Anantara Phuket Villas

The location on the beach and professional approach made this place stand out above the surrounding properties

⭐⭐☆☆☆ Misleading experience – not the luxury villa stay advertised We stayed at Anantara Mai Khao Villas last Easter as a family of four, and booked with genuine excitement after seeing the beautiful imagery and descriptions online. Unfortunately, the reality was deeply disappointing. After a lovely drive through lush gardens and past the iconic Anantara villas, we assumed we were arriving at the resort shown in the marketing. Instead, we were dropped at what were essentially apartment-style flats, with a rear view of a car park and a front aspect overlooking a low-end neighbouring resort. This was extremely jarring and bore no resemblance to the tranquil, luxury villa experience that is so heavily promoted. While buggies transport you back and forth to the main resort, this does not compensate for the fact that your actual accommodation is completely detached from the experience being sold. Having to be driven to “the real resort” multiple times a day made the stay feel fragmented and, frankly, miserable rather than relaxing. What made matters worse is that this area is now also being marketed as a vacation club, something that was not made clear at booking and fundamentally changes the nature of the stay. This should be explicit and upfront in all marketing. Most disappointing of all was how poorly the situation was handled by the hotel. Rather than acknowledging the issue or offering a meaningful resolution, the response felt dismissive. Having since read other reviews, it’s clear this is not an isolated experience, which makes the lack of transparency even more frustrating. Anantara is a brand we associate with honesty, quality and exceptional hospitality — sadly, this stay did not live up to those values. Had we known the true nature and location of the accommodation, we would never have booked.

Stayed for 4 nights in December. The hotel (restaurants, rooms, walkways, pool area, beach etc) is well maintained and picturesque (which was the reason we chose it as well). The staff are always smiling and ready to help. Breakfast at La Sala was always a pleasant start to the day. Efficient staff and good food. Thai food was very good - we tried the spring-rolls, fried fish, salads, curry - all were top notch. The non-Thai food is totally tasteless though. First night we tried the Grill -the wagyu strip-loins were unevenly cooked overtly buttered and unevenly salted, sides were passable, sauces were stingy an bearnaise was whipped with vanilla. Second night we tried their much hyped Indian food (chicken makhani, chaat etc) which was pretty basic and bland and probably catering to a western palate, which is a strange choice, considering they do not tame down their Thai food. Third day we ordered the wagyu burger which was fairly disappointing with the patty sticking together like a stone - felt like a frozen patty. Our main issue with the stay was that the villa assigned to us (24) was right opposite the swimming pool area of another hotel(I think marriott vacation club or something). It was very noisy throughout the day with kids/teenagers howling and screaming all day. On top of that, the other hotel organises all their live events with bands, music and microphones on some days that adds to the nuisance. It got really annoying by the second evening and i raised the issue to the villa host who after discussing with the management offered to move us but with just 1.5 days remaining we didn't want to pack and unpack again. They did offer us credit of THB 3000 (we refused) and assured us that they would speak with the other hotel to reduce the noise. Overall, I found the whole thing mismanaged - there was no reason to assign a noisy room to a first comer to the hotel. It felt like it was a known issue and they were trying to wiggle out of it with no real apology. Service at Vayu bar was very good, though food options are limited. Housekeeping was a mixed bag. First day, we had just checked in arnd 4:30pm , when evening turn down insisted on finishing up at 5, and refused to come back in half an hour. They were not flexible on scheduling, but the quality was good. I forgot 3 pieces of gym clothes on the drying rack while checking out, and wrote back to the hotel. Unfortunately, they could not find any of them. We did not try most of the activities. The Thai boxing instructor San was amazing - for 2 beginners, he managed to cover a lot of ground within a session.

Wonderful, Staff very helpful .Always kind and smile. Thanks miss JU, Bow,Mew, I will return to ANANTARA RESORTS .beautiful place.

Best hotel in Mai Khao, Anantara Is a luxury hotel with gorgeous decor and great functionality, the staff is out of this world, so nice, friendly and knowledgeable