doc04

My family and I are planning on staying at the JW Marriott in Phuket at the endof December. Any thoughts on the quality of the beach and the water? Also, any thoughts on the room types, ocean view vs. terrace rooms? Apparently the terrace rooms are bigger. Any other comments on the hotel would be appreciated. Thanks.

rhkkmk

i have not been there as of yet but have heard good reports...the only negetive i have heard is its remote location

Tisler

My husband spent part of our honeymoon at the JW Marriott, Phuket back in September 2002. Excellent service and very good food. The rooms were quite comfortable (can't remeber what type, but we were Marriott Silver at the time and had a terrace). We had a resort view room. It is a very large hotel/resort. The central spaces are relaxing and after a harrowing drive across the peninsuls from Koh Samui (via ferry and car), pulling up into the JW was a welcome thing indeed.

The beach was pleasant, clean and quiet. There's a turtle sanctuary not too far away.

It is not as central as other Phuket hotels; in fact, it is a bit north of the airport. However, we loved that it was not in the middle of the more-frequented parts of Phuket. Phuket is very developed and touristy so we liked the "remoteness" of the JW Marriott.

We actually used Marriott hotel certificates and our stay was free. It was an excellent use of our free stays and we would not hesitate to return to the JW Marriott Phuket.

Safe travels!

bizzyb

We stayed in the Marriott timeshares that are connected to the JW Marriott last July. The grounds and facilities are beautiful. The location however is not the best, unless you really don't care to leave the resort. They have a shuttle van to take guests into Phuket town and to Patong. You have to reserve your space 24 hours ahead. It's about a 45 minute trip one way. Because of the time that we were there the beach was not good, but it should be fine in Dec.
The Italian restaurant was very good. The deli has great pastries and breads. If you have a chance try the Mandara Spa, it's pricey but the service and atmosphere were excellent. It was recently rated as one of the best hotel spas in Asia. Have a great time. We really enjoyed our stay there.

rhkkmk

how much is a taxi into town??

bizzyb

I'm not sure about the taxi fare to town, we never used one. I believe we paid 400bht from the airport, which is about 15 minutes away. Taxis are allowed to drop off passengers at the resort, but cannot pick up. We were told that taxis do not like to take people from town to the Marriott because they cannot get a fare for the return trip, so they will charge extra.
We used the shuttle van a few times but the timing was not really convenient. Some people we met there hired a taxi driver for the day, I think it was about 2,000bht to go around the island. They had to meet him outside the gate away from the entrance.

Tisler

We rented a car and had no problem getting to other parts of Phuket. It didn't take 45 minutes,but traffic can be a bear - it took us about 30 minutes to get to any of the maor parts of the island.

I neglected to mention the spa. FABULOUS!! Excellent treatments and scrumptious treatment rooms. Compared to spa prices in NYC, we think it's a bargain and there was some discount at the time as well. We paid US$ 175 for two one-hour massages, a flower foot bath, and mineral bath.

JamesA

It has a very remote location north from the airport, which is good if you want remote but bad if you want to go out in the evenings, taxis would be quite a lot as already said, they can't get a fare back. Traffic in the center of Phuket is very heavy and there are regular traffic jams around the main intersections that link North with South and Phuket Town on the East side with the west side beaches, the tail-baks can be several Km long plus lots of raodworks, at the moment anyway so gettting to places like Patong/Kata in the evenings is a long journey from the Marriot.

traveleran

YOu wouldnt happen to know of anyone who would be interested in a 2 br.2 bath at the Marriott for the weekend of Jan 21 and 22. We would only be using the unit for 5 days. We would charge very little. Thank You Andrea Roskov

Cicerone

I am a big fan of the Marriott and have stayed a couple of times. I believe the terrace rooms the ones on the ground floor and thus have no sea view. Unless you have children that might want to be on the ground floor with direct access to the hotel grounds and pool, I would take a room on the top floor with sea view (preferably with a view of the north pool which is really pretty). All that being said, the hotel is set back a bit from the beach and there are many trees, so even a sea view is not going to give you uninterrupted views of the sea; not really a drawback, but just something to bear in mind. As to the room size, I don’t think there is a great deal of difference between the two, maybe 2-3 square meters which does not matter much. The hotel should be able to tell you what the general room size is for each room type. The rooms have a queen or king bed, no double doubles (i.e., two double beds) as I recall, but each room as an indoor "lanai" platform at the window with two futons that children could easily sleep on.

If you have kids, one of the 2-bedroom time-share units might be better, as it has a small kitchen which is convenient for breakfast, snacks, etc.

I personally like being a bit out of the action, and on my own stretch of beach. You won’t really need to go to other parts of the island, as there is not really a whole lot to see or do on Phuket, IMO. Other than going out to a restaurant in the evening, I don’t see any reason to go to other parts of the island. Patong is really not a nice town, IMO. Shopping on the island is not anything like Bangkok (where I know you are going), and the nature “preserves” and “elephant rides” are not worth the effort, IMO, of going to. There is a shopping arcade at he Marriott that is plenty of shopping for me, and with the spa, you really don’t need to leave the property for anything.

The only thing definitely is worth leaving the hotel for is to hire a boat for the day (with captain) and take day trips out to outlying areas, as these are really beautiful and beaches and water quality are far superior to Phuket itself, which is pretty but not spectacular. Day trips to Phi Phi are surrounding areas are easy to do. You should be able to hire a boat from the Phuket Boat Lagoon in Amphur Muang, which is about 15 minutes from the hotel. (You can join organized day trips from Patong, I believe, but I far prefer to hire my own boat and set my own itinerary. Patong would be about 30-40 minutes by taxi.) The hotel can probably give you info now on boat hires from Phuket Boat Lagoon. You could also search here for operators, and when contacting them tell them you want to be picked up at the Phuket Boat Lagoon, or ask for transport to and from the Marriott to be included in the price.

The other advantage of the Marriott is that hotel is it the closest hotel to the Blue Canyon Golf Club, the best course on the island (IMHO), and you can get playing privileges. Check with the hotel.

Note that the undertow on the beach is quite strong, I would not let young children swim in the ocean unless you are with them.