Melia Phuket Mai Khao

The room is quite spacious, and the hotel's saltwater pool is beautiful! You can also walk to watch the sunset. The cleanliness is also well-maintained. The beach usually has a lot of sand everywhere, but surprisingly, there's no sand when you walk inside the hotel, which is a big plus! You can walk to a restaurant with a pretty high Google rating, and the best part is it's not expensive! The hotel breakfast is a buffet plus à la carte. Honestly, it's filling, but the selection isn't huge, unlike the Marriott which offers more variety! Also, the mini-bar isn't free. Soft drinks and such don't cost much anyway, and nowadays, even most hotels in Sanya, Hainan, offer free mini-bars! There's a clear difference when you compare! Overall, it's still quite good!

Turns out I shouldn't blindly follow trends for 'influencer' hotels. The environment looked okay at first glance, but the room facilities and amenities were quite rough around the edges. As for the service, we took the shuttle back to our room one evening. We got on first, and then a few white people got on after us, which is fine. But they were dropped off at their rooms first. The staff just told us 'follow me' and made us walk through two alleys to get to our room. Is that reasonable? And then at check-out, it was still half an hour before 12 PM, but the air conditioning in our room was cut off at 11:30 AM. Usually, when we called for a shuttle, it would take ages to arrive, but now they're rushing us out of the room. What's the deal with that?

The room was super comfortable and quiet, and the sea view was absolutely stunning. It's a shame I didn't book more nights. I'd recommend staying at this hotel at the end of your Phuket trip, so you can relax and unwind after a few days of activities. There are no shops nearby, but the hotel provides bicycles, which is a nice touch. Special thanks to Fon at the front desk; she speaks Chinese and provided very detailed information. She was also quick to assist with any requests. 👍

There's a front desk lady who speaks Chinese and offers excellent service. The environment and food are also pretty good.