Serenity Resort & Residences Phuket (2011)
We arrived in Phuket after a 7-8 hour flight . We were VERY excited to head to our Hotel Serenity Resort & Residences. We were picked up in the very nice, clean (new looking) Serenity black 4wd and offered a bottle of iced water when we got in the car (very nice touch after flighting so long and not being used to the heat of Phuket). We arrived at Serenity an hour later where we were greeted by the reception staff and given cold drinks and cold towels. The check in process was very quick and all went well and we headed to our room (in a golf cart!)
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Room –
We booked a H20 Suite, but as it was our honeymoon and we were staying 2 weeks we got an upgrade (and free transfers to and from the airport). We were upgraded to the Pool Residence Suites. This room has a private pool, 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen and a roof level where you can dine or sunbath.
The toiletries in the room are great as they are in pump bottles; so much easier than the small bottles hotels give you (you never seem to have enough shampoo).
We loved this room, definitely worth the money and very much appreciate the free upgrade!! It would even be worth it at the full price!!
You get 4 bottles of complimentary “Serenity” water each day.
Service –
The service at Serenity is always fantastic but the language barrier is a big issue (for us personally).
Food & Beverage –
Some of the F&B staff can’t speak English or understand it very much (I nearly gave up trying to order Risotto over the phone as they did not understand me) but they do try very hard. “Gun” (the waitresses name) in “East 88” was fantastic from day 1, she greeted us with a smile and throughout our stay looked after us very well and made sure we knew about the hotel activities (the open of the high season party and the loy krathong festival) as well as the when the local market in Rawai beach was and about the Phuket town night markets. Her English was very good so we communicated most issues or things we wanted to know through her, she would then follow it up for us, as well as doing her job and tending to other guests.
Pool staff –
There was always someone wondering around the pool area to assist guests, providing towels and refreshments or food. Faris was very friendly, very helpful and always up for a chat.
Pool –
The pool (while we didn’t use it as we have our own private pool) is large and very nice! There are several types of pool lounges/sunbeds, that are very comfortable and well maintained (when it rained, the F&B and pool staff rushed out and put the covers on. Once the rain was finished, they came out with giant squeegee and cleaned off the sun lounges.
Food –
The food at Serenity…. Well what can I say… it was Beyond AMAZING!!! Who would have thought that we had to travel to Phuket to get the best spaghetti carbonara. The Thai food was fantastic and so was the Western food. The breakfast selection was great, fruits, pastries, all types of eggs (scrambles, fried etc), bacon, sausages, fried rice :), sushi, fruit juices… and so on, there was a large selection! Going to breakfast before 9am is best as it does get very busy around 9am.
We noticed that all the menus had 8 items in each section (which we found entertaining as the restaurant was “East 88”). Starters, salads, club sandwich, burgers, Italian food (pizza and pasta), mains, Thai starters, Thai mains, kids menu and dessert.
Location –
Serenity is about 40-50 mins from the main area (Patong beach) but I think that is what is best about it. It’s away from the noise and the smell of Patong and the bigger areas. It’s quiet and nice to relax and take in the fresh air and scenery.
Staff –
Big thanks for Pascal (F&B Manager) for looking after us during the last week of our stay and to “Gun” for going beyond her job to help us and make our stay memorable. Thank you to “Thai” for making our Private room dinner very enjoyable. A HUGE thank you for “Chef O” for all of the very very fabulous food! And a Big thank you to Nat, Joy, Mam, Qiw, Bua and Apple and all F&B staff (whose names have escaped my mind right now) for looking after us and being friendly and helpful. Thank you to “Sak” for his hospitality and showing us a great dining spot and offering to show us the sites. Last but not least, thank you to Urs (General Manager) for putting on some great events at the hotel!
Spa –
The Serenity Spa of course was amazing! We had a “Pure Back” massage was amazing!! I had an achy back for days afterwards (in a good way…). I did have a bit of a communication issue when getting a manicure but after speaking to Pascal, it was very quickly fixed up. We had planned to both have a 2 hour treatment but we were very sunburnt and weren’t able to have the treatment on our last day.
Beach –
The beach outside Serenity isn’t really for swimming but in saying that it is amazing scenery. The tide does come in and out twice a day but that is not something that the hotel can control. It can bit a little muddy but I think that both high tide and low tide were beautiful!
Maintenance –
While the maintenance of our pool was a little disappointing (but was fixed). It was very nice to see a hotel that cares, there was constant maintenance being done. A new bar build into East 88, painting of buildings and general upkeep of the grounds and rooms to keep the place looking nice, as being so close to the beach/sea, the hotel would take a beating from the sea air and salt.
General –
We were very lucky to get to go on the “Lady Anita” Yacht after the “Open of the High Season” party. It is a gorgeous yacht!! Would be nice to one day be able to afford to hire it for a day or 2 🙂
The taxis out the front of the hotel are fairly priced and each time we caught them the taxi was a brand new sparkling clean car. (if you use the hotel car, it is slight higher price compared to Tuk Tuks and the taxis but still very much worth it).
There is also a free Shuttle to a beach close by for swimming and to Central Festival (shopping centre) and Patong beach, while they are for around 5pm (except the beach shuttle that goes around 10am) it is better to go to Patong at night, much cooler!. Make sure to book the shuttle as it can get full quickly.
You can also hire books or DVDs from the front desk and book tours.
The 7/11 around the road is good for snacks (also the minibar in the room is well equipped!)
We had an issue or 2, which happens when you stay there 2 weeks; it is not always perfect, but pretty close!
Would HIGHLY recommend going to the Phuket town night markets – much much cheaper than Patong markets.
In closing we had an absolutely fantastic and relaxing stay. A HUGE thank you to all the staff at Serenity for making our honeymoon so memorable. It was our first time in Phuket but we are already planning our trip back there to Serenity for next year (hopefully).
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