Sri Panwa Phuket Luxury Pool Villa Hotel — Hotel in Wichit

It absolutely kills me to give Sri Panwa a 4 star review when they should by all means be receiving a 5 star review if it weren't for a handful of key factors that devalued such an amazing place . I would have given a 4.5 but the review scale didn't allow.

Good things first: This place is true luxury. Stunning views, grand rooms with lovely extra touches, a fabulous spa and wonderful restaurant accommodations . The views are really remarkable and will make you feel that you are a few steps closer to God, no lie. The infity pool design will make for some of the most amazing photos on this planet . If you are celebrating, relaxing or making a romantic getaway this place is a game changer. The spa is top tier skill set . I have likely had over a thousand massages and this place is the real deal. If you order seafood in any capacity from the restaurants you won't be disappointed. The private beach is exclusive and a lovely addition to the whole experience. The gym isialso very nice accompanied witbwa nice tennis court and yoga studio. Sri Panwa in one word .... Opulence.

Bad stuff last: The restaurant staff doesn't have proper knowledge in regards to cooking red meat. My burger at the BBQ shack was grossly undercooked and my $40 ribeye at Baba restaurant was very overcooked. Now the Ribeye steak that they served me was a true embarrassment to Sri Panwa. The quality of the steak was that of a Denny's Diner syeak, CHEAP and THIN. I couldn't eat it, it was horrific to see such a nice place serve something so disgusting.

The staff is incredible. Very accommodating to the point where you will always have 1 to 2 people within 15 feet of you asking if you need something and trying to help. While this is nice to have let's say if you had a family and needed extra hands as a single guy on a leisure trip I found it to be overwhelming and eventually very annoying. Their willingness to please has no bounds and it ended up being a little suffocating. I cannot stress enough though how professional and amazing the staff is. I feel they just need some proper training on boundaries with people.

The last thing which by a long shot was the biggest pet peeves. Sri Panwa nickle and dimes the hell out of you and they aren't upfront about it. First and foremost what I found to be incredibly deceptive and so classless was they inflate the prices of all the food and spa services or anything purchased on the hotel property by 10%. The sneak in a 10% service fee on the bill when you charge it to the room. At no point is this information disclosed before the bill is in front of you. When asked what the charged was for they explained that it was hotel policy. In many countries this would be very illeagle and it reads so poorly for Sri Panwa. I paid $1000 a night and to receive that kind of deception I was very turned off. Next they charge $10 an hour to use the tennis court. Once again it's not that I mind paying for extras like spa services or private boxing lessons but the court was never used by anybody in the 3 days I was there and $10 for what? It read as desperate and classless.

Overall view: This place is special and it will literally change your life. Everything that was wrong with the experience can be easily corrected. The actual infrastructure and operations of Sri Panwa are unmatched in Phuket. The only resort that comes close likely is Rosewood in Patong. However, Sri Panwa has its own peninsula, sunrise and sunset views. ...

Firstly if I could give this place 4.5 stars then I would.||It is in a great location, I have stayed in this area before. It is a little far out from the airport and main shops, but if you like a quiet area then this is a good spot. There are some local restaurants but no hustle and bustle. |We booked the penthouse suite, and the space was perfect giving our baby the opportunity to crawl around freely. The room was beautiful and clean, the decor was lovely. ||There were some improvements to be made.|1. The pool was not heated, and one of the lights were not working therefore not fully lit up at night. Having a heated pool during colder months would be perfect for use.|2. There were odd rusty areas around some tiles on the pool, I think for a luxury hotel this needs to be looked at closer and maintained better.|3. The food options were vast, but quality could have been better. Very mediocre food at breakfast and room service. |4. Service at the hotel could be improved, a few things to mention. 1. Communicating with some staff was very difficult as their English was very limited, for a luxury hotel I expect all staff to have excellent communication skills as I have stayed at many luxury hotels and this is key. 2. I ordered food to the hotel and called down to reception to inform them, they agreed to bring the food up and I specifically asked not to ring the bell and knock on the door quietly as my baby was napping. My order placed showed delivered on the app, 10 minutes had passed and no one had brought the food up to me. I rang back down and I was told that the food will be brought to me now, I don’t understand why they didn’t bring it immediately, my food had obviously gone cold as this was now 15 minutes later. They arrived and did not follow instructions and rang the doorbell and woke my baby. If there is another parent reading this you would understand my frustration as nap time for my baby is very precious and once woken when he isn’t ready the whole day goes pear shaped - and it did! 3. I had booked the penthouse which included a kitchen area, but no microwave was provided and I was told I can’t have one in my room, but the villas with a kitchen area have a microwave? Anyway, I asked staff at reception upon check in where I can heat up my babies food during meal times, I was told that I can at the restaurant but there’s a charge of 1000baht each time, that’s almost £23! I was astonished and questioned it, and I was told that’s just the charge. I then asked another member of staff about this and questioned why it was so expensive, and how else can I feed my baby as the hotel doesn’t provide baby food. She was nicer about it and said she will check if the charge applies for baby food, she rang to the room and informed me there would be no charge which was helpful and the issue was resolved. However I am making note of it as this left a distasteful feeling as we arrived to the hotel, the first member of staff was not willing to check for me and just basically told me to suck it up without using the...

I understand why there are so many people who want to visit and stay at Sri Panwa. I was also one of them just to see what the hype is all about.

Once we arrived there, we were really impressed with the service and how energetic all the staff look. Now for the room, we booked an Oceanview Penthouse which is very spacious in my opinion. It was spotless and still look like new. We had our own private pool in the penthouse which was well-cleaned as well. They provided all the amenities that you would need during your stay and the minibar is also free of charge (of course included in the room rate) but our thought was that the minibar was a little too basic and cheap. Bottles of water are all plastic but they arranged a recycle bin next to the fridge.

We also ordered in-room dining as we think the sunset view was already good enough from our room. However, the food was a total disappointment. Wagyu burger was very dry and came in a small portion. Chicken wings were also cold and tough to chew. They were also pricey but we only care more about the quality and taste. I would say the meal was not worth it at all. Since the resort is very secluded, we expected their food would be better than this.

Now for the sleeping part, the bed and pillows were very comfy – can’t argue with that. But my biggest problem was that I couldn’t sleep with some lights on, and the control panels in the room (also right next to the bedside) were all digital and they shone so brightly at night they kind of bothered my sleep.

Breakfast was good enough but we wouldn't call it a 6-star or luxury hotel breakfast. The food and buffet setup looked a bit boring. I was so surprised that even butter and yogurt cups were served as in original branded packaging. Thumbs up for the variety and taste though. There were many delicious Thai dishes and great choices of fresh fruit juice.

After breakfast, we went on a walk at their “private beach”. This was the part where we had the least enjoyment. The beach was filled with rocks, pebbles, and lots of trash. And if you walk towards the pier you will see more and more trash all over the place. I understand that these trashes may be washed up from the sea but the resort should clean more often as they are a luxury hotel and this is quite unacceptable.

Overall, don’t get us wrong but we really had a great relaxing time in our Oceanview Penthouse (especially the private pool). We enjoyed every single moment in Sri Panwa except the beach walk and room service. Everyone was very kind, helpful and friendly. The only thing I can't get over it is the value of money if compare with other luxury hotels we had experience with. It’s a good one-time experience thing but we wouldn’t go back there...