Puk's Palace and Day Club — Hotel in Ko Pha Ngan

Place is ok, but…

The private bungalow is ok for the price paid, bigger than many I have seen while searching on the island, but not particularly furnished (no fridge, water boiler, clothes hanger…); also, don’t expect royal bathrooms, it follows average Thai standards (good for budget travellers tho).

WiFi is ok, but not enough for digital nomads (room upload was around 40 mb/s, when I tested, with pretty inconsistent and jumping connection). If you want to have calls from the hostel, you will need to move on the side of the bar on the beach where, of course, there is constant music and people enjoying.

In a place like Koh Phangan (extremely suited for digital nomads and, thus, characterised by long stays on the island), it would be ideal to have dedicated co-working areas or common kitchens (this is easily available on the island and, for long stays, an important perk).

When it comes to reception service, I have to say it is friendly and available, even if it’s easy to find the reception empty even during working hours (possibly because there were construction and renovation works everywhere in the hostel during my stay). Overall cleaning service, like room cleaning, towels change and soap supplement are poor. Meaning that if you ask to provide shampoo they would, same with the towels, but don’t assume that is a standard service because in more than 2 weeks, I only could get my room cleaned once, after specific request (without any additional cost, must be said, just found it strange for a property managed by Europeans, targeted mainly to international people). Consequence is that in a sandy and shoeless place like Thailand (or Puk’s Palace, considering it’s basically on the beach) the room gets pretty dirty, pretty quick.

While Phangan is too good to get pissed, just a note: As said before, Phangan is rich of nomads who stop on the island for more than one month at the time, often requiring visa extensions (be prepared, you’ll fall in love with the island and you will probably want to expand if you can). The visa requires a list of forms that needs to be brought to the busy Phangan immigration office, one of them (TM30) being a form that confirms your place, to be compiled by the structure hosting/ renting to you.

How the hell is it possible that a structure like Puk’s Palace cannot do it (and also not specified anywhere before, after or during the check-in)? I have friends staying on the island and nobody ever had a problem, while I have been proposed by the stuff to either: Go back to Samui by ferry to find some way (not well explained how that would work tho) Go around the island with the owner, around hostels and bars to see whether we could find a kind (and properly licensed) soul to help us do the form, meaning that I would have been registered (only on paper) in this other place for a shady fee. This was the approach I at least tried by going to a suggested (and apparently trusted) place, where after waiting for one hour I have been told that it was not possible. Get an overstay fine, which is 500 baht a day

As I was working all day during the week and the immigration office is closed in weekends, the latter seemed the only really available option, which ended up with a passport overstay stamp, almost three time the expense of the visa extension, and not much more.

While the place was not bad, this error completely changed my perception of the professionalism of the hostel (they don’t really care if you end up in this situation, kinda “sorry bro” approach), and I would only recommend it to people who are staying for short time and are informed about this...

Unfortunately, Puk’s Palace was by far the worst hostel I stayed in during my one-month trip in Thailand. Please, do not fall for everything you see and read on social media.

The “palace” grounds and the standard double bed private room, which I booked for four nights, smelled horribly and was in a state of constant dampness. Also, as I walked through the property, I noticed bags of rubbish lying around near the pool area and kitchen. Super clean. There’s also no where to fill up your water bottle - like with those water tap machines you find in Thai hostels that take 1 Baht? You can purchased bottled water from the bar for 20 Baht.

Regarding my bathroom, you can tell it was very cheaply put together, much like the rest of the hostel and facilities around the place, except for the beach beds. The bathroom taps and hoses leaked, and the shower’s water pressure was lost within three minutes of turning it on. Not a big problem, but even the plastic toilet seat was too small for the actual toilet. My mattress and pillows felt like they’d been around for 20 years. The air con was also very old and very loud, albeit it cooled the room down quite quickly.

My room, which I later found out was is called the “party private” (this detail and reason for its location was not noted in their listing on HostelWorld), was located a few metres from the bar that played nightclub-loud music until 3am. I was told by the owner to consider myself lucky that the music was on until 6am like other hostels in the area. Ah, and I was also asked by the owner if I wanted my crocs washed by him since I’d asked if the music could be turned down at 12.30am. Such a nice guy!

Yes, I understand that Puk’s is a party hostel. I like to party, and I’ve stayed in many of these hostels during my travels, but all establishments have always been very respectful and considerate of all guests, typically switching off the music at least by midnight. I really don’t think it’s fair to expect everyone to have to listen to music blaring until the early hours of the morning every night just because it’s a “party hostel”. Am I wrong in thinking that? Don’t know, and some may disagree with me, but I’ve certainly never had this experience before - not even at Mad Monkey haha.

Also, don’t bother asking reception for any help regarding anything or even bin liners to change the toilet paper bag in the bathroom. The guy there clearly hates his job and will sarcastically ask you if you want him to clean the room for you - nah mate, just needing a new bin liner and a bigger bin to throw out the toilet paper bag we’ve been asked to use.

In the end, they kindly moved me to another private room in “Puk’s Village” for my last two nights, located toward the back of the property. No ventilation in this barn, but the room and bathroom was much, much nicer.

And make sure you plan your island activities and social and group hang outs elsewhere because they don’t organise these here.

Finally, I went to leave my review via HostelWorld, but I noticed they cancelled my booking yesterday (even though I completed my stay and checked-out today) before I could. Hah.

Moral of the story -...

Firstly Absolutely incredible location. Staff are amazing met some great people here danny and dom was really friendly and good staff for the hotel. Met the owner he was also a very nice guy greeted us apon arrival.

The sunsets are unreal and location is pretty good. Local food and 24/hr bar is a good factor. I recceomend food locally at Amy's

Pool and settings are amazing 👏

Air con is very good and nice cocktails especially the strawberry daiquiri and incredible chill vibe or socialising if you want to make friends..

Unfortunately when I booked through hostel world it said pay the remaining balance on arrival and I had to still pay the full amount. So I was over charged by a lot of money. This was very disappointing as i travelled specially to stay at this resort.

I have travelled the whole of Thailand many times add this is the only time I have been over charged and I did dispute with staff and they said I was incorrect. Mentioned it was booking fee which I know is a error hostel world is a booking platform which charges the hotel/hostel to advertise and use their CRM system. I have used many times and never had to pay £95 plus the full amount its always pay outstanding/remaining after deposit balance apon arrival this money is meant to be deducted and the hotel company pays commission to booking vendor to advertise.

After digging around online and speaking with other people staying there they hadn't been charged like this. As I always like double check things before making a dispute. I don't like to complain as I did have a amazing time but feel people need to know before booking.

The amount I was over charged could of got me a extra few nights eating and drinking.

I paid for a private room to get a bit better treatment vs hostel life. Could of done with a fridge and more comfy bed/pillows for a premium price I expected a bit more. But overall was clean on arrival and standard. Bedrooms could of done with house keeping/cleaning daily I kept tidy myself and clean. But these little things can help on a premium budget.

I wouldn't take this a put off for coming here I would suggest emailing the hotel directly to book.

When I first looked only available rooms was through hostel world so maybe a glitch in system.

To the puks team don't take this as a negative review please ensure other travellers don't end up in this situation.

Fortunately my budget maybe higher then most.

Looking forward to many more sunsets in the near future and I will definitely email next time I want a...