Kalim Resort Phuket

If it wasn't for the fact the package deal I took to Phuket was such a great price, I would never ordinarily have considered staying at the Sunset Beach Resort. The hotel's website claims it is in North Patong but it is actually in Kalim Bay - a good 15 to 20 minute walk to Soi Bangla.

The upside to this is that the hotel is reasonably quiet. Unless you're as unlucky as we were to have a room on the first floor overlooking the pool area and some really rude people making huge amounts of noise when they staggered drunk back to the hotel at 3am. The hotel bar is at one end of the pool area and, even though it closes around 10pm, the area isn't closed off so people will sometimes sit down at the bar with their own drinks and get quite rowdy. So it's best to ask for a room at the back of the hotel, although I think they are mostly suites.

The hotel was overbooked when we arrived, so we were put into a junior suite for the first night. It was spacious, and quite clean, although it had a terrible musty/mouldy smell like the room was damp and hadn't been opened in ages. I had to go buy some air freshener that afternoon. I don't think it was from the tsunami, because the room was on the top floor. Strangely enough, the room we were moved to the next night (which was only one floor up and suffered some water damage in the tsunami) didn't smell damp or mouldy at all.

The 'deluxe' rooms are pretty basic, and some of the furniture needs replacing. Our bathroom, while clean, had the unmistakable shabbiness of a bathroom badly in need of updating. I had to give the airpot (like a kettle) a really good cleaning out, as best I could, before using it because the calcification around the heating element was dreadful. The airconditioning is noisy, and makes it difficult to sleep with it running. So I tried sleeping with ear plugs but I think the aircon is overly dehumidifying because we kept waking up with dry throats and blocked noses.

The hotel had a free shuttle that left from the resort every half hour and dropped you on Soi Bangla at the same spot where you could pick it up again. The only problem was a few times when we tried to catch the shuttle back it didn't turn up, and it happened to a few other guests too. But a tuk tuk back to the hotel from Patong should only cost 100 Baht anyway.

The hotel also claimed to have wireless internet in every room, but it worked sporadically at best. The worst part was that you had to buy blocks of time (100 Baht for 30 minutes, 200 Baht for an hour) and the voucher was only valid for 24 hours from the time of purchase - if you didn't use your credit, you lost it. Which ordinarily wouldn't be a problem except the wireless internet would work for maybe 5-15 minutes then stop working and it wouldn't be up and running again until after the voucher expired! And the staff at the front counter would just say the internet was working and refuse to refund or reissue a voucher.

The breakfast buffet was nothing special, but not terrible either. The (very small) restaurant was very reasonable for lunch and dinner and the food was quite good. The beer and cocktail prices weren't as reasonable, but still cheaper than back in Oz. The wait staff were very pleasant and accommodating.

Overall, it was a reasonably pleasant stay but I would only stay here again if I got a really good deal. There are many other places closer to Patong, with equal or better facilities, for the same money.