We leave Portland Oregon on the NW flight on 1/30 and arrive in Bangkok at midnight on 1/31. Already booked the hotel at the new airport for the first night, seemed easiest. We are spending the next 8 nights in the Phuket area. I am hoping for advise on hotels. Intereste in Karon or Kata beach area. My hope is to find a clean, nice hotel close to the beach (want to be able to hear the waves and have a view) with a great pool. Budget would be happy with under $100 a night including the taxes.

Off recommendations off TA as well as reviews on some of the booking sites, we ended up booking the Kata Palm Resort at Kata beach for our November trip to Phuket.

Pool Access Rooms are still under $100/night. We booked through Precision Reservations which allowed us to book immediately and not wait for a confirmation.

We will definitely report back when we return.

We stayed at both the Katathani and the Kata Beach Resort. The Katathani was beautiful, but really isolated. There were tons of chairs at the pool and on the beach. We also stayed at the Kata Beach resort. This was also a nice hotel, although not as nice as the Katathani. There are not as many available chairs on either the beach or at the pool (people went out very early to get chairs at the pool.) I did, however, like the location better than the Katathani. You can walk to shops and restaurants and definately are not as secluded. The price for the Kata Beach sounds about in your range

jamesA will have good suggestions for you but he seems to be among the missing just now....be patient and he will have a ton of ideas...or post again in a week and see if he bites

For a budget of USD 100 a night inc tax/service/breakfast for abssolute beachfont, i.e no beach raods to cross, wander from toom to pool straight onto beach you are very limited indeed.
I think kata Thani will be well over your budget, the easily remembered Kata beach resort or Karon Beach Resort both are absolute beachfront,
but again probably well over your budget.
Unfortunately there are actualy not that many absolute beachfront places at reasonable prices, those that have prime beach position within that range tend to be remote.
The number of places right on the beach at Karon you can count on 2 fingers(!) the Karon Beach Resort and a side access to the beach from Marina, or you could add walk down the hillside from the Central Karon but location is not good in my opinion, steep up to road and then far from anywhere.
Kata is really Kata beach resort, kata Thani or Mom tri's, or the Club med but even that has a road in front of it.
Don't worry, all is not lost !
Kamala beach is the next beach up from Patong, quite a nice area, shops, restaurants, small bars etc, busy but not too busy, theKamala Beach Hotel has a walkway between it and the beach but a deluxe seaview room including tax/service/breakfast is about USD 95 at that time. Kamala is not as 'famous' on this board but is a nice beach area and just north from there are Surin and other beaches, you can head into Patong at night in about 20 minutes. There are lots of places to eat out and it probably is about the same 'busy wise' as say Kata.

Some reviews:
http://www.res24.com/review/posts.ht...ury-hotels.com

Photos etc:

http://www.r24.org/phuket-luxury-hot...beach/details/

This is also very close to Phuket Fantasea.
Within that budget I think Kamala could suit you. There are places around say USD 85 at Kata such as the Juva which is now the Central Kata beach resort but it is a road back again from the beach, they have a shuttle but it's not the same!

Thanks to everyone for the great information. I have three choices, can someone help me with a decision? My criteria is ocean view and sound, clean nice room and a great pool.
Andaman Seaview:
Superior Room $104
Delux Room $161
Karon Sea Sands:
Pool Access $109
Delux room $82
Kamala Beach Delux Seaview $80

All of the rates include the tax and service charges.
Can anyone give me some ideas on why to choose one over another?

They are different beach areas so have different sty6le and type of beach.

Those at Karon are across the main beach road, so you walk from your hotel across the road and across the grass area that back the Karon beach onto the beach, shades and beach chairs are there but back to your hotel when you need the bathroom(!), Karon are is ok but somewhat different to Kamala.
Kamala Beach area is a nice beach.

Karon Sea Sand is near Karon circle and the road with the shops, bars, tailors etc, this area is more built up than Kamala Beach. neither Andaman Seaview or Karon sands are 'on the beach'.

There is a walkway in front of kamala Beach but overall aspect is 'at the beach'. The kamala beach has more of a tropical feel to it with palms around the pool which is very close to the beach.
But Kamala is somewhat quieter than Karon but it is nice. Both are about 20 mins from Patong, kamala is north whilst Karon is south.

Ok, I am being convinced that Kamala might be the best choice. My friend likes to have a few beers (too many) in the late afternoon and then wants dinner as late as possible. is the hotel within walking distance of several dinning options? How late are they open? Also, we will want to play some golf in the Phuket area, any thoughts on distance from the hotel?

We really liked the Kamala Beach Hotel a lot. Wound up staying 5-6 nights. This was in 2003, before the tsunami, but they seem to have fixed it up. It meets your requirement well. There's a restaurant and bar at the hotel, and lots of places to eat in a 5-minute walk, both along the beach and in the village behind the hotel. When we were there, the Coconut Garden restaurant on the beach was great, but these things change fast. Charoen in the village was good too. If you turn right and walk down the beach,it becomes very quiet (or at least was in 2003). It's especially nice that there's no road, just a boardwalk, between the hotel and the beach. I don't know how late the restaurants serve, as we like to eat early.

Most restaurants will be open late, some may stop around 10 pm, bars will be open later, you are about 20 mins from Patong if you want real late nights and you can eat well into the early hours no problem.

jeanfromboston : We often talk here so much about Kata/Karon as alternatives to Patong we are permaps amiss at not mentioning Kamala and Surin more. I've always liked the area.

lassell, some of the best restaurants are actualy on the way in to Patong from Kamala such as Baan Rim Pai, there are also cliffside seafood places between Kamala and Patong.