Chanalai Garden Resort — Hotel in Karon

I had the pleasure of staying at Chanalai Garden Resort in Phuket for nearly two weeks, and I can genuinely say it was a great experience.||Warm Welcome:|After a long journey, being greeted with a cool towel and a snack was thoughtful and refreshing touch. It instantly set the tone for the level of care and hospitality that continued throughout the entire stay.||Staff & Service:|One of the standout aspects of this resort is the wonderful staff. Every single person I interacted with was incredibly kind, helpful, and always greeted guests with a warm smile. It's clear that many of them are young, hardworking individuals supporting their families or saving for their education. I highly encourage guests to tip the staff – not only is it well-deserved, but you'll find yourself very well looked after in return. Tips anywhere from 40-100 thb was our approach and staff was always grateful.||Cleanliness & Room Service:|The hotel itself is spotless, and the room service maintains a high standard. Everything was clean, comfortable, and well-maintained throughout my stay.||All-Inclusive Concept:|The resort uses a coupon-based all-inclusive system (for example, drinks are included for 2 hours a day), but the quality of both food and drinks far surpasses what you'd typically expect from a standard unlimited all-inclusive deal. The food was absolutely amazing – fresh, flavorful, and beautifully presented. Honestly, the 2-hour drinks window is more than enough, and if you do want something outside of that, the prices are very fair considering the quality offered (or you can use more coupons).||Food Experience:|The food was excellent. If I had to point out one small oddity, it would be the portion sizes – the starters were often as large as the mains, and sometimes they arrived together or even after the main course. I started requesting half main portions, which the kitchen was happy to accommodate. Sometimes the same drinks were also presented differently depending on the day. That said, the food and drinks quality was so high that it’s a small trade-off for such delicious experiences.||Entertainment & Pool:|Evening entertainment was a bit underwhelming – usually a solo singer and a basic fire show. There's definitely room for improvement in this area. Music was also usually hip hop with some lyrics not necessarily kids or family friendly. I feel this could be improved by some chill/summer neutral playlists. Both pools however: clean, never too crowded, and a relaxing spot to spend time. While poolside drinks could use a bit of an upgrade to match the quality of the restaurant’s, it didn’t detract much from the overall experience.||Extras & Suggestions:|Each room includes a mini-bar at an extra charge. In my opinion, it would be a nice touch if the first round of items in the mini-bar were complimentary for all-inclusive guests. On the plus side, they do provide two complimentary bottles of water daily, which is very convenient and appreciated.||Overall:|I truly enjoyed my stay at Chanalai Garden Resort. Between the warm welcome, incredible staff, delicious food, and relaxing atmosphere, it’s a place I would return to and recommend to others. With just a few small improvements in entertainment and service consistency by the pool, this resort would be near-perfect.||Thank you for a...

My husband and I get back from here yesterday after spending 10 days there from 13th June. We went for our honeymoon, so we were pleased that the hotel was so nice! Checking in was very easy and quick, but FYI you have to leave a 2000 baht deposit per room which you'll get back when you check our as long as your room isn't damaged. We were in room 4501, a superior room with a sea view. The room was lovely and had everything we needed, big comfy bed, tv, minibar/fridge, kettle, wardrobe with safe. The bathroom was nice too, with a hair dryer and complimentary toiletries. There was also a large window between the bedroom and bathroom, so you could have a bath with the sunrise/sunset... or give your partner a cheeky peek ;) It was rainy season during our stay, so they even provided us with an umbrella but we highly recommend buying a mac from the shop. The rain didn't stop us from enjoying our holiday as there was always something to do. And the rain doesn't last for long either, mostly short showers but heavy! There are 2 pools, a large that opens until 10pm and a smaller one that opens until 7pm. Both have a swim up bar where you charge your drinks to your room (pay your tab every couple days at the reception to avoid suprises) There's a lovely little cat who hangs around the small pool of you're a cat lover, if you let him he will snooze on your lounger with you! There's a few places to eat and drink at the hotel, 1 being the Morakat restaurant. The menu isn't huge and there's not much for vegetarians but the food is nice. My only criticism is service is slow. We also ate at the pool, salad etc. And had drinks at the bar in the lobby and watched the footy with the lovely staff there. There is a roof top bar with we didn't get chance to go to but it looked great. Also, we recommend taking advantage of the room service which is available until 11.30pm they'll even deliver cocktails to you. There's a taxi service at the hotel entrance, they'll take you where you want to go AND wait for you before bringing you home. We recommend seeing Big Buddha and the local Temple. There's also Karon viewpoint near but it was rainy on the day we were going to visit. The staff are lovely and friendly! We really liked the guy at the large pool bar but cant remember his name as he makes quite strong drinks! haha I think I should say, the hotel is very large, to get to our room we had to take 3 elevators and 2 sets of stairs. So if you have trouble walking or have elderly or very young family members, it might be a good idea to request a lower ground room. Check out was easy, hand in your key, wait 5 mins for them to check your room before refunding your deposit, they'll give you a feedback form and store your luggage for you (don't lose your luggage tag they give you). And here's a hint... if you have a couple hours to wait between your checkout at 12pm and your transfer... The computer room is air conditioned and has plug sockets! You're Welcome! There's a lot of bars etc. near the hotel; Two Chefs was our favourite, and 2 mins walk to the beach via a small walkway opposite the hotel steps. Our favourite beach bar was Kata seafood and Ska bar, you can just sit and watch the surfers with a nice cocktail and good food. We highly recommend Chanalai Gardens and would...

One of the worst hotels that I have ever stayed at. First experience was communication through email. Took about 15 emails before they verified pick up at airport. Arrived at airport and they were an hour and a half late. Driver was confused and spoke absolutely no english. Checked into to Ocean view with no ocean view, sixth floor with view blocked by giant tree. Had to travel up almost 100 stairs to get to our room because there is no elevator. Was there for 8 nights and had housekkeping come in 4 of those nights for services. I did request that she not come in once but the others she didn't show. Locked ourselves out of the room once. Called for service and it took them an hour to come up. That was after 10 phone calls requesting help. Also ordered a room service menu and it took almost two hours for them to bring it to the room. That was again after about 10 phone calls for the menu. They kept telling me that I should have it in the room and I kept telling them that it was missing. Every time we made a request we felt like we were putting them out. I was sick a day and missed breakfast that we had already paid for in our package, my husband went down to eat and was bringing me a slice if bread. One of the employees came up to him, took the bread out of his hand and said no take out! Really, a piece of bread? My husband told him that his wife was sick and wouldn't be down. He just thought bread might settle my stomach. He didn't care and only repeated, no take out! We booked three rooms and in one room AC and TV didn't work the entire time we were there. We requested service. They did come to look but nothing was done about it. When I called to complain again they appeared clueless. When we were checking out if hotel I was verifying limo bus back to the airport and they said that I only requested one way. I showed them emails that proved that I booked round trip. They tried to charge me an additional $20 because they said since they only charged for one way, I didn't qualify for a round trip discount. Seriously? We booked our own taxi for $30 less! I called for bellman to help with luggage. I told them what time our taxi would be there to pick us up and it took them over an hour to get to our room and get our luggage. We were finally checking out they said that I didn't turn in the room key. Yes I did! They said we are going to be charged $40 for key. I told them that I turned in the key and would dispute any charge. It was an argument between me and them and we were going back and forth with them saying that I was lying. Here comes the bellboy and guess who had the key! Him! Not even an apology! Just ok, we found it! Ugh! Hated every minute there. Do not book...