Sentido Graceland Khao Lak Resort & Spa

We stayed in June for a fortnight in the low season, so benefited from having the place to ourselves. The staff were fantastic - very friendly and helpful. The hotel provided a calm and relaxing stay with excellent facilities, for example on one stormy afternoon we used the ten-pin bowling lanes. After a couple of minor glitches, we were moved to a swim up suite, which was fantastic. The breakfast was excellent, fresh and plenty of choice. The restaurant had a great atmosphere, attentive staff and a good duo band. There were also activities laid on, aquafit, cycling, archery, language lessons, Thai boxing, but they were not intrusive and all good fun run by the fantastic staff. Wrong season for the beach, but it was very clean and deserted. I would recommend hiring a car and visiting the surrounding national parks.

There was nothing that we would have changed - we loved our stay.

Great location, facilities, very polite and friendly staff. Nice and clean pools. Beach is wonderful and very scenic.

The Italian restaurant didn't look appealing - I was missing a touch of Italy to attract me.

The hotel personnel is friendly. Most of them are cheering and smiling to the guests and are being very polite. A special positive note is for the personnel at the Bowling/Tennis center. It was also nice to see that you have apprentice people from hospitality schools. Read also the negatives below. The hotel amenities have surpassed our expectations. While we booked, we looked at the reviews, and many people were complaining about several things, but we can say we are generally very happy with what the hotel has to offer. The direct pool access, the clean beach, the well thought parking with cars kept at shadow, the big breakfast restaurant, lots of vegetation, flowers, chanting birds and green grass show attention to detail and nature care. The hotel room is spacious, with very good lighting, bed, and toilet area. The rooms are clean, without any big trace of dust and no insects. The internet speed could be better, but the probably have no glass fiber, therefore hardly achievable. The telephone in the room would need a paper aside with the most important phone numbers: reception, bowling and kids area, how to call other rooms, etc. The air conditioning is quite good, although the fan lowest level still generates a lot of noise. That might be cumbersome for some visitors. Attention to details such as tennis rackets in children size, or razor in the toilet set are a plus. The breakfast is good, however green tea, and bananas are missing, which is a bit unusual for a resort like this. Please also rename your pizza at the Italian restaurant. It is called "Quattro formaggi", meaning "4 cheese types", and not "Quattro for Maggi". Location is also very good, better than we have expected. The entrance road to the hotel is not fantastic, and there is not much to do if guests do not have a rental car although the resort is providing free transportation to some locations. Good job also for providing this!

The reception personnel need to struggle more in understanding guests needs. Some training might help. The poor English level might be the culprit for this issue. Since people come here to enjoy and relax, sometimes miscommunication might distress guests. We disliked how anything around reception processes happened: check-in (it took longer than 20mins), check-out, towel service, complaints or recommendation. Nothing works there, and worse: nobody cares about you, the hotel guest! The same personnel was reluctant to provide us the booklet with the rooms' pictures and descriptions in order to consider a possible upgrade to a premium room. Hence, we skipped this option. A pity also that the personnel at the reception doesn't consider families with children for the rooms located in the big pool area, although availability existed. The restaurant staff needs also to know that moving people to a specific table should occur before seating, otherwise let the guests stay at the table they have chosen. Also here's a story from the breakfast: since they had no green tea at breakfast, I was asking a guy cleaning the tables where can I get some green tea so he pointed me to the coffee and espresso corner. However there, the girls were only surprised there is no green tea, but did nothing to help (Hotel employee: "It's finished?" - Me: "Yes" - The Hotel employee just got back to another customer, without trying to help me). To my positive surprise it was the guy cleaning the table who brought me green tea about 5 minutes later. The bar has been filled up way later after we made check-in, hence we filled the fridge before that, making the situation a bit strange. By the way, we provided both positive and negative feedback to the hotel, but they never ever answered to it, a No Go in the hospitality business