Courtyard By Marriott properties in Phuket

The hotel is newly opened, and all the facilities are very new. Breakfast isn't currently a buffet, but the chef tries their best to accommodate your requests – very thoughtful! The menu offers a wide variety of dishes. The location is great, with plenty of parking. The service is also excellent, but there's no sea view.

The old Patong Merlin Hotel has been rebranded after renovations, probably under new ownership. However, the interior renovation quality is somewhat disappointing, at best comparable to a Chinese budget hotel chain like Hanting or Rujia. After all, even slightly better hotels in China now offer smart toilets and smart home systems. The only commendable aspects of the hotel are the swimming pool and the entire service staff (with the exception of a bespectacled elderly woman in the restaurant and the front desk staff who checked me in). Everyone else was very enthusiastic, and the room was cleaned exceptionally well. The reason I'm excluding the check-in staff and the restaurant elderly woman is because I arrived at the hotel a bit early and asked if I could check in ahead of time. The front desk told me there were no rooms available and I'd have to wait until 3 PM to check in. She then left me to wait in the lobby, which is open-air and extremely hot. What's more, when I went to check in, I clearly saw a large group of people checking out. I have to specifically thank Trip.com here, as it was through their negotiation that I didn't have to wait until 3 PM to get a room. The next day, I had an early start for a Similan Islands tour. Hotel breakfast starts at 6:30 AM. I went to check it out at 6:10 AM, and a lot of food was already prepared. I just took a look and didn't touch anything, but that elderly woman came over and told me that breakfast starts at 6:30 AM and wasn't open yet. If her attitude had been pleasant, it would have been understandable, but her tone and demeanor were unacceptable, as if I owed her money. Speaking of breakfast, it's significantly worse than what the old Merlin offered. They even dedicated an entire section of food specifically for Indian guests, which was very disappointing. I expected that with the renovation and price increase, it would be better than the original Merlin, but it's actually worse, which is truly disheartening. I probably won't consider staying here again.

Overall, I'm quite satisfied. The original hotel I booked kept having power outages and then restarting. The hotel claimed it was normal, which was quite frustrating, so we ended up switching to this one at the last minute. The front desk lady understood our situation and assured us that such issues would never happen here, and even upgraded our room type. She was absolutely wonderful! The rooms here are a bit small, but the location is fantastic, right next to the Bell Tower. It's very convenient to walk to the night market and the old street. Most of the staff were very polite, but the doorman at the entrance didn't help open the door, assist with luggage, or open the car door. This is a noticeable difference compared to other hotels like Holiday Inn where I've stayed. The hairdryer is a high-speed one, which is really needed for long hair, but there was no amenity kit in the room – no cotton swabs or anything like that. The hotel breakfast didn't have many options, leaning more towards a 'Western' style. It was enough to grab a quick bite before heading out to sea, which is quite close from here. If I come back, I'd still choose this place.