More about Moevenpick Resort And Spa Karon Beach
Kids Play Zone, More Like Kids Danger Zone!
by TripAdvisor Member boomerusa
We checked into the Movenpick Karon Beach on Christmas Day. On our second day we booked our 4 year old and 19 month old for 2 hours at the Kids Play Zone. Our 19 month was to receive one on one attention, which is a required service that you pay extra for if your toddler is under four. My wife and I went to do some shopping and returned to our room about 1 and half hours later. My wife went to collect the kids while I gathered up their swim gear. Two minutes later my wife rang the room to say that our 19 month old had been taken to hospital and had a gash above his eye. The person that was watching my son put him on a day bed and was letting him jump around on it and surprise surprise, he ended up falling and cutting his head open. We then took a hotel car to meet our son at the hospital. Our son was required to receive four stitches to mend his wound. All this took several hours and the procedure was quite difficult to watch.
Now I realize thataccidents do happen, even though one would think that letting a toddler jump on a bed is a bad idea is common sense, apparently in this case it was not. What really got us upset was the way mangement handled the situation or should I say did not handle it. The play zone staff supervisor told us someone from mangement would contact us regarding the situation later that afternoon. Afternoon turned into evening so I enquired at the front desk to speak with a manager. Apparently none were available. (Also, no message was ever left at our room regarding the situation to let us know that something had happened to our son. They called my mobile once but I missed the call.) The next day around 11:30 we still were not contacted and we ran into the Play Zone supervisor and told her, she then got a member of management to come and see us.
The management staff member informed us that the hotel would cover the hospital charge, which I suppose is the least they should do, plus as we have insurance would have been covered anyway. For the most part we he came across as unsympathetic and defensive, I think he felt we were looking for something out of the situation. He asked "well what do you want us to do" Note not what can we do to make you feel better about this...but a very defensive question. As we told him there is nothing they could do to change thingst he damage was done. We would have liked to see someone from management act concerned in a timely fashion but they missed their opportunity for even that. And ulitmately I blame managment for allowing a preventable situation from happening to occur. Having better safety guidelines could have prevented this. Also upon check they were trying to charge us for the car ride to the hospital which they took off only after me saying that is quite unfair to charge us for that.
Other than that I will say it is a very nice property there are three pools two of which quite good for kids, not that my son could go in after day two due to the stitches. We stayed in a family villa which is basically just interconncting bungalow rooms. We paid around 500.00 USD a night. But the rooms were okay size and the bathrooms quite nice. Although the bathroom doors just push open which is not the best with toddlers.
The breakfast bufftet was pretty good not bad for the money about 16USD per person and no cahrge for the kids.
Lunch was rather limited and dinner even worse. The international buffet is around 25 USD with tax/vat and is one of the worse we have seen ever. So look for dining out options. Wildfire at the resort has pretty good pizza.
All in all I really dont know how I feel to be honest, it for sure would have been a lot different if our son was not injured at the Play Zone and if management was more professional.
I guess my advice for would be guests with kids would be think twice about the Play Zone and dine out.
Tropical paradise resort
by TripAdvisor Member Arska
Just returned from 1 week holiday at Movenpick - we were 2 adults with 2 & 5 year old kids.
The resort is really great - tropical paradise with lush gardens and excellent pool areas safe for the kids. The bungalows are hidden in the vast tropical gardens - and the area is absolutely safe with lots of happy smiling personnel taking care of all your needs. As the resort area is really big - there was a hotel tuk-tuk service always available to drive you to the pools and main building.
We stayed at Suite Villa with bedroom and a separate living room where the kids were sleeping, as well as a big bathroom and even outside shower - perfect to our needs. The villa was very convinient with lots of space, and peaceful - no need to listen and take care about other travellers door next to you.
Kids loved the pools, for which there were several choices: main pool with poolside bar, slide, jacuzzis etc, as well as 2 more peaceful pools hidden in the gardens where you could swim all your own. Baby elephant visited to pool on one day.
Kids club: tried once and older daughter was very keen of it but there were so lots of other things to do outside...
Restaurants serve excelent meals: enourmous breakfast buffet, tasty Thai food and pizzas at the beach side Wildfire, as well as nice burgers, pastas and smaller thais at the poolside bar. Everything reasonably priced, you can of course eat cheaper outside - but the quality of food at hotel is excellent.
Hotel Spa is excellent & very relaxing treatments, although very expensive.
Few issues, which all are overcome by all the nice things about this hotel:
-Yes, there were mosquitos as said in other reviews. So you should not keep the terrace doors open in the evening. But the insects are everywere in the island - not just at this resort.
-Although generally the service by the hotel staff was excellent (and there were a lot of staff!!), some issues with restaurant (mainly Pacifica) personnel, they seem to be a bit like practising
Hotel is great for families with kids and teenagers, but also for couples who can enjoy the tropical greenery and luxury of this resort.
Some general recommendations regarding Phuket:
-Karon beach is excellent place to stay - peaceful but near to Kata/Karon center with loads of restaurants and shops. Beach is one of the most beautiful I have been in, the waves are bigger than in other beaches like Kata. Movenpick is in the quiet area - so you need a 5 minute tuk-tuk to get to restaurants & shops. If you like really a good spot at Karon beach closer to things - consider Marina Cottage at the other end of Karon (looked really nice - villas hidden in the hillside jungle over the sea).
-Racha Yai is an excellent day trip - tropical paradise island with most beautiful beaches and lots of tropical fish in the sea. Only 1,5 hour boat ride
-On the Rock restaurant at Marina Cottage with best seaview in the island, best thai food we found at more than reasonable prices
Perfect family spot in Phuket
by TripAdvisor Member Brucey!Downunder
Spent 10 nights at this resort - pools are fantastic, especially for kids, breakfast is plentiful and of high quality, stayed in the older building, overlooking pools and beach. Room was fine....bathrooms are a little dark but not a big drama. Liked the fact that bar fridge is empty to start with as could fill it with your own food. Great mix of tourists from all cultures. The Employee's English is not great and could at times be frustrating but the Thai smile wins over every time.
Very nice hotel in a village style
by TripAdvisor Member BerlinGuys
We stayed only for one night (before going to Khao Lak) in a court yard villa which was fantastic. Nice interior, even nicer bathroom, comfy bed, little own court with sun bed and deck-chair. You can have your privacy. The breakfast in the morning is awesome, wide choice of everything, typical Moevenpick.
As we didn't like pools we just crossed the street in front of the hotel for a swim in the sea. The beach is nice and clean, you can have sunbeds and umbrellas there.
If we would have stayed longer, we would have stayed mainly on the beach as the sunbeds at the hotels pools were all occupied around 11 am.. Tourists make reservation with towels early, so you have to be fast to get a sunbed.
We would recommend to stay at the beach where you can have an umbrella and sunbed for 200 Bath without hassles and an additionally good view..
Not really a five star thing, Viktor thinks
by TripAdvisor Member Carlberg
Well, on the contrary to Brucey, I dont´t think that a thai smile wins over everthing that is not five star about this hotel. The service is really what we in Europe would call threestarish, the food is not better, the winelist is none and when they started to serve whiskey on the rocks without asking first it was clear that the rating from the hotell about itself is a goal, not a fact. The breakfast is huge, yes, but does it help when they don´t serve dark bread, proper cheese or even vegetables? And then I haven´t even mentioned the cleaningservice, the billing of silly things like a dvd-player, water for dinner and, thats right, a slightly bigger portion of food. Everything bigger than what the chef considers "normal" is to be payed extra for. I mean, if You are dining at wery nice restaurants at home they´ll just be glad if You ask for more! And what is normal? We´re not all the same size are we? When I travel I like to stay in hotels that has the same standard as my livingroom at home, wich remindes me: the tv:s at the hotel are at least 15 years old! Come on, who hasn´t got a flatscreen nowadays! Anyway my kids loved the playzone. And my wife doesn´t agree with me she says. The garden was nice, by the way, and the gymstaff was great.
We stayed for 28 days and lived in a villasuite in the garden. It was nothing special.
family holiday at movenpick
by TripAdvisor Member seeyoulater
we spent a week at movenpick with our three children.
the family villa is excellent accommodation,it has 3 bedrooms plus a living room,2 bathrooms and also 2 outdoor showers.
We were very impressed by the size and layout of the room.
The resort is also very large but easy to navigate and it is easy access to the beach which is across the road form the the resort.
We thought that the staff was a bit slow to serve and respond to questions but we had to keep reminding ourselves to use patience when you in a non speaking English country.
The food was acceptable but we ventured beyond the resort to look for a higher standard of food.
The kids club was well run and provided lots of activities,but there were not alot of kids there at the time so the atmosphere was lacking slightly.
The position of the hotel was outstanding,10 min tuk tuk ride to Patong which was very conveinient.
There is also a great market right next door to the hotel which we loved.
I would recommend this hotel highly for its accomodation options and position in Phuket.
I hope this has been a useful review,i would be happy to answer any further questions you may have.
Forum Posts
Movenpick Resort, Phuket
by demic
I'd be grateful if someone could give me some feedback on this place, please. We have booked for mid October for 5 nights, having decided to blow the majority of our budget here and do our next 12 days on the cheap! I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO do not want to be disappointed!! We have booked a Lagoon Villa, which has cost us plenty, can anyone tell us if it's going to be worth it?
Also, any recommendations for cheap, clean beach bungalow places on Phi Phi and Ko Lanta would be much appreciated. Thank you. x
PS: Any VT'ers there 19-24th Oct(Phuket), get in touch! x
RE: Movenpick Resort, Phuket
by francischris
Check my Ko lanta page for acccomdation.
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