we stayed as 2 couples from 16.5.10 to 24.5.10. 8 days of pure luxury.

i work in the travel industry and therefore I emailed the hotel before we travelled and asked for a nice room, I didnt stipulate which type of room just a nice one as it was by birthday whilst we were there.

When we got there found we had been upgraded to a Junior Suite over looking the sea, WOW what an experience, with an interconnecting to our friends, which was great as it meant that we didnt even have to go outside to know to say we were ready to go out

The breakfast was amazing, lots of choice and somethings you wouldnt even think of.

This was an amazing hotel and the staff could not do enough for us, nothing was too much trouble and they left me a cake and flowers on my birthday

Hotel itself is about 8-10 mins from the main strip of restaurants and there was lots of places to eat, far to many to mention them all.

Fantastic place - welcomed with a garland of orchids, cold flanels, and a free drink.

Stayed in one of the "bungalows" literally just across the road from the main hotel, which were very nicely appointed, perfectly maintained, and in a lovely verdant setting...a lot more authentic than the hotel rooms on the beach side. Every night the maids came round to "turn the room down" for us, and left an orchid on the bed.

The "bungalows" also came with their own pool on this side of the road, and the porters came around two/three times a day with cold flanels and took drinks orders.

Both pools were fairly good - deep enough to swim but with only small areas over 1.6m, plus some shallows to sit and chill in. Only disappointment was the pool bar (in the main section) was never open while we were there.

Breakfast was an exercise in choice - massive choice of fruits (inc. strawberries every day), cereals, breads, rolls and cakes, pancakes, a variety of cooked items from Europe and Asia, yoghurts...it went on! Lunches weren't cheap for Thailand, but were good...you could have anything from a club sandwich or a burger (rather good) to Pad Thai or Green Curry Soup (VERY good).

Dinner was either in the hotel restaurant on the main site, which served Thai and international cuisine to a high standard, or the Italian just across the road, by the bungalows, which was fantastic. We ate at the hotel all but one night, and that night we wished we'd eaten at the hotel...not a bad meal, just disappointing after the hotel, even though it was cheaper...but maybe we were unlucky.

Location is on the whole good - on the beach front and at the quiter top-end of Chaweng. The beach itself is very narrow and the water is opaque - not because it is dirty but because the tide churns the sand up. The beach also shelves fairly quickly, and the waves seemed to average over a foot, making swimming more difficult. But as scenery from the poolside, it's great!

Downsides...the main road gets vans cruising up and down advertising Thai boxing at full volume until quite late, so make sure your bungalow is set away from the road...we were 3 back and it wasn't particularly audible. And having to cross the road back-and-forth was a bit of a pain, but two permanent crossing guards to stop the traffic made it a lot easier than it could have been.

Staff were almost all friendly and helpful, although bar service was a little slow on occasion. Entertainment is limited to a barbeque once a week, but that wasn't important for us.

Our first time in Thailand and we stayed here for two weeks. Could not fault the staff friendliness and general cleanliness of the holel. Situated in a great location, a short walk from nightlife and shopping. The hotel is situated right on the main beach and has two really good sized swimming pools. The food at the hotels restaurant was nice but they seemed to have a problem with flies. Would definately stay here again. We looked at many hotels during our stay, the Amari Palm Reef was by far the best.

There is no entertainment at the hotel.