Dome Resort

The last morning, the hotel sent a letter confirming that I had been right and the staff member had admitted what happened. That didn't undo how badly this incident affected the end of our holiday. I'd never been treated like that before, and it left me shaking and extremely upset. I have a brain tumour scar at the back of my head, quite large and visible. At breakfast, I saw a woman on staff pointing at her head, laughing at me, and calling over colleagues. Another staff member joined in, and the first woman kept doing it and summoning two more people. I spoke to one member of staff while my husband went to reception. They were no help. The manager was having breakfast. He came to apologise, but kept saying I probably hadn't understood and that his staff wouldn't behave that way. I left the restaurant because I was so angry I nearly threw my plate at him. A few minutes later he came to our dome with the woman to apologise, but still insisted she had been talking and laughing about the food. I explained it all again. He said he'd investigate and offered to have breakfast delivered free to our dome the next day. The two nights we spent there had other problems too. When we said we'd arrive around 1 p.m., they told us we could check in only if the room was ready, which was fair enough. But when we arrived, there was no smile or warm welcome. One woman didn't stand or say hello; the other just said, “Room not ready, come back at 2.” The dome had no shelves or wardrobe, so our luggage was spread over the floor. The curtains couldn't close properly because of the TV and were missing hooks. The bathroom had mosquitoes and cobwebs full of dead mosquitoes. The pool hadn't been cleaned, with leaves and sand on the bottom. Breakfast itself had a nice variety. If you stay here, be aware that staff may judge and laugh at visible disabilities or scars.

The rooms were cleaned daily and breakfast was decent, but I still wouldn't recommend booking here. There are effectively three parts: “Be My a guest” across the street, worn-out cottages, and a multi-storey building with a pool. Some people left the bungalows for a proper room, as we did. We spent a long time looking through the older rooms, one with a small fridge packed with ice, before we persuaded them to give us a decent room next to the bungalow area, where we could watch the summer residents. Reception was practically absent, which is unusual in Thailand. The English-speaking receptionist barely spoke English, came in after 11-00 and left at 17-00. Nobody spoke Russian. Don't count on getting beach towels or umbrellas. One person had to make omelettes and then cover reception, so they were badly short-staffed. The cottages are old, with warped doors, and the windows get hit regularly. The bedding was ragged and dirty. There was a sewage smell around the hotel in the morning, like a river skunk. It's the shortest route to the beach, but after that walk you won't want to swim at Kata Beach, so go to Karon instead. The nearby hotels stink too. If you're used to holidaying in the country with a bottle of vodka, maybe this place will suit you. Three stars is a stretch, and after three trips I can confidently say it's the worst hotel on Kata Beach. People from Russia apparently start drinking as soon as they arrive, and the hotel takes a deposit to cover the damage from a night of uproar. Find somewhere better, even if it costs $100-200 more. Booking this hotel isn't acceptable.

We moved here for the last two days of our trip after staying somewhere else, and the reception area immediately impressed us. Nai was cheerful and helpful, and talking with him was a pleasure. He did a lot to make us comfortable, and his enthusiasm lifted our mood. Check-in is usually at 2pm, but we arrived early and were already checking in about an hour later. While we waited, we used the really nice pool. The garden is another special part of the hotel, with lovely scenery to walk around and enjoy. Our room was bigger than most hotel rooms I've seen, with a large bed, flat-screen TV, lots of channels including Paramount, working air conditioning, a clean and beautiful bathroom, and a big balcony. It smelled great when we walked in. I'm very impressed and have only good things to say. Thank you! If you're renting a car in Phuket, Orange car Phuket was the only option we found quickly on Google. We had a superb time there!

This room was a lot to put up with, even though we're usually not fussy. At least the hot water worked for a short shower, and there was a TV, though the picture was blurry and it only had one English channel. The other parts of the hotel we passed on the way in looked pretty nice. It was cheap for this area during what I guess is the busy season, so I'm giving it three stars. We were told only 500 baht rooms were left, which seemed like a good deal as we walked past the fairly clean-looking hotel and bungalows. Then they showed us a room tucked away beside the staff living area. We'd been searching for hours, with it so busy in Jan-feb, so we took it. The bed was rock hard, there was no Wi-Fi signal, and the bathroom was dirty and had ants. The screen was broken, so we had to keep the window shut, and the bathroom door wouldn't close. Apparently the staff living next door shared our AC remote: at 10:30pm a woman knocked to borrow it and returned it a minute later. At bedtime we could hear something running around in the ceiling. We thought at least there'd be a pool, but it was so dirty you couldn't see the first step of the ladder.