[Hotel Review] - Thavorn Palm Beach Resort (Premium Deluxe Room), Phuket, Thailand (7 - 10 Sep 14)

Location

Thavorn Palm Beach Resort is located in a quite area in Karon Area in Phuket. The resort is one road away from the beach, which sees much lesser crowd as compared to Patong. The resort is far from everything else and the nearest 7-Eleven is a good 10 mins walk from the resort. If one is looking for a quiet place to relax, this resort can be placed in your consideration list. The resort is about 20 mins walk from the famous Phad Thai shop in Phuket. There are some shops about 10 mins walk from the resort selling mostly daily use products. There isn't much to see or do in the vicinity of the resort.

Hardware

The facade of the resort look aged and run down. The rustic lobby gives guests a feel of being taken back in time to the 60s. Most of the time the resort feels dark and deserted, perhaps partly due to the period I stay there being the low season for Phuket. 

Quiet lobby

Welcome drinks

After checking-in, we were escorted by a front desk staff to our room. Despite by aged facade of the resort, the Premium Deluxe room, which offers partial sea view, we were assigned to is rather new. The contemporary room seem to be recently renovated, however there are signs of ageing in the room. As one enters the room, one can spot the wardrobe located to the right of the main door.  The wardrobe is sufficient for 2 persons to unpack their clothing into. However my friend and I did not utilise this wardrobe much as it seemed aged, this is one of the few areas in the room where the resort did not managed to renovate. Right next to the wardrobe is the mini bar area. The standard mini bar is where can find complementary coffee and tea, however the rest of the beverages in the fridge is chargeable. We also did not use the electric air pot for water as it looked rusted and dirty.

Wardrobe by the main door

Mini bar area

Opposite the mini bar is the entrance to the bathroom. The bathroom provides sufficient space for guests. There is a large glass window in the bathroom, right next to the sink. The resort also provided curtains for one to hang for privacy. Opposite the door to the bathroom is the toilet bowl and the sink is next to it. This room only comes with walk-in shower. There is a ledge by the toilet bowl, which provides guests space to put their bathing amenities.

Toilet

Shower area

Bath amenities

Walking past the corridor from the main door opens up to the bedroom. The bed room is rather spacious. To the left of the room is where can find the bed. We requested for a king size bed and was given a bed which is a combination of 2 super-single bed. The bed sleep quality on the bed is bad as the mattress is very soft and one can feel the bed frame of the 2 single beds when sleeping. The pillows are also too soft for my liking. Next to the bed is the makeup table, which is of a decent size for female patrons to stow their cosmetics. Opposite the bed is where one can locate the LED TV. The TV only shows local channels and some outdated channels from popular TV shows such as National Geographic and Discovery Channels for free, one would have to pay for the rest of the channels. To the right of the TV, and in between the TV and the mini bar area, is a marble ledge where one can stow their luggages. The ledge is large enough to hold one huge luggage or 2 cabin sized luggages. To the left of the TV is a queen size day bed, placed next to a window that looks out into the balcony, this day bed is good for one to relax and laze without messing up their bed.  There is a coffee table placed right in front of the day bed.

"King Size" Bed

View of the room

TV

Day bed

Beyond the makeup table is a glass door that leads to the balcony. The balcony is quite big, taking the entire width of the room. There are a couple of straw made chairs and a table placed on the balcony that looks into the beach a far and the swimming pool below. On a clear day, this is a good spot for guests to see the sunset. 

Balcony

Heartware

We had very minimal interaction with the staffs in the resort. The service in the resort is generally acceptable. Cold drinks were being served upon arrival, and the front desk staff invited us to sit by the lobby while she processed our check-in. It took quite awhile before we were handed our keys. The staff volunteered to show us to our room, despite us rejecting a few times. She was however very friendly, and showed us the way to our room and the various facilities within the resort. Upon entering our room, she also show us the fixtures in the room. I can sense that she was waiting for tip and seem to refuse to leave without tipping, by going into mindless introductions such as the air port and the toilet bowl flush. We had tipped her to get her off our back.

The housekeeping staffs are very friendly and was never stingy with their smiles and greetings. However the same cannot be said of the staffs at the restaurant where breakfast was served. We had to search for our seats as the staffs were engaged in petty gossips amongst themselves, paying occasional attention to guests. The bellboys at the lobby is a nice bunch of people, who truly portrays the spirit of Thais. They are always asking how was our day, where did we go and if we needed help with our luggages whenever we walked past them.

Overall

Despite efforts to revitalise the resort, the effort is only restricted to the rooms. The facade and parts of the room still show signs of ageing. The location of the resort is very bad as it is far form everything else. Throughout my stay in the resort, it felt that most of the staffs did not bother to initiate a relationship with guests, rather the relationship building is left to chance. At the period of my stay in the hotel, it was low season for tourism in Phuket, however the attitude of the staffs towards guests seemed to be lukewarm. The sleep quality of the bed is also pretty bad, despite being a spacious room. This resort is not worth staying.