[OneThailand]

Last update: 9 April 2007

Price check:
Heineken - 85
Soft Drink - 50
Nam Manao - 55
Spaghetti - 250 (dinner)
Kaeng Karee Kai (Indian Chicken Curry) - 180
Pizza Margherita - 160 (lunch)

The Best Western Premier Bang Tao Beach is a 4-star hotel located a few kilometres south of the Laguna Complex on Bang Tao Bay. It has a beautiful setting on the beach, and is made up of low-rise buildings and four bungalows.

The breakfasts here are quite ordinary - that is to say, no better than most hotels, but more than acceptable with a decent selection. However, like most hotels in Phuket, food prices are a bit on the steep side.

The bungalow we're staying in is fine - except the weter is brown and the air-conditioning is a bit too weak for my liking, though it does finally get cold enough to get a decent night's sleep. Sheets are not always changed - this is fine given the need to conserve water, but there are obvious situations when the sheets need to be changed - and on at least one occasion we had to call housekeeping back to change sheets when they should have done this the first time they serviced the room.

However, the internet services here rank amongst the biggest ripoffs I have ever encountered in over a hundred hotels. Not only does the LAN connection not work in my bungalow (because it hasn't been properly wired yet), the cost of accessing the Internet by wireless, or by using one of the computers in the lobby, is 200 baht for one hour. The only saving grace is that you can log in and log out for up to seven days on that hour if you're quick with your emails.

What's worse is that there is an allotment of coupons - once the one-hour ones are sold out, you're stuck with a 3-hour coupon for 500 baht. This has to be the most ridiculous concept ever - and if it is like this at all of their sister hotels, this is almost enough for a person to permanently strike those hotels off of their list if Internet is a requirement. Go ahead and charge me 3-400 baht a day for permanent connection - even 500 baht - but this is plain ridiculous.

Another big negative is that the Best Western Premier Bang Tao Beach clearly has a habit of overbooking, even when the packages are prepaid IN FULL - and this is a big no-no under any circumstances - and again probably enough for someone to strike the group off from further consideration.

The only saving grace is that the beach is nice, the staff (except for the Thai resident manager who gave me plenty of stick about the overbooking until I demanded to talk to the GM) are friendly and polite, the pools are clean, and the facilities are of decent standard. Perhaps cost wasn't too bad either - but I think you can do much better in Phuket for the same price.

There are a number of restaurants just outside the hotel featuring Indian, Italian, Western and of course Thai dishes - there are also a couple of convenience stores and places where you can book tours and rent cars and motorbikes. Renting a car can be a pretty good deal as the taxis from the hotel and outside charge exorbitant prices which simply aren't justified. We rented a Honda Jazz for the day for 1500 baht plus gas - and everything was in excellent working condition as you would expect from a car not more than a couple of years old. Some friends of mine rented a Suzuki Caribean for 800 per day, but these vehicles are probably closing in on 15 years old and I'd recommend only the best of drivers consider this option.

Anyhow, I'm not going to strike them off my list just yet - it may turn out that other hotels in Phuket have the same overbooking or high-priced policies - in which case I think it might be better to take a holiday in Hua Hin or Pattaya until these hotel operators learn that the customer must come first.