Pool — Hotel in Ratsada

We stayed here for part of our honeymoon and our experience was absolutely horrible that we ended up leaving early (after 2 days). There was a trail of ants in our room when we first arrived - in the bathroom and all over the room. We alerted the staff who simply sprayed the ants, which did not get rid of them as we found more ants on the bed and on the floor soon after! There was also hair and more bugs in the bathroom so the room had not been cleaned properly.||||We were moved to a different room which was not a better experience. There were still ants in this room and plenty of bugs in the private pool so we could not even use it. To make things worse, we were woken out of our sleep at 4am in the morning by the neighbours blasting music and jumping into their pool for at least 2 hours. When we went to complain about this there was absolutely no security onsite as we walked around the entire hotel looking for them, and reception staff had already gone home. The hotel is not in a good area and anyone can walk in off the street and come onsite, especially with no security around and no gate etc. to the premises! ||||We spoke to reception the next morning about our experience (including the ants) and asked for a refund as we had a terrible experience and would be leaving early. They agreed to this and told us to request the refund through booking.com as we booked our stay through them. However Malabar are now refusing to issue our refund, even though we only stayed for 2 nights out of our 7 night booking. They are being extremely rude and unhelpful, and are now lying to booking.com that they did not agree to a refund. They are even refusing to give us a partial refund for the nights that we did not stay at the hotel, which was the majority of our booking. We went back to our original hotel, Hotel IKON Phuket, which is absolutely lovely and would highly recommend. I would avoid Malabar at all costs and if you have any issues, make sure any agreement you have with them is in writing. I’ve never had issues with any other hotel aside from Malabar, it would have ruined our entire honeymoon experience if we could not find other accommodation. ||||The hotel is also in a poor area with no beaches, shops or many activities around so not much to do at all - the hotel does not offer any food apart from breakfast which is extremely limited so you have to fend for yourself. Save your time and money and...

We stayed here for part of our honeymoon and our experience was absolutely horrible that we ended up leaving early (after 2 days). There was a trail of ants in our room when we first arrived - in the bathroom and all over the room. We alerted the staff who simply sprayed the ants, which did not get rid of them as we found more ants on the bed and on the floor soon after! There was also hair and more bugs in the bathroom so the room had not been cleaned properly.

We were moved to a different room which was not a better experience. There were still ants in this room and plenty of bugs in the private pool so we could not even use it. To make things worse, we were woken out of our sleep at 4am in the morning by the neighbours blasting music and jumping into their pool for at least 2 hours. When we went to complain about this there was absolutely no security onsite as we walked around the entire hotel looking for them, and reception staff had already gone home. The hotel is not in a good area and anyone can walk in off the street and come onsite, especially with no security around and no gate etc. to the premises!

We spoke to reception the next morning about our experience (including the ants) and asked for a refund as we had a terrible experience and would be leaving early. They agreed to this and told us to request the refund through booking.com as we booked our stay through them. However Malabar are now refusing to issue our refund, even though we only stayed for 2 nights out of our 7 night booking. They are being extremely rude and unhelpful, and are now lying to booking.com that they did not agree to a refund. They are even refusing to give us a partial refund for the nights that we did not stay at the hotel, which was the majority of our booking. We went back to our original hotel, Hotel IKON Phuket, which is absolutely lovely and would highly recommend. I would avoid Malabar at all costs and if you have any issues, make sure any agreement you have with them is in writing. I’ve never had issues with any other hotel aside from Malabar, it would have ruined our entire honeymoon experience if we could not find other accommodation.

The hotel is also in a poor area with no beaches, shops or many activities around so not much to do at all - the hotel does not offer any food apart from breakfast which is extremely limited so you have to fend for yourself. Save your time and money and...

Our stay at The Malabar Resort was extremely disappointing and, unfortunately, ranks as one of the worst resort experiences we’ve had. The location is extremely remote — far removed from basic amenities, local attractions, and dining options. The surrounding area felt rural and underdeveloped, which might appeal to some looking for solitude, but for us, it felt uncomfortable and unsafe, especially after dark. During a short walk, we were surrounded by numerous street dogs barking aggressively, which made it genuinely unsettling to move around outside. Adding to the discomfort, we found the local community not particularly welcoming, and there was a significant language barrier as very few people spoke English. This made even simple interactions difficult. The closest food option available was a basic pizza place, which was average at best and certainly not enough to rely on during a multi-day stay. Transport was another major issue — with no nearby services, you’re entirely dependent on taxis, and a single trip into the nearest town costs around 700–800 Baht. If you plan to explore or dine out more than once a day, the transport costs quickly become unreasonable and impractical. Ultimately, the resort felt isolated, poorly connected, and lacked the hospitality or facilities to justify staying. We decided to check out after just one night, as the overall experience felt deserted, uncomfortable, and far from what we had hoped for in a relaxing getaway.|What I didn’t like was the resort’s extremely remote location, which made it hard to access basic amenities or restaurants. The area felt unsafe to walk around, especially with several aggressive street dogs nearby. The lack of nearby dining options, unhelpful locals with limited English, and expensive taxi fares to reach the town added to the inconvenience. Overall, it felt isolated, poorly serviced, and not guest-friendly — we ended up checking out after...