JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa — Hotel in Mai Khao

Disappointing: Impersonal, Uncomfortable, and impractical featuring surprise charges at checkout.

My husband and I are traveling around Asia on our honeymoon, and had to make last minute change of plans. We added a few more nights in Phuket, and chose the JW Marriot for our final stay in Thailand. We arrived with high expectations, especially since all our other stays in Thailand at 5 star resorts had been exceptional. We were sorely disappointed.

Let’s start with who this resort is for: In my opinion, this property caters best to families, and travelers who come to Thailand not for its culture, but for its beautiful beaches. For the rest of us - those looking to explore Thailand, to be immersed in its culture and food - this property couldn’t be more impractical. Its location at the northern most point of Phuket makes traveling to the cultural hubs a long journey. Many of the day trips to the Phi Phi islands and so forth depart from piers in the southeast of the island, meaning that you’re either excluded from participating, or you have to wake up unnaturally early and arrange your own transportation to and from the trip

That’s not to say that the property isn’t beautiful - it is. The sprawling beach side compound has lots to offer adults and kids alike, gorgeous pools and steps away from the beach. But the way the property is designed is to keep you from leaving - they want you to eat at their restaurants, swim at their pools, go to their spa, and so forth. Again, this works great for families - you can post up at the pool and let the kids roam around, play games, swim. But my use case is very different, and in this regard, the JW Marriot was a total mismatch.

Then there’s the matter of the rooms themselves. At first glance, the rooms look decent - has everything you need. But when we start to look a little closer, things come off the rails somewhat. Starting with: the bed. It felt like sleeping on a box frame covered with some fabric, it was so hard and uncomfortable. I acknowledge this can be a preference thing, but having stayed at 6 resorts in Thailand, this was the only one where I had this issue. We stayed 2 nights, and 2 mornings I woke up with back pain from a wholly uncomfortable rest. Similarly, the other furnishings in the room were as uncomfortable - the chair and ottoman were an odd shape, and I could’t sit there for more than a few minutes at a time. Same for the chairs on the balcony. It felt like…mass produced stuff that was purchased for its form, and not its function. Disappointing.

The room was not really designed for humans, either. In 2022, every human has several devices that need to be charged overnight. Yet the room offers very few power outlets, and the ones by the bed are all occupied by lighting, clocks, phones, etc. They force the guest to make a trade off between being able to have a lamp, and being able to charge their phone, at their bed side. That’s just not in touch with guest needs in this day and age.

My last gripe about the room was the damp towels. I honestly cannot understand how, but every towel provided to us arrived damp. The ‘fresh towels’ on the shelf above the bath? Damp. The towel on the back of the shower door? Damp. The towel on the bed after arriving? Damp. Can’t explain it. Really unpleasant and uncomfortable.

Lastly, the whole experience felt really impersonal and wholly transactional. I get it - it’s a business. But it’s a hospitality business and making guests feel welcomed, looked after and appreciated is the name of game. Other resorts in Thailand have made effort ahead of our arrival to understand our needs, provide assistance and just generally make themselves available ahead of time. In fact, our next stop is Hanoi, staying at the JW there, and that team has been fantastic. Phuket? Nothing. Every other 5 star resort in Thailand greets guests with a welcome beverage, a refreshing towel, and attentive service. JW Phuket? You get a tacky...

This was a disappointing experience. I followed the big lights of a famous high end hotel brand and I regret doing that when there are so many other choices out there in Phuket.

This hotel is tired. This is not actually cause for my disappointment but for some of you who may be expecting something in better condition from a JW Marriott please be aware that the hotel is old. Rooms are dated and the room furnishing are old too. I worked a lot and the internet was sketchy. I even had to call the tech guys on several occasions as the signal was very poor and not connecting. Other guests echoed the same sentiment. I have now discovered from other previous guests to the hotel that noise from adjoining rooms can be an issue too. Look in to that.

You can see from my photos the lack of upkeep in certain areas.

The reason I am writing this review is to highlight two particularly bad experiences.

Food and service.

This is the worst food experience I have had in a 5star hotel. I stayed for 14 days and by day 4 I did not have any more meals in the hotel other than the breakfast which was included in my package and for which quite frankly it was inconvenient to have to go anywhere else.

I was told on arrival very proudly that there are 9 or so restaurants. Hardly any are open. 1 for breakfast, 1 for lunch and 2 for dinner. Now it’s covid times so that’s somewhat ok. But the menus are tiny, and most importantly the quality is poor. It’s just not good and the way food is presented is awful, worse than a school canteen.

I could tell very quickly that the food was bad - descriptions on menus arrived with something different for example I ordered a grilled chicken Caesar salad and got some cheap greasy chicken skewers that could have been from a street vendor instead of grilled chicken, I ordered a hamburger and when the waitress asked how I’d like it done I said medium or medium rare, then I was told it needs to be well done because the chef says it not safe to eat otherwise because it’s frozen meat. But I didn’t realise how bad the food was until I started eating at the neighbouring hotel restaurants, at Anantara and Sala. I had superb food in those places. Great lunches at the Sala and Anantara beach restaurants, beautifully presented, good quality and very tasty. I had some of the best Indian I have ever had at the Anantara.

And so the back to the poor old JW Marriott. The icing of the cake was sitting outside tcafe after lunch one day working - this place is like a school cafeteria serving overpriced poor quality food on a very limited menu. The same kids song was looping for an hour and a half. I sat there after breakfast the next day. The same kids song was still looping, this time with a Thai traditional song also playing at the same time. It’s a joke.

Which leads me on to service. This is a hotel where staff smile and try to be as friendly as possible. In many case far too friendly. They seem to be trained to be super friendly rather than provide great service. The issue with overly personable service is that it needs to be backed up by good service. At the JW Marriott the service standards were very poor. My main interface every day was breakfast. Every morning I had the same breakfast. Every morning I had to ask for a spoon. At least half the mornings they got my order wrong, it wasn’t complicated but I had to send it back. My oatmeal looked like it was drowning in a sea of water some mornings. I asked for 2 poached eggs on 1 piece of toast I got 1 poached egg on 3 pieces of toast. The plate looks like zero care has been taken, they had just thrown this on a plate. Contrast this to the other hotels I mentioned above where food was beautifully presented. There are many other examples I do not have the space to write here.

This hotel is just way off the pace.

Don’t get sucked in to the brand name. Bad service and terrible quality is inexcusable, Covid is...

This is an amazing hotel, and one of the most impressive features is that you can confidently leave your kids in KIDS CLUB without paying any additional fees! The staff at the kid’s club are very attentive and well-staffed, and to my surprise, they even remembered my child’s name on the second day—such a thoughtful and heartwarming detail. Of course, you also have the option to pay a little extra to enroll your kids in the day camp or night camp programs, which offer even more fun activities and meals at very reasonable prices. The day camp costs less than 2,000 Thai Baht per kid, making it a great deal. The hotel also offers plenty of free activities for guests, such as glass bottle painting, table tennis, badminton, board games, and Switch / PS 5 …etc I was especially impressed by the staff at the board game area. They weren’t just welcoming the kids but were actively playing with them and engaging wholeheartedly, for parents who just want some downtime—it allows you to temporarily escape the constant demands of parenting! I’ve stayed at many resort hotels, but I rarely see staff members so actively and enthusiastically engaging with children. Additionally, the hotel provides free popsicles by the pool during the day and free popcorn during evening children’s movie screenings. These little details make the experience so delightful. As a Marriott Gold Elite member, the hotel kindly upgraded me to a family room, although I had originally tried to inquire about a paid upgrade to an even higher-tier room. Unfortunately, due to full occupancy, that wasn’t possible. However, after staying at the hotel, I realized we barely spent time in the room, so upgrading to a bigger room didn’t seem necessary in the end. That said, there was one incident during my stay that left me feeling a bit upset. at 7th Aug around 1430-1600pm , as we were heading out, a staff member in the lobby handed my child a small set of crayons and an activity card. Since I have two kids, I went to the front desk to ask if I could have an additional set of crayons.

The female staff member at the desk (with dyed hair and good looking, though I didn’t catch her name) handled my request, and her attitude was extremely unpleasant. She first asked for my room number, and after I provided it, she replied, “Did you only book one room? Then you’ll have to share that set of crayons.” I wasn’t opposed to sharing, but her tone and attitude made me feel uncomfortable, as though I was trying to take unacceptable advantage of the hotel. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of discrimination. Thankfully, another staff member named JJ stepped in like an angel. He seemed to overhear my conversation with the female staff and immediately asked, “Would you like another set of crayons?” When I nodded, he kindly replied that he would go look for one. Eventually, it was still the female staff member who handed me the crayons, but when I said thank you, she didn’t even respond or make eye contact with me, which made me absolutely furious. The next day, while checking out, I ran into JJ again and expressed my gratitude. He even told me he had later found a larger set of crayons for us but noticed we had already left. I genuinely appreciated his kindness and professionalism. Overall, this was an excellent stay, and I would definitely return in the future. However, I sincerely hope I won’t encounter the same rude front desk staff...