Beyond Kata — Hotel in Karon

We came to Kata Beach spa resort after an incredible few days in Bangkok. Prior to arriving, we were advised that the hotel would be having some decorating work done and after discussing this with our holiday company they advised that this would under no circumstances be building work, purely cosmetic, and due to the inconvenience to ourselves we would receive an upgraded room, 20% off the hotel bar and restaurant and a free evening meal at the hotel, which we thought for just some painting and decorating was a great deal!||We arrived at the hotel to be greeted in the lobby by builders, power tools and scaffolding, not the best first impression but we thought nothing of it as we knew we were getting a room upgrade and reduced meal prices. On arriving at reception the staff were extremely rude and dismissive of us when we discussed the room upgrade. Still feeling positive, we thought never mind we won't spend that much time in the room anyway as we have come to relax by the pool and on the beach and to eat nice food. We later realised 2 of the 4 hotel restaurants were closed for "building work" along with one of the pools. This was to our frustration so we went to complain at reception who again were very dismissive and extremely unhelpful. We were not once apologised to or even smiled at by staff, who talked amongst themselves in Thai before telling us they were 'fully booked' and that therefore we could not receive the room upgrade we were promised despite the numerous, clearly vacant, rooms along each corridor. This, for us, was not really the problem but our frustration came from the fact that no apology was made despite the misinformation we had been given and that we were treated as a nuisance. |After heading to the room and unpacking, we made our way down to the pool to find the bar music drowned out by power tools and building work, this was one of the final straws, we went straight to reception to further complain. After a few days of complaining and nothing being done we contacted our holiday rep. |After minimal discussions with Hayes and Jarvis who we booked the holiday through they managed to get us an immediate room upgrade, which we were happy about but highlighted the fact that there were clearly vacant rooms all along. |The hotel had provided us with a free meal voucher and a soft drink for one evening which turned out to be for the buffet due to the other restaurants being closed for construction work. |We are not the type of people to complain, and had we have received an apology in the first instance or even a warm welcome, we probably would have looked past all of the above. The main issue for us was not the building work but the lack of understanding and respect we received from the staff of this hotel when explaining our situation. We have visited Thailand several times now and been to various places within it. Every time at every place we have been amazed by the warm, welcoming response we receive from the Thai people and from the relationships we have built with so many of them so quickly. Other than our very smiley security guard, we have been ignored by staff at Kata Beach throughout the stay. There are no friendly encounters to be seen between staff and residents of the hotel and for us, along with many other things, this is one of the most appealing things about Thailand. Unfortunately, a very disappointing stay...

Our stay at Beyond Kata was extremely disappointing and we would not recommend this property to others. Despite the beachfront location and heavily edited marketing photos, the resort is in a poor and deteriorating state.

Accommodation: • The rooms are tired, poorly furnished, and suffer from a pervasive musty smell. • Mould was visibly present around the air conditioning ducting. • Refurbishments, where attempted, are superficial — surfaces are covered with cheap vinyl wraps that look and feel temporary. • Basic amenities you’d expect at a hotel charging $200–300 AUD per night were either absent or below par.

Food and Beverage: • We suffered food poisoning on our second last day after eating at the breakfast buffet (likely the fried eggs, which were cooked en masse and left sitting cold). Our 5-year-old daughter was vomiting in a bin during airport security the following morning and continued to be violently ill on the flight back to Australia. • The buffet food overall was consistently poor: often cold, bland, and clearly aimed at a lowest-common-denominator palate rather than showcasing quality Thai cuisine. • Marketing imagery of a vibrant atrium buffet experience is a significant misrepresentation of the sparse, underwhelming reality. • A simple walk across the road to Kiri Bar provided a better meal (and authentic Thai flavours) than anything served in the resort.

Facilities: • The “kids club” is not a functional kids club — it’s little more than a small room with no supervision or activity programme as described (on Luxury Escapes). • The gym has limited operating hours, further diminishing its usefulness - and your kids (who cant be at the kids club without you) are not able to be in the Gym with you. • The pool bar, a supposed highlight, was often unattended, forcing guests to search for service elsewhere. • Live music acts during dinner were talented, but the atrium acts as an echo chamber, amplifying the noise to uncomfortable levels during meals. • Rooms opening onto the atrium suffer from excessive noise until well past midnight most nights.

Service: • Housekeeping staff were pleasant and did their best within their limitations, but again, they are working with a resort that is fundamentally worn down. • Staff at food and beverage outlets appeared disinterested at times, particularly with “all-inclusive” guests, leading to a two-tier experience where paying out-of-pocket guests were subtly prioritised.

Overall: It feels like the Beyond brand purchased the aging Kata Beach Resort and is now running it on minimal investment — relying on the prime location and outdated marketing material rather than maintaining a quality resort experience.

This is not a 4–5 star resort experience by any measure. 0/5 — Would...

Please read my review before booking this hotel!

My family and I stayed at the Beyond Kata Hotel in the first half of October 2024.

I'll start with the pros: the hotel is incredibly beautiful, clean, aesthetic. It has a direct access to the public beach (which is rare for Phuket), there are a lot of sunbeds on the hotel grounds. From the outside, we can say that this is a heavenly place. They also have a free mini bar in the rooms: water, tea, coffee, coffee machine - use as much as you want, replenish every day. This, perhaps, ended the pros.

Now about the cons: The water in the pool is uncomfortable warm, even hot. Of course, not all hotels have a cooling system, but keep in mind that the sea is warm and the pool is almost hot, so it's a little difficult to freshen up in the heat. Almost every sunbed hangs a sign that you’re not allowed to bring your own food and drinks to their place. Such an interesting rule, given that on the beach, 10 meters from the hotel, locals sell fruit shakes for 50 baht, and the hotel have the same shakes in the Pool Bar for 120 baht. However, we violated this rule and no one told us anything, perhaps we were just lucky. All staff speaks very bad English. This is strange, considering that firstly, the hotel is not cheap. And secondly, 40% of their vacationers are Americans. Almost always had to communicate with gestures, because the staff just smiles and is silent if you speak to them in English. Avoid the restaurant at the hotel! There are no complaints about the buffet at breakfast. But one day we decided to have dinner in the same restaurant and I got poisoned with a dish with squid. The poisoning was very strong, I had to go to a local hospital. If suddenly you still get poisoned or something else happened, then keep in mind that the staff does not care about you. They didn't even help us order a taxi at night. Just repeated “no, no” and shrugged. We had to catch a taxi and get to the hospital on our own. Room cleaning leaves much to be desired. For several days in a row, I left a note for the cleaning lady next to the tips so that she threw out the trash can in the bathroom. Tipping was picked up, the note was thrown away, the garbage still remained in the trash.

In general, the hotel is not bad, but the above disadvantages greatly spoil the impression. Especially when a problem happens and you understand that the hotel doesn't give a damn about you, your problems, just pay a fine for a broken bottle, and everything else is not our area of responsibility. And they do not correspond to such a price tag for their hotel. Perhaps 2 stars is unfair, but they did not deserve three stars either,...