Centara Villas Phi Phi Island

The cottage had a lovely view, and we found plenty of space for swimming and snorkeling. The resort is in an amazing spot, with a charming village and good facilities nearby. It’s a high standard place to unwind, with excellent breakfasts and restaurant meals, friendly, smiling service, and a hotel app that worked perfectly for getting what we wanted. We had a wonderful stay and will remember it for a long time. It might be a nice addition if the hotel offered trips to the island with Bamboo Beach for guests. Best wishes!

Getting around can be difficult if you have mobility issues. Staff can help with buggies, but there are lots of stairs and most villas involve steps. The resort is also isolated, and at high tide you can’t walk out, so you’re effectively stuck unless you arrange a boat. That wasn’t made clear beforehand. The views are beautiful, the villas are comfortable, and the pools make it a nice place to slow down. The front-of-house staff were friendly and clearly doing their best, though the staff often seemed stressed, which affected the relaxing feel. Our villa also wasn’t made up one day. Food was the biggest disappointment. There aren’t many dining options, and one kitchen serves several venues, so service was very slow. One night we waited as long as two hours, and every meal took at least 45 minutes after ordering. They also ran out of basic dishes several times, even Pad Thai. For a place priced as a 4-5 star stay, the service didn’t quite match expectations, though there are some operational kinks to work out.

The room and restaurant both had amazing views, but the service made this a very disappointing stay. No one arrived for the boat transfer we’d arranged from Ton Sai, and when we called, we were told to pay 2,500 baht for a private taxi. Our room wasn’t ready until 3:30pm, half an hour after the stated check-in time. At check-in we were also asked for a 1,500 baht deposit per room, per night, which no one had told us about. We had another boat problem on day two. For our 6am tour, the hotel set up a 5:30am pickup at Luh Lana Beach, but the boat never came. Later they said low tide meant we were expected to walk into the ocean in the dark and find it among around 30 boats. That felt completely unreasonable and unsafe at that hour. Luckily, travelers from another hotel were being escorted to their boat by staff; they helped us call another taxi boat. On our last day, we had a noon boat booked and told reception we could leave earlier if possible. A boat arrived around 11:40am, but no one told us. When we checked at 11:55am, the receptionist casually said it had already been there. We didn’t get her name, and she was unhelpful again. Noey was helpful, though, and we appreciated her assistance. For the nightly price, we expected better service. The room gets only two free bottles of water, and water activities other than snorkeling require rental fees. The price doesn’t reflect the service. If you see this, I’d suggest Sai resort right next to Centara. It’s much more accessible, the staff were nice, and we know this because there was a live performance during check-in and they offered to wash the sand off our feet at the entrance.

The setting on Phi Phi is gorgeous and incredibly peaceful, so it’s a good fit if you want to properly relax. Staff were lovely, though I sometimes had to chase them to get room service done. Food was the main drawback: quite expensive for what it was, and below average in taste and composition. Breakfast was decent, and I was glad we’d only booked two nights. Getting there also takes planning because the hotel is only accessible by boat. That wasn’t clear to me, so I called ahead and got a staff member’s personal WhatsApp number to have the details sent in writing. For a boat DIRECT from Phuket to the hotel and back, you need to book with phi phi tour or PhiPhi logistic, which is the one we used. I’ve attached an image of the departure times the staff member sent me. If you get it wrong and go to the main Phi Phi marina, you’ll have to pay extra for another boat to the resort. Be careful if you have mobility issues, as the steep hills and boat transfers could be really challenging. It’s a beautiful place, with a few quirks.