We spent 10 nights at JW Marriott Khao Lak for our honeymoon and it was absolutely perfect for our needs! An utterly beautiful hotel with clean rooms and facilities and the kindest, most helpful staff I've ever come across in a hotel. Our room was spacious and beautiful, with direct access to the 2.4km pool - this was a great feature and it felt like we had a bit of private pool whilst being able to swim all the way to the main pool. The pool also adds to the feeling that you're in a village community rather than a commercial hotel, as we made friends with our ”neighbours” and would see them from time to time when we were out swimming. The hotel's beach is clean and stunning, the sun beds are thickly padded and comfortable, and we made use of the bodyboarding and kayaking equipment on our stay. The restaurants at the hotel were incredible! The main ones are Ta-Krai (Thai), Sakura (Japanese), and Olive (Italian). Before arriving I was a bit sceptical at how authentic the restaurants would be but the hotel has ensured they've brought in the best chefs who could bring authentic cuisine to Khao Lak. The sushi at Sakura was probably the freshest and tastiest I've ever had (albeit, I've not been to Japan yet, but it's still better than all the London sushi places where we live and even better than Nobu). We loved Olive restaurant too, in particular their Sunset BBQ evening where you're spoilt for choice on meats, seafood, sides, salads, and a full-on Italian cheese and ham bar with really delicious, authentic selections. Chef Enzo there was dishing out cheeses to us and making recommendations what to pair each cheese with and was so helpful (and the cheeses were incredible). We opted for the Breakfast and Dinner package and we're really glad we did as we loved going back to those restaurants over the 10 days. For lunch we'd eat at the hotel cafes, or out at excursions, or at local restaurants adjacent to the hotel, such as Phen's (delicious!). We also bought a spa package at Quan Spa in the hotel and booked in lots of treatments throughout our stay. The spa is beautiful and the massage therapists were excellent; it's a bit pricier than outside the hotel but the spa environment is worth it for that luxe feeling (and still cheaper than in the UK!). Overall, I don't think we found and faults with our stay at JWM and we will definitely come back in the future, perhaps for our anniversaries! And we would highly recommend it to all our family and friends!
We travelled with 3 families (6 adults and 4 kids 8-12) and stayed for 2 weeks. This was our second visit to Mai Khao Lak and we were equally as happy. Stayed in the top section (pool access jacuzzi suite). Modern, clean room with a separate living room, which doubles as a kid's room. Walk off the balcony into private spa area which joins massive swimming pool. There are no shortage of wet options with 5 pools from the beachfront area to the peaceful adults only pool area at the top of the resort. Loads of choices for bars and food. The new Thai restaurant by the beach is very comfortable with great food. At the kids pool area there is another kitchen and bar with great lunch options. The staff are always friendly and helpful. There is an hourly free shuttle bus from reception to town which is convenient, otherwise walk to the beachfront and you can get a tuk tuk (if you order through reception it will cost more!). Breakfast buffet is easy to navigate, with a huge selection of coffee / tea, fresh fruits / yoghurts, cooked food, cereal, pastries, cakes and sweets, loads of bread choices and cold cuts & cheeses. This was a big highlight for the kids and great way for us to all gather and catch up to start the day together. The beach and ocean are very nice, and the many options of beachfront bars, restaurants, laundry services and massage places are all within a 1-5 minute walk from the resort. We visited most of these during our stay and never had a bad experience. Kids club is awesome with plenty of fun and varied activities to engage the kids. If I had to fault something - the internet inside our room was poor, but in most other areas of the resort it was fine. So the 2 big questions... would we go back (a third time)? YES! and would we recommend it to friends? YES! Thanks to everyone at Mai Khao Lak for another memorable experience! See you next time!