Royal Lanta Resort & Spa

Ive seen mixed reviews about this hotel. I thought it was great value for money. My niece and i were visiting my brother and we stayed in one of the Garden Villas. It was clean, big and everything i wanted was there. Beds were clean and had a mosquito net over the twin single beds. TV was not working so they switched TV's but i really didnt use it. WIFI was free which was great for my niece! It had a separate sink area from the bathroom which i liked as we could both get ready separately. The shower area was adequate. The reception was always attentive. Breakfast was adequate - all you can eat - i had an omelette everyday, and yoghurt and fruit. The rooms even had umbrellas - we had one downpour. There are two massive pools - I prefer the one near the beach. All in all it was a great experience and i would come back again. Getting to the hotel.... we had the driver from the hotel come and pick us up - easiest way to do it and its cheaper. We flew into Krabi and the driver picked us up at a hotel we stayed in. We had to catch a ferry and then drive to Koh Lanta. All part of the adventure. Leave plenty of time going back to Krabi as we were pushed to get onto the ferry on time to catch our plane. Its a busy ferry. Thanks Koh Lanta - I will be back . Oh by the way we went when Songkran festival and the Koh Lanta festival was on - what a great experience it was and i highly recommend it.

I can't express how disappointed we were with our stay at this resort, we arrived on the 24th Dec and departed on the 5th Jan. This was meant to be a really special holiday for us to renew our wedding vows and had booked directly with the hotel 10 months in advance. Booked 2 x Grand Deluxe Villa rooms and paid a lot of money due to peak Christmas period. We originally stayed at the Royal Lanta back in 2005 and it was a fabulous resort back then which is why we wanted to stay again. Having seen a few mixed reviews I emailed them asking various questions about the quality of the rooms / pools / restaurant etc. and was informed that they would be carrying out any refurbishments required prior to the new season so we could be assured that everything would be perfect for our stay. When we arrived on Christmas Eve one of the Villa's was reasonably ok on first look but the second one was not acceptable at all. Dead bugs all over the bed, dusty, no towels, TV just left unplugged in the middle of the room, smelt very musty. We were given another Grand Deluxe Villa which was again ok on first look. The whole resort needs a lot of work in order to bring it back to it's former beauty. The rooms are large and have the potential to be very good but were very tired and in need of some serious cleaning. The bathrooms were certainly not up to standard. We reported our complaints throughout our stay to reception and also by email but no-one spoke to us or addressed our complaints personally. I could be here all day explaining everything but will summarise as follows - Grand Deluxe Villa's are not deluxe and need updating and cleaning properly. Some days the villa's were not cleaned and we had to find the housekeeping and ask them to do it. Towels are old and smell very musty and not clean. Bathrooms need refurbishing - showers dirty and no where to hang towels. The Jacuzzi's are not usable at all - dirty and stained - would not let my dog go in there let alone my children!! The breakfast we only tried the first morning - poor selection and a lot of the food was not covered so fly's / ants all on the food. Was very concerned about getting an upset stomach due to food not being hot / cold enough and uncovered. Paid for breakfast for our whole stay but again a waste of our money. We could not watch any TV during our stay as no channels at all and the WiFi connection was so poor or non existent impossible to connect to Netflix etc. Not great when you are away with children and back in the rooms earlyish some evenings. We had a number of cockroaches in our rooms during our stay and also a Rat in our bathroom which was just horrible and very unsettling. There are very few sunbeds in the resort and the few that are there are broken or damaged in some way. There were quite a lot of loose and worn out wooden boards around the pool / villas / restaurant areas which can be dangerous. Both my son and my husband hurt their toes and feet a few times. The gym is tiny with broken and unsafe equipment so was not usable at all. Overall the staff at the resort were friendly and polite. When we arrived home I complained in writing to the resort and received a detailed reply from the CEO at TMARKS Hospitality Company, Bangkok. We were offered in writing a partial refund or other compensation and we expressed what we thought was an acceptable amount and was told that this would be refunded to our bank account once approved by the owner. This was back in late January and I am still waiting for a further email reply. I have followed up several times with the CEO over the past 3 months and not received any replies at all. This is diabolical customer service from the senior management level of the hotel group which owns Royal Lanta Resort. It is not acceptable to make an offer of a refund in writing then completely 'ghost' the customer afterwards by not answering any emails. I work within a high level of customer service myself and would not treat any of my customers in this way.

Excellent hospitality by the manager Mr. Naay There were some little issues with my stay in the beginning that were out of the control of the staff and Mr. Naay and his team took them very seriously & did extremely well to solve the issues quickly and made my stay perfect. All other staff was incredibly nice as well, makes you feel right at home. Can highly recommend this resort.

I was very disappointed in this hotel. The Spa looks like it has been closed for years. The smell of sewer was hideous. It was difficult to get a roll of toilet paper for your room. No activities , very few chairs and the rooms had nothing in them. I would find a better place to stay. It was not cheap and really offered very little. Breakfast was the same every day, minimal just like everything else.