First off, Maikhao Palm Beach Resort and Spa is great if you want a place to rest - and it works with your family too. They have family rooms, a huge area of swimming facilities including a children's pool, some small slides, sun chairs, and a pool bar. There is a building with a gym, table tennis table, spa, and children's play area ("kids zone" or something), which is great for indoor play when it is hot outside. Breakfast is excellent, with a variety of warm dishes, fresh egg station, breads and pastries, fruit and vegetables, cereals, teas and coffees, cold drinks (juices, etc.) and more. Please don't steal food from the breakfast buffet - that is dishonest, illegal, poor. There are rooms with sea view, rooms with forest view, probably all have a balcony. Some rooms have their own pool access (direct access to the large general use pool from their rooms, with a more private "landing" behind a hedge). Rooms come with AC, and a mini fridge too, which is nice if you want to cool some drinks or whatever. The beach is right across a small road from the hotel. Here, you'll get lots of smallish waves and views of fishing boats, as well as easy and comfortable access to the "viewing point" for airplanes at the Phuket airport (it is only a short walk from the hotel). Nearby: Just beside the hotel, you can find a stall selling fresh fruit and smoothies - they are great! On the other side of the hotel, on the same road, there is a restaurant called Yum yum on the beach. Food here is great and the staff is friendly. A little further down the road towards the airport, there are some more restaurants with food, and right down by the runway viewing area, you'll find motorcycle vendors with their snacks and souvenirs too. Final point: the staff at this resort are very friendly and helpful. Remember, they are Thai, they have a different culture and different sensibilities, and they overlook SO many faux pas from their guests.

The place is fairly big, so depending on your room, you may be quite a distance from the lobby/restaurants that you'll have to walk (you can request a lift, though, I think). One downside could be the relative distance from a market, but there are some restaurant and snack options nearby. You can also get into a village with Lotus's and 7-Elevens easily by bicycle or motorcycle with sidecar (or whatever mode if transport you prefer).

I loved this place. It's traditional Thai mixed with luxury. We had a pool room and I wish we had booked to stay longer. The food was great and the staff lovely. I would love to stay here again. The booking.com photos don't do this place justice.

We couldn't get WiFi in our room. No room service before 11am. Taxi's arranged by the hotel were very expensive.

Location is perfect, close to the beach, airport. You can be often totaly alone on the beach, with hundreds of meters between you and other people. Rooms are clean, spacey and for thai standarts overall very good.

The hotel is always full of russian tourists, so you will be unfortunately witnesses of their horrible behaviour...especially during breakfasts.

Clean and beautiful building with friendly staff and excellent chefs with delicious food

Distance from big towns

Spacious and great big pool! Quiet local and friendly helpful staff.

It was a little run down and needed TLC and some deep cleaning.

The pools are great, the rooms are the best I've stayed in and the staff were friendly and helpful.

We booked a meal in the hotel, this was a mistake. We had to send back 5 meals altogether, some under cooked, some over cooked and one cold. We summoned the manager who consulted his staff after which he offered 10% off the bill. As this had spoilt the whole evening we eventually, after some discussion managed to get a 30% reduction. This isn't the first time they have been criticised for their poor food, but I can't believe they haven't done anything about it. The breakfast was fine.

the room and the hotel with the pool are very beautiful

long distance from the restaurant to the rooms and to the beach, there is no train to the area, they only take your suitcases, not you

Clean and spacious room. Beautifully designed and decorated main building. Nice breakfast. Clean, warm, and very long swimming pool. Nice and helpful staffs. Close beach with only a few people. Quiet and beautiful surrounding. Free bicycle rental. Nice outside restorants within a walking distance. 7/11 and mini C market in 15 minute walk. Only 20 minute drive from the airport (the famous Patong beach we visited on the last day is crowded with too many people and takes 1 hour drive from the airport).

The beach is quite stiff. The water depth exceeds your height after five steps, and not good for children. But it was ok for good swimmers.

It’s beautiful pool and next time I would have booked one of the pool access rooms next time as they looked great

Are room was quite far away from reaction like a 10/15 minute walk was fine for us but for less able people may be a pain

The hotel is large and my room was huge, well furnished with a balcony. It over looked the lovely nature to the rear of the hotel. It also had a Juliet balcony, large bathroom with big a shower and big bath. The air con was good and the hotel was quiet. Water, a kettle, tea and coffee is provided. The staff are friendly and helpful. The pool areas are huge. I could swim non stop for as long as I liked. There are many beds to sunbathe on. The buffet breakfast is plentiful. I love watermelon and it was always available. It’s a very short walk (30 seconds) from the lovely beach. The area is not touristy. It’s very peaceful. They have free bikes. I broke my sunglasses. So I cycled to the main road to get some more. There are restaurants nearby for evening meals. The hotel has a good menu too. Reasonably priced. I loved it here.

The bed was a bit firm. Sometimes the towels were taken and not replaced! One of my two cups had a big crack. So when I made a tea. All the boiling water leaked out. Some areas are a bit dated. There was no plant milk available for breakfast.