Amazing Travelzoo Offer: Khao Lak JW Marriott Resort

[Guest fountainhall]

Here’s one of the best Travelzoo offers I have seen. It's especially interesting as it extends beyond the low season. 3 nights at the award-winning 5-star JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort and Spa for a package price of A$259 (A$86.33 per night), representing 72% discount. Offer includes -

• Deluxe Pool View Room
  
• All taxes and service charges
  
• Daily Breakfast for 2
  
• One 60-minute Thai massage and 30% off other spa treatments
  
• 30% off airport transfers
  
• Additional nights at A$86
  
• Upgrade to Deluxe Pool Access Room for A$25 per night
  

Conditions:

Validity: 4 August – 15 December 2012 and 1 April – 30 June 2013

Vouchers must be booked before midnight on Wednesday 15 August

Rooms must be reserved no later than 1 June 2013

 

Note: A$1 = approx. US$1.04

 

As a comparison, I checked agoda. Its low season rates for October is US$162 per night. Its lowest early December rate comes in at US$268 per night!

 

http://www.travelzoo..._html_australia

[Guest fountainhall]

Didn't take me long - I booked 6 nights using this offer

[Guest fountainhall]

I've brought this back to the front of the Board because Travelzoo now has a similar offer for the same Resort. The 3-night package is just slightly more expensive at A$289 (inclusive of tax, service, breakfast for 2 and free wifi) with extra nights at A$95.

 

Travelzoo estimate the value of the deal plus other extras is A$1,009. However, with most of the period falling in the low season, the best deal for dates in May with free cancellation (but without breakfasts) seems to be US$630 on booking.com (seems agoda has no rooms at this hotel). This reduces to US$470 for August, again without breakfasts. So the Travelzoo offer is still a major saving.

 

Validity is from March 1 to 31 October but with blackout dates -

4-5, 9-11 March

12-14 April

18-20 May

 

The Travelzoo vouchers must be purchased by Thursday 21 February and then bookings are made direct with the hotel. 

 

Check this site for full details and booking info.

 

http://www.travelzoo.com/au/local-deals/Outside-Australia/Getaway/41741?utm_source=localdeal_au&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1410846_html_australia

 

Note: I have now booked three hotels this year through Travelzoo at amazing discounts - the J. W. Marriott in Khao Lak, the former Four Seasons in Tokyo at 70% off (it would have been 75% off if the ¥ had not fallen in value since then!) and the Corinthia in St Petersburg at almost 60% off. The savings are far greater than any other site - and I regularly check many of them! It's well worth subscribing for the weekly email which lists just 20 offers. You can subscribe - at no cost - to the Australia site (which includes Asia/Pacific), London for Europe and/or Los Angeles for the Americas.

[Guest fountainhall]

Having brought this offer to the Board, it might be useful to give my thoughts on the 6 nights I just spent at the Marriott in Khao Lak.

 

 

 

Some of the positives -

 

1. The resort looks gorgeous. The rooms are large with big comfortable beds and bathrooms with rain showers.

 

 

2. Mine was a ground level pool access room which meant I could step out on to the terrace and then into the little canal-like pool/stream which runs all the way around the resort and then into the large pool near the beach – allegedly the largest pool in the country!

 

 

 

 

3. The breakfast buffet was huge and ran till 11:00 am.

 

4. The Spa was also beautiful and my two free Thai massages were really excellent – although I’d have preferred masseurs to masseuses!

 

 

5. The beach is pristine and there are no other resorts anywhere nearby. I loved my 30 minute morning walks on the soft sand before breakfast and only wished I could do that in Bangkok! The only other people I ever noticed were a few fishermen.

 

 

 

 

6. At around Bt. 2,700 total per night it was amazing value considering the price included breakfasts, massages, some free beers and discounts on F&B etc.

 

7. I loved my happy-hour raspberry daiquiris at the pool bar (where the waiters were the only cute guys anywhere in the resort)!

 

8. There are a few small beach restaurants which serve good Thai food at reasonable prices.

 

But – and for me there are a string of buts – despite its looks and its setting, the Resort is not all it’s cracked up to be. I suspect this is one of the reasons there are offers galore on the web for this particular Resort for almost the entire year. There is a lot of choice in and near Khao Lak, and I think both the Marriott and Le Meridien (even further away) are too far from town to be really attractive to most people. And how it gained a tripadviser Award last year certainly beats me! Some of the problems –

 

1. Location. It’s an 80 minutes drive north from Phuket airport. Plus it’s a good bit to the north of Khao Lak town and set 1.9 kms off the main road. The hotel runs a minibus service to town, but slams you with a Bt. 100 each way charge. If you want to get a taxi, you have to walk all that way to the road.

 

2. I had not realized the Resort is 8 years old – and inside, despite appearances, it is really starting to show its age. I checked back on old tripadviser reviews and noticed that two had mentioned rats being found in their rooms!!

 

3. This one is really odd for Thailand where the service in 5-star hotels is usually world-beating. For whatever reason, few of the staff smiled. It was really like most of them were bored with their jobs.

 

4. The restaurants are very pricey. On my first evening, I went to the Mediterranean restaurant. I asked for a glass of wine and some Thai bottled water. The non-smiling waitress explained there was no Thai bottled water – only Evian or tap water! Whoever heard of hotels serving tap water in Thailand? I told her to forget the water. Two minutes later she was at the table about to open a huge bottle of Evian. I said “No”. The young European captain came over. He explained there had been a misunderstanding! The tap water was in fact bottled water which they served out of a carafe. It was not tap water! It seemed pretty clear that the “tap water” advice was merely a ruse to get patrons to cough up for the expensive imported bottled water. Also, when my bill finally came, I found I’d been charged for two desserts, one of which I had not ordered!

 

5. Sad to say, I found the Resort guests about 95% European. There was one Japanese gay couple I spotted, and a couple of Chinese families. Apart from that, they were largely a mix of English, German and Scandinavian families with young kids, many I reckoned on package tours. I found it pretty boring. (But then, it was my fault that I chose the week after Easter when I should have realised a lot of European families would still be on holiday here)!

 

6. The hotel runs a number of excursions to various largely uninhabited islands, great for snorkelling but surprisingly the weather for much of the week was cloudy – it even rained a few times – and so I decided instead to go to Phang-na. The ‘highlight’ is the James Bond island (featured in “Man with the Golden Gun”). The island itself is far smaller than I imagined, but it was fun taking the long tail boat through the mangrove forest and then lunching at a Muslim fishing village built on stilts. Not a cheap day, though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would I return? Probably not. It’s not a Resort for singles or even a gay couple. But if there was a party of 6 or more, it could be a lot more fun.

[TotallyOz]

FH. Fantastic photos. I really think you missed your calling in life. You should have been a travel writer! You are better than those that make great money doing it and your photos are magazine quality!

[Guest fountainhall]

Many thanks, Michael. Would you happen to know an agent??? 

[Guest travelerjim]

Thank you Fountainhall...

Your review is well done and much appreciated.

tj