We have stayed here twice in the last six months and, while it is not perfect, we are big fans for the reasons below and will go again (note also the downsides relating to food & beverages). I would mostly recommend it for a private retreat or romantic getaway of a few days rather than a long holiday.
- exclusive retreat: the villas are as spacious and comfortable as homes (for urbanites like me at least) and there is so much personal space around the resort that it can feel like your own personal playground. And they understand the amount of intrusion you need: sometimes luxury is privacy. The staff are very eager to help and remembered our drink preferences for the minibar and breakfast faves from the previous visit but also left us alone when we wanted that.
- what's included: I can't put a price on the comfort I feel when every little thing I do is *not* counted and added to the bill. The boat excursions to Hong island, the airport pick up, the internet, the goodies in the room, the cooler of beverages and snacks at the pool, the kayaks, the little courtesies. More and more high end properties have abandoned this approach and moved to a la carte pricing for everything, which I dislike intensely.
- excellent facilities such as one of the best equipped and well maintained gyms I have seen in a resort. Keeping up with my training is critically important to me and here the gym is excellent.
- and, yes, breakfast! I don't understand the criticisms of other reviewers. This is definitely not a mass-market resort like a Hilton or Marriott with extensive stands of waffle-bakers and five kinds of sausages etc. It is selected, quite virtuous and all of extremely high quality. I like, in particular, the selection of fresh juices (carrot, beet, lemongrass), the homemade granolas and baked goods, and healthful stir-fried vegetables.
The negative points were the following:
The splendid isolation comes at a cost, which is that you are at the mercy of the in-house restaurants. As some have noted, they are very pricey and, more importantly, the food can be really disappointing. At the Thai restaurant in particular, we dined there four times and each time asked for proper Thai spicing (being accustomed to real Thai food) and they simply would not deliver. The F&B manager even got very defensive about it. The seafood restaurant served up incredibly fussy European-style dishes obviously trying to impress but some simply grilled local fresh fish would have impressed us more. Local dining options are, unfortunately, very limited unless you are prepared for a relatively long and expensive taxi ride.
- Ritz Carlton Krabi
