Mangosteen Ayurveda & Wellness Resort — Hotel in Rawai

I stayed for 6 days on a yoga retreat package. I travel a fair bit so I hope you'll find my review objective and helpful.

Room & amenities: Loved my room, the outdoor shower (fragrant, good quality shower gel and shampoo) the seaview over Rawai beach and the lovely outdoor space with a hammock and chairs.  The fridge in the room was handy as there is a Family Mart at the end of the road and a 7 Eleven 10 min away if you want to stock up on drinks - the brown sugar milk tea was amazing!! Housekeeping was excellent.

Pool area: Spacious, lots of sun lounges both in sun or shade. I preferred the sun bed as it offered a bit more seclusion and it was shaded. Service was good, they served fresh popcorn in the afternoon with soft drinks.

Yoga sessions: Morning 8:00am and afternoon 4:00pm one hour sessions were held in an outdoor yoga studio which was really nice. They provided mats, bricks and straps. Each session was held by different instructors so I was exposed to different techniques - this was good. However the level of yoga practice was really gentle, mainly stretching and meditation - aimed at people who have not done yoga before or really beginners. Anna was the highlight for me as I learned a new breathing technique.

The reason I booked a yoga retreat was so that I challenge myself during practice, learn a few new asanas and progress with my existing ones. Very soon I realised this was not possible at Mangosteen so I joined the daily Bikram hot yoga class (60min and 90min on Sun) at Action Point fitness club, literally a 12 min walking distance. That felt like the real workout I was after.

Food: This was the most dissappointing aspect of my stay. I selected Thai instead of the ayurveda vegetarian menu. There was much confusion over what I could or could not have, no one could give a straight answer. Finally the restaurant manager ascertained that included in the package there was one Thai dish per meal (but could not explain why I was told I cannot have Tom Yum with prawns but I could have a prawn salad with lemongrass).

The Thai food was below mediocre. For the first two days I just had one small bowl of soup at lunch and dinner. On the third day I chose the prawn salad with lemongrass and not only it was absolutely tasteless but it gave me a bad stomach. After that I did not eat in the restaurant except some fruit and coffee for breakfast.

Ayurveda doctor - I never saw him. I think I was supposed to discuss my diet for the time I was staying but it was not arranged for me, so I did not bother.

30 min massage - This also came with the package. It was ok - back and shoulder massage but nothing to write home about. I have had much better ones in Phuket but I know some of the other guests were on different packages and they enjoyed their treatments so maybe this was just the basic level.

I would give Mangosteen a 3.5 star rating for my stay taking the above into account. All the staff were nice and friendly (reception organised taxis to Kata Noi and Central Festival) but with the Thai food quality lacking and my main reason for being there - yoga a bit of a let down I think it's a fair appraisal.

Response to Mangosteen:

Judging from the responses to my review and many others you find it hard to accept constructive criticism and always find a reason to lay the blame elsewhere ( I had not bought large bottles of Coke, only cans and I have been on a no carbs diet for 6 months and for 3 weeks in Thailand prior to my stay and with no issues).

May I recommend that you spend less time contradicting your customers and more time doing an introspective into how you can improve based on the feedback (clearer communication around the package)? You never know - you may actually benefit from this, end up with better ratings and happier,...

Check in - upon checkin we were not given a proper onboarding and informed of all the amenities, activities, etc. example: gym, salt water jacuzzi, etc. we started to discover stuff well into our stay. we were also not proactively informed about the additional package inclusions (elephant sanctuary, big Buddha visit). We had to approach the desk and book those. Poor guest onboarding Diet - The Ayurvedic doctor does an assessment and then the diet information is passed on to the kitchen staff. As a guest / patient of the doctor, I expected to be told which diet I was meant to be on, the rationale and the effects I should expect as the concept was new to my friend. None of this was explained, kitchen staff were confused. Every day I was given an Ayurvedic menu which contained no dairy, no meat / egg options. On day 4 of my stay i was given a new menu for breakfast which included an egg / meat option , I enquired why this was the case 4 days later and the explanation by the waitress was that she thought we were Ayurvedic but we are on the “ananda” diet which allows eggs. I find this unacceptable as the food is a huge aspect of the treatment and I wanted to adhere to this properly Food - portion sizes were tiny, food was tasteless and lacked salt and flavor. I’ve eaten Ayurvedic food and this was by far the worst experience and worst part of our stay. We departed to the elephant sanctuary at 6:45am one morning and requested a packed lunch as we assumed we are on this “strict Ayurvedic” diet. We received 2 slices of hard stale dry bread (one Jam / one cheese), unbuttered. It was inedible. I informed reception of this upon my return (nana and Jookie) and my feedback was received by complete apathy, a look of disinterest and no effort to remedy the situation. The client facing staff require some interpersonal skills training to be able to handle such situations. Restaurant- the restaurant never explained the concept of the community table and I only discovered its existence after reading the reviews on the Google where other guests experienced the same oversight. I spent 6 days at the retreat and this was never offered to us. Ayurvedic doctor - the doctor never mentioned we would be placed on the ananda diet and why. We didn’t have any clue what was included / excluded on this meal plan. Massages - the head and foot massage was awful on day 2, the therapist lacked technique. I approached Sagar the following day and informed him of this. His tone lacked any enthusiasm to remedy the situation and neither did he follow up with me post my feedback. His client facing skills require improvement. For the price we paid I expected a world class massage, I experienced a better massage on the Rawai beach for one quarter the price. Environment - the resort is infested with mosquitoes and I had to call housekeeping twice to spray the room as we were being constantly bitten. The bed is hard and uncomfortable. The room is in need of an aesthetic ungrade. The Reiki and sound healing therapy was good. Some waiters were however friendly and after appealing to them for some salt / spice they offered us some chilli on the side to add to our meals

I won’t return to Mangosteen wellness retreat again and I wouldn’t recommend it unless some of these basic services...

My partner and I knew we wanted to have a healthy, relaxing, restorative vacation in a warm climate, so we began researching wellness retreats all around the world.

We considered Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Bali, India, and lots of other locations. We wanted yoga, healthy food, beaches, massage and other treatments, and we wanted this in a non-pretentious, adult-only, affordable resort.

After weeks of searching, we decided that Mangosteen had the best wellness retreats at a price that made them the best value we could find. We were not disappointed.

For the price of a single massage in most resorts in the USA, each day we enjoyed a beautiful villa with a private jacuzzi, a 24-hour gorgeous pool, a 24-hour modern fitness room, a massage or other treatment, organized activities, as well as breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a beautiful, open-air restaurant where we were served impeccably healthy and delicious meals by warm and welcoming service staff - every day.

I have visited Thailand several times, but this was my first trip to Phuket. The Thai people as just as friendly as I remembered from my earlier visits. They are just so respectful and gracious. It makes it a joy to interact with them.

We did a wellness retreat called The Burnout Prevention Retreat. I think it was also a burnout recovery retreat for us. Within 24 hours of our arrival, we had forgotten about work and were melting into our vacation schedule of yoga, great food, massages, body treatments, pool time, and beach time.

The beds are firm and comfortable. The pillows are good. The rooms are spacious with a jacuzzi tub and shower, lots of windows, and a private balcony/porch with table, chairs, and our own hammock. We enjoyed our time at the room as well as the rest of the resort.

The owners, Rose and Hajo, are highly attentive to the guests and would frequently stop by to visit with us when we were eating at the restaurant. They gave us great advice about things to do and were generally wonderful people. They treat their staff with kindness and respect, and it certainly gets paid forward to the guests.

We took advantage of various activities suggested by Mangosteen, including an early-morning hike to a nearby beach, a shopping excursion to Old Town Phuket, a visit to The Green Elephant Sanctuary where we fed and bathed the elephants (really), early-morning yoga on the beach, and a day-long speed-boat outing to Ko Phi Phi and other neighboring islands where we visited the most beautiful beaches we've ever seen. The extra-curricular activities in Thailand are really affordable as well. It made our choice to do them seem like a no-brainer.

We liked the Mangosteen so much that we are looking into hosting our own workshop retreats at the resort next year. It would be an idyllic setting for small groups (under 20) to gather, learn, and be pampered. We're so excited about this possibility. I mention it only to underscore our level of satisfaction with Mangosteen.

We are really grateful to Rose & Hajo and all of the helpful staff at The Mangosteen! Thank you for showing us how to relax again!!

Anneli & Jim - San...