Our family of 5 spent 8 days at the fantastic Holiday Inn Resort Patong. We'd booked interconnecting rooms - one room had 2 queen size beds which our teenage daughters shared, & our room had a king size bed & single bed/sofa for our son. Unfortunately we didn't get our rooms until the second day and spent our first day sampling no less than 3 other sets of rooms! All were in the main wing & all had the same lovely refubished decor.

However, they were all slightly different & it's worth knowing why. The first combination we were given were interconnecting twin queen rooms on the 6th (highest) floor. These were beautiful, but lacked the 5th bed for our son. Definitely grab these on the top floor if you're a family of 4.

The next rooms were as we'd booked ie king plus single & interconnecting double queen but were on the second floor above the lobby/bar area. We thought these were too noisy but worse still, had a bad smell of mould. The bathroom also didn't have the new double shower with huge shower head, but had a bath tub with the hand held shower.

So off we went to the third & worst selection. Totally separate rooms on the third floor which were SMOKING rooms. The stench was unbearable especially for one daughter who has asthma.

FINALLY on our second day all was put right & we got the rooms we wanted on a higher (5th)floor. They were outstanding. Brand new furnishings , very comfortable beds with soft pilllows. Beautiful big bathrooms with amazing large shower & quality toiletries. We even had sea qlimpes from the balcony.

The breakfast was incredible, don't know how it can get any better than this. HUGE variety of cuisines and eggs made to order. Plentiful fruit, salads. pastries & my favourite banana roti Thai pancakes! You can get cappuccinos from a machine, otherwise their coffee is great.

Staff were friendly, professional & spoke excellent English. Loads of other friendly Aussies there, plus those from England, France & Germany. The security at the hotel is excellent, especially given the recent bombings in Bangkok.

12 year old son went to the free kids' club & made many new friends. Was a safe & fun place for him. The pools were also fantastic, managed to get loungers on most days although can't use those at the Busakorn wing. No problem swimming there though, much quieter than main pool. Sampled food at the Italian restaurant, it was superb & reasonably priced.

Our teengage girls were in shopping heaven, with everything at the Holiday Inn's doorstep including OTop market & Beach Road.

Highly recommend this hotel for the magnificent 5 star rooms, incredible breakfast & position right in the heart of exciting Patong with the beach just across the road. You will not be disappointed. Thanks to TripAdvisor which made our choice so much easier.