My husband and I are planning a trip to Thailand in November (Bangkok and Phuket)and have narrowed down our choice of hotels in Phuket to Le Royal Meridien Yacht Club, Villa Royal (part of Mom's Tri Boathouse), the Chedi and finally Kata Thani. We are so confused because these hotels are all in different locations. To get the best advice, perhaps, I should say we are 43 and 50 years young, travel a lot and do not want a large 'convention' style hotel. We prefer smaller hotels; we want to feel like we really are in Thailand and although we want a deluxe property, we like to venture out for meals and drinks and shopping. I do enjoy a place that makes you feel special but I'm not willing to spend $400 a night in Thailand. So...that being said...we found the properties above on various websites and the prices seem great for what you get. The Chedi seems to be the most expensive of the lot. The Kata Thani and Villa Royal seem to have great locations since they are closest to restaurants and action in Kata. And the best value I found was for the Royal Meridien; for $120 a night we can get an ocean front room, but I'm wondering about being too isolated. Are there buses that can easily take us into Kata for dinner or reasonably priced taxis? I'd stay at an isolated place if there is reasonable transportation to restaurants. I do not want to be stuck at the hotel even if it's incredible. Any input on these properties would be great and the advantage/disadvantage of their locations.

You have already managed to find some very good options, the Kata Thani should suit you perfect. Unfortunately transport is mainly by tuk-tuks and efforts to introduce more buses have had 'problems'. However Kata is an excellent choice as there is a local bus into Phuket Town and it is easy to get to Karon beach next up for a different choice of restaurants etc, and not too far from patong for a bigger choice. Many like Le meridient at Nai Harn, it isn't "too" isolated but if you have not visited before I would suggest Kata being that easier for access to restaurants and just 'wandering around'. Boathouse is a more intimate establishment, I really think the kata Thai will be a good choice and if you search you will find recent reviews from regular posters here who have visited. Another place worth looking at if for nothing more than amazing sea views especially at Sunset is the aptly named "Kata beach resort" or the equaly aptly named "Karon Beach Resort", thes eare a good notch down from the wquality of the Kata Thani etc but also think how much time you will spend in the hotel, are you going to spend much of the day around the pool/beach or want in resort spa etc, if so the kata Thani, if not then you can save some bucks bu going for one of those aptl;y named 'resorts' which proably rate 3 star but if you just want a/c comftorbale bed and a balconty, well, something to think about. if you want the quality then kata Thani excellent choice.
The Chedi is nice but much quuieter and I would say it tends towards the honeymoon couple style of place, you will find the Kata Thani has extensive facilities, but the Boathouse ( watch the room location layout, some rooms great others reported as not so great ) is a lot smaller.

if you haven't followed this board before, james gives great suggestions....i have used many of his in the past...he suggest this same hotel for me for my up coming trip but we opted for the marriott beacuse of a very special price deal...otherwise i would have gone with it as suggested...

taxis are generally very cheap throughout thailand...

you do not mention bangkok hotels...may i put in my plug for the marriott resort and spa on the river...slightly more upscale i would suggest the peninsula or the shangri-la---all on the river....the sheraton grande on sukhumvit or the conrad would be 2 choices in the heart of the city or the four seasons or hyatt...all in great locations...

We've stayed at both the Chedi and the Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club. Both are very nice, but we liked the RMPYC better. It's on a wonderful cove. A taxi into Kata Beach is about 300-400 Baht. We looked at the rooms at the Boathouse and they were great, but more expensive than RMPYC. Of course, you're in Kata Beach and there is more action.

Are you into Thai Cooking? If so, the Boathouse used to offer a 2 day cooking course for $A50 each day which my daughter and I enjoyed. It was outside overlooking Kata beach which is just beautiful.I say "used to" because I am not sure how much damage they sustained in the Tsunami.

No damage to Kata Beach at all, Karon was also fine.

Thank you so much for the replies. It is so hard to decide but every bit of input does help. Kata does seem like a better and more accesible location, especially since we haven't been to Phuket before and do want to explore. On the other hand, my husband saw Le Royal Meridien's website and said "we're going there!" so we'll figure this one out.
JamesA, thanks for the good input on the Kata Thani. It sounds like this property would have the best of what we're looking for...

Now I'll date myself. I stayed at the Yacht Club in 1985 (it wasn;t a Meridein then) and the rooms and location were gorgeous. The crown prince, his mistress and children were there at the time. My deluxe room was $25 a night. We were the only Americans we saw in our five days there. How times have changed!

The website for the Karon Beach Resort seems to tell a different story about tsunami damage:

"Karon Beach Resort suffered the most with severe damage to 24 ground floor rooms. The hotel will be closed for 2 1/2 months, for repairs, renovations and upgrading for facilities.
Opening, mid-March 2005"
http://www.phuket.com/karonbeach/

Kata Beach and Karon Beach are different. The Karon Beach Resort is right on the beach itself located at the very end (south) part of Karon beach. The pool and ground floor area right on the beach level so it would have taken a fair 'hit', this is the 'only' hotel right on the beach apart from 'In on the Beach' and Marina which has a sheltered area but otherwise built up gigher along the hillside over the beach area, otherwise all the other hotels/resorts at Karon are across the beach road. The beach at Karon is wide and behind it is a wide stretch of sand and grass with a deep 'gulley', dip whatever it's called, then the beach road, then properties, this wide wide plus the grass and the gulley provided substrantial protection to the other buildings. There was some work being done between South Sea and the Aracadia/Hilton that that was an area being built on anyway.
The report would have been refering to the Karon beach 'resort' hotel as opposed to the resort of Karon. I was there in Feb.