snowboardgirl

Hello,
I am trying to book a couple nights at the Phi Phi Island Village Beach and Resort & Spa in Ko Phi Phi. I just received an e-mail from the booking agent that there is a compulsory $35 per person each way transfer fee from the airport to the resort and vice versa. That's $140 in total for 2 people. Is this common? $35 US per person each way sounds pretty steep....Has anyone heard of this?
Thanks in advance.

BACanuck

Hi snowboardgirl,
What airport are you being transported from? There is no airport on Phi Phi Island.

snowboardgirl

hi there - The transfer fee includes pick up from the Phuket airport and a scheduled boat ride from Phuket to Ko Phi Phi.

BACanuck

Hi again,
It takes about 30-45 minutes to get from Phuket airport to Phuket Town where the boat will probably leave from. I just had a quick look at the PPIV website and it seems that the boat they use is a speedboat (75 minute ride) as opposed to one of the larger boats/ferries which can take upwards of 2 hours. The speedboats are always more expensive but they are a lot faster as well. As Phi Phi Island Village is located on its own, away from Ton Sai bay where most of the boats land, it appears that you don't have too much choice but to take their compulsory transfer. It doesn't seem to be too far out of line for what you are getting. Hope this helps.

snowboardgirl

Thanks for your help!Much appreciated!

rhkkmk

just out of curiosity, how were you planning to get from the airport to the resort??

divediva

when we were there in october...we had no choice but to take the ferry. i would have paid the extra for the fast boat if it had been available. otherwise the ferry takes you to ton sai...then you transfer by long tail boat to the resort. it saves you about 2 hours to use their fast boat.

when you factor in the cost of the transfer by vehicle to the pier and the boat...its a deal.

JamesA

There cannot be such a thing as a 'cumpulsory' transfer charge and some people might transfer from Phuket Airport, some from Krabi Airport, others would make their own way by boat to Phi Phi, so I cannot believe such a thing as a 'compulsory charge'.

But from November they do run their own speedboat.

Here are some reviews:
http://www.res24.com/review/posts.ht...=beachsiam.com

Here it mentionens their high speed boat from/to Phuket for high season only.

http://www.r24.org/beachsiam.com/kra...land/pictures/

JamesA

If you were traveling to the pier off a flight from Phuket then a taxi might cost very roughly B 500, so it depends on how much they charge for the high speed boat itself. But if you take a normal ferry boat to Phi Phi you then have to go by boat to resort, my personal suggestion would be take if you want the one way and see how good you think it is, once there you will find multiple return options.

snowboardgirl

Thanks for everyone's advice and input!
I finally called the resort and they do charge a compulsory speedboat shuttle service for 1800 Bhat each way per person that also includes pick up from your hotel or airport in Phuket or Krabi and then take you on their speed boat to the report. My original concern was that if our flight into Phuket runs late, we may not make the speedboat (only runs twice a day)but we still need to pay. You can book with the hotel but even if you don't use their transfer services, they will charge you the transfer fee.

shawnbo

My friend and I are going to Phi Phi in January. We used to have friends ont he island (pre-Tsunami) who would arrange airport/speedboat transfers form Phuket Airport to Phi Phi island. Does anyone have any advice on who to arrange a speedboat transfer with? We would like to get a price similar to the $35 Phi Phi Island Village rate.

brusselschap

Well, hey, Zeavola's tranfer charge from Phuket airport including speedboat costs THB 2,354 ($57) per person per way. So your Island Village fee is pretty cheap!