The Naka Island, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Phuket — Hotel in Pa Khlok

After visiting Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Bangkok, Naka Island was the last stop of our trip to Asia for almost 1 month. After hectic days of visits behind visits, we chose a place to have peace.

We chose The Naka Island Resort & SPA, where we stayed 8 days, in early December.

We had transportation arranged by the property from Phuket airport to the resort (1400 THB + 17.7%, each way). First, we were taken by private car to the pier (30 minutes) and then on a boat to the island (5 minutes), which ran smoothly. The same on return.

On arrival, on the island, we were greeted by some staff members and had an excellent welcome, where we were even told a bit of the history of the island.

The check-in was done in the villa in a personalized way and we were given the necessary explanations about the villa and the resort. This is the only property on Naka Island, a small island with only about 100 inhabitants, which makes it a very unique place.

The allocated villa was a Tropical Villa (#9) with 450 sqm. The décor had a rustic look, framed with the rest of the resort, amid lush greenery. As someone previously mentioned on TA, the villas reminded the Flintstones’ house. It had room with AC and ceiling fan that properly cooled the environment. There were large windows overlooking the garden. There was complimentary coffee and plenty of bottled water. The turndown service left a few sweets and candles and incense lit up every night. The bathroom was attached to the bedroom, separated by a corridor, in an area open to the outside. Here, there was a shower that allowed a Turkish bath. There was no AC in this zone, only a ceiling fan, which cooled, but not enough to eliminate the tropical humid heat. In the private garden of the villa there was a small infinity pool, but of sufficient size to be able to swim a little. There was also a Day Bed, under a shed, with ceiling fan, sun loungers and outside shower and large tub, all of generous dimensions. Unfortunately, there was no tap water, and, as soon as we arrived, we had to call the technicians who solved the problem. Annoying for those who have just arrived and what they most want is to take a refreshing bath quickly. On the second day, happened the same with the hot water... We booked a villa with King Sized Bed and apparently this seemed to us on arrival, but later we realized that what existed were two twin mattresses that had been sloping one to the other and then put sheets on top as if it was a King Sized mattress!!! The quality of sleep was terrible! When we were in the middle of the bed we could feel the hard edges of the two mattresses together. What a terrible impression this gave us!!! On the second day, after we left at 9:00 AM and returned at 2:30 PM, the villa had not been made! Had we been mistaken in choosing this "luxury resort"??? Just when we called the housekeeping the room was done. Well, we could not enjoy our privacy, as we had to share the moments that we thought would be relaxing in the villa, with housekeeping... We complained to the Director of Rooms about both the type of bed/mattresses and the service of housekeeping. As compensation, we were offered an upgrade to a Sea View Villa (#51) and a dinner at the My Grill restaurant. We moved to the new villa where we spent the remaining nights. It was similar to Villa #9, but had a view directly out to the sea and beyond what was in the first villa, it had iPod, expresso-machine and, above all, a real King Sized Bed, quite comfortable. Here, the housekeeping service ran smoothly.

We speak, now, of the common areas of the resort. This had a superb location!, in the midst of lush, tropical vegetation, with direct access to the private beach. The beach was never crowded, allowing some privacy, with plenty of room and sunloungers. The service provided by the beach attendants was excellent; they handed out complimentary fresh water periodically. Between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM they offered ice creams too. A large infinity pool, on the beach, had loungers on its water and provided for those who used them relax, refresh and amazing views. Seawater was warm, greenish and calm, sometimes appearing an authentic lake. We must mention that we are beach lovers and before arriving at Naka Island, we were somewhat apprehensive about the state of the beach and the sea because we had read some TA reviews, saying that during the low tide one could not be at sea, nor swim, because the shoreline rocks were exposed. Well, this did not pose any real problem, since the period of the high tide was enough to enjoy the beach and the sea, both for swimming and for water sports available at the resort, some of them free of charge. The rest of the time you could enjoy both the main pool and the private pool in the villa itself. The resort also offered bicycles for touring the island. Too bad some of them were not in good repair.

There were 2 restaurants at the resort: My Grill, more upscale, and the Tonsai, more casual. Both had very attentive staff, serving good quality food. Breakfast, served at Tonsai, included in our rate, provided a reasonable buffet and also an excellent à la carte hot menu, also included.

There was also a large SPA with some free access areas, which we had not tried, but we visited, having been very well received and welcomed by the attendant, who showed us and looked very good.

There were also a number of support structures at the resort, including concierge, library, small gym, small shop, Kids Club and Z Bar, this one providing amazing sunset views while sipping a cocktail.

The resort is isolated, far from civilization and is mostly geared towards couples that want to be away from the hustle and bustle and want only peace and quiet.

Finally, we express our personal feelings:

• As a Platinum Member, it would have been nice the property had made an upgrade of the villa from the beginning, which did not happen, but this, in no way, posed a problem; by the way, and regarding the benefits of the Platinum Members, be warned that Happy Hour at Z Bar, previously complimentary for Platinum Members, had recently ended;

• Upon arrival, we did not really like to realize that our King Sized Bed booking had not been honoured, especially being Platinum Members! Management should not tolerate such thing!!!;

• We did not like to feel the damp heat in the bathroom after showering, getting the feeling of not being washed, but we did not consider this issue a big problem;

• We did not like to have ridden a bicycle without brakes, turning dangerous some parts of the way on the island, namely, descents;

• All the other problems mentioned in the review we consider them to be of minor importance;

• We loved the resort overall, which has an unbeatable scenic setting (we've already been to the Maldives, Seychelles, Hawaii, Caribbean, including Virgin Islands, and we consider Naka Island to be among the Top +);

• We loved the attitude of all the staff, who lived up to the traditional Thai "Land of Smiles";

• We loved the villa, although with a rustic decor, but really framed in place;

• We loved the facilities of the villa, its private garden and swimming pool, which, in fact, make this property more luxurious.

Conclusion: There is an urgent need to correct some serious points regarding management that does not belong to a luxury resort, and all the other problems are tolerable in the context of a small island lost in the Andaman Sea. We also consider that because of its natural landscape and scenic setting, this is a place to go sometime in life,...

As promised in my previous posting on March 18th last year I vowed to return to this wonderful getaway island of paradise that is known as Naka. Once again, this idyllic resort met the vast majority of the exalted standards that it sets for itself. The staff were incredibly polite and friendly and the villas are all simply stunning how they blend into the natural environment that they reside within making it all the more harmonious and tranquil. It was also a nice touch that the General Manager was already at the jetty ready to meet us as we disembarked off the speedboat and welcomed me back to the island – it’s always nice to feel a little special that someone has taken the time to recognize a returning patron and intimate the notion accordingly. All the wonderful things I mentioned in my previous posting in March last year remain 100% accurate and offer a fair reflection of the great work that is being done on the island and long may it continue.

My only slight criticism last time regarding the food and communication issues still unfortunately exists. Once again, day one by the pool, we asked for two Chicken Caesar Salads with the dressing on the side and despite the language barriers and asking us twice to confirm the order, we ended up with the dressing poured all over the salad… a minor issue and we let it slide accordingly.

I noticed this time around there seemed to be a few more children at the resort and the newly added ‘kids room’ is a very nice addition as I don’t recall seeing it last time. The pool in our particular villa didn’t seem to get as warm during the day so unfortunately it was too cold to put our young baby in and enjoy that facility, but the main pool areas that were shallower accommodated us accordingly. The evening Grill restaurant was once again faultless. We had oysters to start, which were lovely along with the surf and turf was once again a delightful experience.

The one major issue I have to share with everyone though is a wider problem for all the Starwood hotels in Phuket generally. Naka is no exception and it’s an issue that can seriously damage the branding of a hotel, even one as lovely as Naka. They use a third party company to do all the limousine transfers and my experience with this company has been nothing short of annoying. I ordered the BMW transfer through the hotel to meet me off the speedboat to take my family and me to the airport. The car was 25 minutes late and we were left standing there with a 3 month old baby and all our luggage in the baking heat wondering when the car would turn up. When the driver finally arrived there was no word of an apology or explanation. We then get into the extremely dated BMW and he begins to explain to me that there is no air conditioning as “it is broken”. Not exactly what you want to hear after you have been stood around sweltering for 25 minutes. After approximately 2 miles the car then gave off an alarming noise and the driver then proceeded to intimate to me that “the car is not working properly”. I have a baby strapped in the back seat with my partner and now I am extremely concerned that at best we are going to be stranded somewhere and perhaps miss our flight or at worst have an accident given the terrible state of the vehicle we have been given. My issue here is one of standards. If a luxury collection hotel such as Naka is charging me for a luxury limousine service then I expect it to be exactly that. The danger that Naka Island, The Westin Hotel and all the other Starwood hotels that outsource their vehicle transfers run the same risk of having that third party company completely ruin all the good work that everyone concerned with the hotel have contributed to your holiday. I can only assume it’s for economic purposes that it makes more sense for them to lease this service out to a third party but time and time again in Phuket I have this issue. For example, 3 out of 5 times I have visited the Westin Hotel; they have sent the wrong car to meet me.

Alas, I don’t want it to detract it from the wonderful stay that we had at Naka, but more importantly I think it’s something Naka and the other hotels should seriously consider going forward. Even if they had one vehicle owned by the hotel at least that way they could control both the quality of service and punctuality accordingly and not have their brand assassinated by a third party vendor who simply doesn’t hold themselves to the same standards that are being portrayed by the hotel.

I will most definitely be returning to Naka again at some point and I can certainly guarantee if you go this hotel it will not disappoint you… it is a real gem and one to be...

Be Warned - yet ANOTHER case of Severe Food Poisoning at Naka Island

To celebrate our engagement, I treated my fiancee to a getaway at Naka Island. Things started well: I booked with Amex FH&R so we were upgraded. The promotional pictures were hard to reconcile with reality, but it was still nice and the staff were pleasant. We did note cleanliness was an issue, particularly the smaller pool, which was full of grime.

Given the occasion, I surprised my fiancee with the private dinner and that is where things took a very, very bad turn. My partner and I both had the same dishes, with the exception of the starter: I had scallops, whilst she had tuna. I love scallops and eat them all the time - however on this occasion, within moments of finishing my starter, I felt increasingly uneasy and uncomfortable. As the meal progressed, I felt more and more nauseous, to the point where it became hard to force the food down. We rushed through the meal, and within about 10 paces from the dinner table, I had to duck behind a bush and violently vomited everything I'd just eaten. A passing staff member brought me water and a towel to wipe my face.

Later that night, I was awoken by the dreaded urge to go to the bathroom - without wanting to go into too much graphic detail - it was violently coming out of both ends - it was horrendous. I spent the rest of the night struggling to sleep between constant bathroom visits.

The next morning at 7am, my partner called reception to see if they could bring us some anti-sickness tablets and some imodium. Shortly after, a man in a black chef's uniform came to the villa and rang the bell. The man - who we later understood to be Chef Sandeep Kumar, did not introduce himself to my partner, was not apologetic, had a stinker of an attitude and made it clear he was unconvinced of my illness - he just stood in the doorway and rudely typed away on his phone whilst standing in front of her. I put on a gown and went outside - when he saw me, he looked up from his phone and retained his condescending and obnoxious demeanour - something I have never experienced in what is supposedly a luxury 5 star resort. My partner was visibly upset by the encounter, which she felt was intimidating and rude.

By 10:30am, I had managed to go about 1h30 without vomiting, and wanted to take my partner to breakfast. The breakfast spread looked great - it was all the more frustrating that I couldn't enjoy any of it! Many of the breakfast staff were very attentive and kind, one brought me congee and peppermint tea, I was also able to eat a small slice of watermelon. We were then approached by that awful chef Kumar, who came and stood at our table, looking down as if to inspect what I was eating, and scoffed at the watermelon! I had to ask him to give us some space. If anyone at Naka reads this review - I seriously suggest you teach this man how to behave around your guests - he is unfit to represent any luxury establishment.

To add insult to injury, upon check-out, we noticed we were being charged in full for the meal. When we contested this, they sent over a representative from their F&B team. The rep explained that they had ‘checked’ the kitchen and that they conform to hygiene standards and regulations.

I note that in response to reviews of other cases of food poisoning, that Naka states that they conform to local hygiene standards. This has happened numerous times - those standards are clearly not good enough. To twist the knife, the rep insinuated I’d been poisoned before arriving, despite the fact we’d been at the resort for 27 hours at that point.

So not only did I experience severe food poisoning, I was forced to pay for the privilege, was questioned and publicly insulted. Whilst they may appear polite and sincere in responses to reviews, in real life they were demeaning and rude.

After spending over $1k USD a night, they still forced us to pay for the meal that poisoned me and ruined our trip.

I will be making a formal complaints to AMEX and Marriott. This establishment is not fit to be...