Grand Mercure Khao Lak Bangsak — Hotel in Phang-nga Province

This property is a dream for people who like to jog/ run. An uninterrupted beach is stretched for about 6-7 km That is about all that I can say positive about the property. Upon arrival, we quickly understood the shortcomings. The property has only one restaurant for a buffet breakfast and one restaurant for a la carte dinners. There is no entertainment The property has only 1 public pool with a bar. The pool is usually overcrowded. It is relatively small in size. To get into water is a problem if you do not have a gumshoe for walking on corals. The property does not have a public spa or sauna. Their Gym is a very small room with 2 treadmills and 3 stationary bikes. The deluxe room is designed to make you feel miserable. There are no draws or shelves in the room to put your belongings in. The plastic bedside tables resemble African drums. Their tops are slightly bigger size than a dinner plate. No draws in the room. All our stuff was in or on our luggage for 2 weeks. In the bathroom, you will discover that there is not enough towel hooks. All of that was one big inconvenience for us. Our deal was inclusive of half board meal plan. We have had buffet breakfast and either lunch or dinner a la cart. Breakfast. The highest rating I would give it would be a 3 star. I would call it Thrifty Breakfast on the cheap. Plenty of food, but it is not gourmet food. There are cheap food options that include 3 cheap cheeses, one salami and 2 finely sliced ham/meat. Some cucumbers and green leaves but you will not find any Camembert or Brie cheeses, smoked salmon, steamed fish with white sauce and so on. Rice and pasta are real heroes there. I have never seen before runny rice porridge with so tiny pieces of seafood or sausages swimming in it. I would not offer this dish to my friends as they would think I am cheap. Also, the breakfast is very humble on the fruits choice. There was only watermelon, oranges, pineapple, dragon fruit, sometimes longan and jujube. To get a passionfruit, we had to ask for it and in a secretive low voice manner were told that they would bring it to us. Exactly the same story was with Earl Grey tea. Later in our stay it also reappeared on the menu. We haven’t seen a mango or other tropical fruits on offer in 2 weeks. Our first dinner showed us that we have become the victims of our “deal” with no escape. There are 2 menus at the restaurant. We had dinner vouchers and were given “3rd class citizens” menu. It is the same menu all the time and the best general description of food on offer is very inexpensive Asian take away in Melbourne. There is No Whole Fish grilled in the oven or 200g steaks on offer, The second, paid menu was a bit better. The portion sizes bigger, food choices better and a quicker service. In our menu, Pasta and Rice are the real heroes there and come with every food option in decent sizes. Unfortunately, we do not eat either of it. We had to choose 3 dishes only. One could be a salad, another could be a soup and either a desert or a main course. So, for 2 weeks we were struggling to order food we wanted. Twice we were served soups that were off – sour and disgusting. One of us wanted hot dishes, the other wanted not spicy. When our orders arrive, often the waiter did not know what was spicy and what was not and had to go back to the kitchen with our dishes to clarify. Generally, meal sizes were visibly smaller in comparison to the pay menu. Time to wait for the main course was a minimum of 30 minutes, sometimes 40 min even if the restaurant was half-empty. It is not air-conditioned and you can not get your dinner without getting bitten by the mosquitoes as there are no measures to prevent them from feasting on the customers. Half of the waiting staff do not or hardly understand your instructions. Then your instructions are lost on the way to the kitchen and so on. Forgot to add: At the buffet dinner for 699 Bhat we were served an expired by 4 months bottle of San Miguel beer. See attached. This is by far the worst Accor hotel management we have encounter in at least...

It’s very rare for me to leave a negative review, but unfortunately, my stay at this hotel was not great. Based on its 5-star rating and glowing reviews, I had high expectations, but I honestly cannot understand how it has earned this rating.

The hotel is severely overcapacity and unable to accommodate its guests properly. With its distance from the main town , you are reliant on the hotel. The breakfast restaurant, Patio, was chaotic, understaffed, and for some reason they would not keep the air conditioning in the main room on. Long queues and delays made the experience stressful rather than enjoyable. The main restaurant was no better, with wait times ranging from 30 minutes for a drink order to over an hour for food. On multiple occasions, we had to cancel our meals and leave as the delays became unbearable. On atleast 2 occasions, we ordered from the baby menu immediately after sitting down, only to still be waiting 45 minutes later with no sign of the food and one very angry and hungry baby. This seemed to be the norm, as we witnessed many other groups canceling orders and walking out.

The hotel also struggled to maintain basic supplies. For example, coconuts were only available for a brief window of about an hour each day, and then they were gone. It’s shocking that during peak season, the hotel couldn't secure a steady supply of something as simple as coconuts.

The issue extended to the pool and beach loungers as well. We specifically chose this hotel to relax with our two babies under the shade of a lounger by the pool or beach, but that never happened. Guests were "reserving" loungers as early as 7:30 am. While the hotel supposedly had a 30-minute enforcement policy for unattended loungers, it was not enforced due to a lack of staff and oversight. Multiple times I had to leave my clothes and my babies items on the side of the pool while taking them for a swim.

Despite multiple complaints to the General Manager, his attitude was dismissive. He blamed the chaos on peak season and Thai culture, which I found both insulting and untrue based on my extensive travels across Thailand. It was evident that the staff were overwhelmed and lacked support from senior management. The frustration among guests was palpable, and many took their complaints directly to the overworked staff, who were powerless to resolve the issues.

Adding insult to injury, during our stay, it appeared that VIPs (possibly from Accor ) were visiting. They were treated to flower garlands, a well-dressed General Manager, and an abundance of staff, while paying guests like us were left to deal with the disorganized mess.

The only positives from our stay were the exceptional efforts of Kris at the front office , the lovely housekeeping staff and Ghink from Patio, who went above and beyond to assist us. It saddened me to see such dedicated staff working in what felt like a toxic and poorly managed environment. The breakfast options were good.

Overall, this hotel prioritizes profit over quality and fails to deliver the standards expected of a Grand Mercure or Accor property. I have written to Accor to request that they seek feedback from paying guests rather than relying solely on internal assessments.

I would neither recommend nor return to this hotel.

Edit 20th Jan based on hotels response: It was mentioned that we were offered daily coconuts free, we were not, we had to pay for them as we signed the bill every time. That was when they were available. The manager himself said go to the restaurant and just tell them your room number and you'll get one. We were informed by staff they had none. We never received complimentary fruit. We did not return for dinner after the first fiasco. my references for late meals also refer to lunch period. I can categorically state with the utmost truth that not one member of my family used any such profanity to any member of staff. To suggest as such is not only a bold lie but also reflects the attitude of the management at this...

Extraordinary value for money After staying here for over a month we can say that we are more than happy with our decision to book this hotel. The best of the Grand Mercure is the extraordinary capability of the staff: the gardeners, chefs, waitresses and waiters, drivers, receptionists, security, pool, spa and cleaning staff; managers and general manager; to react promptly, kindly and efficiently to any request or problem. In the day of our arrival day we had some unpleasant moments but after addressing some issues of our room to the front desk the solution came within a reasonable time. We changed the room, and in the second room we found also some not-so-nice things; but they were fixed within one day. The property is new and in general quite beautiful so you won´t face problems of older hotels. The breakfast is fine: they have a small breakfast room with all we need in the mornings. All is freshly made except the orange juice. From other hotels you might miss things like salami, doughnuts or a noodle/soup station but we personally don´t need it. They have a little egg station where you have to explain several times what you would like to eat but at the end the chef manages to do it for you.

The pool area is small; there are only 5 bali beds, which are almost every day after 12:00 occupied. Also they have non-reclining synthetic rattan sunbeds so you have to be mentally prepared to not being able to lay flat on them. We have a little baby so we only need the beds and we have been lucky to almost every day be able to use one.

The private pool for the rooms of the rooms with pool access is quite similar to the main pool of the hotel. The kids pool is super small and cold. We have seen only one child using it.

The rooms: well, they are new, so not much can go wrong but please be aware that they are very very small and they also don´t have a desk if you’d have to work in the hotel. I don´t know how many square meters the rooms have but the foyer is a lot of dead space and the real size you can use is quite small. they also don´t have any real sofa but a small bench by the bed. The clothes dryers you have to request; the balconies and bathrooms have none.

The restaurants: I already talked about the Patio restaurant, where they only serve Breakfast. There is not much to add to it. The green mango is a GREAT restaurant where you really have a broad variety of food: we have tried really all the menu and the quality is really reaaaally good. Pizzas are standard, pasta is not great but when it comes to thai food, fish, steak, salad and so on, you really don´t need any other restaurant: exception? only one: if you´re a vegetarian or vegan, this restaurant has almost no options for you. We met a couple and they both don’t eat meat… Well, they have to drive to Khaolak Village every day because at the Bangsak beach including the restaurant in the hotel they don´t find anything. What you need to know: you get 50% off in food when you´re an accor plus member (membership costs 100 EUR).

The spa: we had many massages with the 3 different masseuses and it was always very professional and well executed. We personally liked the massage style of Jane and the other young lady; there is a third masseuse we could not get along with but that is a matter of personal taste.

Beach: breathtaking sunsets. Calm, clean and long.

The Gym is very small but offers most of what you need to have a little daily workout.

So: all together the main deficit of the hotel is the room size (and also that rooms don´t have a desk) and the pool size but none of that can’t be changed. The greatness of the hotel lies in the fact that the staff has a extraordinary capability to act immediately and efficiently when a request or complain is expressed. They also anticipate to your needs and make the stay a really nice experience. I´d definitely come back and recommend it to our...