats and music. The kebabs from the BBQ are awesome. The pools up here are unique, and beautiful. Especially at night when lit up with leds.

Customer service was brilliant. Everyone was happy to serve, everyone says hello with a genuine smile. The hotel is spotless, the Air Conditioning powerful and beds comfortable with exceptionally high quality bedding.

There is, however, a downside. Not enough to lower my rating but worth noting... the breakfast.... not great.... it's odd, the offering confused and not too warm. I think they hotel may offer all inclusive via certain international markets and that reflects in the quality of the offering.. it's worth noting that if I come again, I would not include breakfast. There are however, plenty of options via Grab (asia Uber) which deliver to the lobby.

We had our own car so the location was great for us. The beach is just across the road anyway, so even without a car and with Grab Taxi available, you'll have no issue getting around. Free underground parking for your own car, if you have one.

In all, very nice stay. Hotel is awesome. (Nearly) perfect..

Oh one final point to note. Hotel required 3000thb on check in. I handed over my credit card but they only accept cash. As I didn't have 3000 on me, they accepted my passport... on checkout, you can settle any incidental charges (bar, room service) using your...

I'll start by saying that this would have been a five-star visit except for the check-out experience. The hotel itself is beautiful, the room well-appointed and clearly built with craftsmanship in mind. The bed was the most comfortable I've found yet in Thailand, and I'm sure that those were real down pillows. Amazing level of comfort! I would absolutely stay here again. Except...

At check-out, they asked me to wait a few minutes while they checked the room. What are they checking for, I asked. Oh, they just want to make sure that I didn't forget anything, she tells me. But they don't want to return my cash security deposit before they check the room. This has nothing to do with me forgetting things and them obviously getting some shady clientele that leave damage? Or else they're just really paranoid.

In all the hotels I have stayed in my entire life, nobody has ever insisted that they check my room to see if I trashed the place before I leave. I definitely wouldn't expect this behavior from a high-service hotel, which this is for the area. I'm a middle-aged man traveling solo, not the 1970s era Rolling Stones.

I absolutely would stay here again, except for the fact that there is this inherent distrust from management that simply rubs me the wrong way. If you rent to sketchy people, that's really your problem, not mine. That you made it my problem gets you the three stars you deserve instead of the five stars you should have had.

Photos are a pool-view king room. I was located on the second floor and didn't experience any of the noise (music) that I read about in at least one other review. I really, really wish I could have given this...