My husband and I have just returned from our honeymoon in Phuket where we stay at the Merlin Beach Resort. I decided to write this because after reading some reviews on here I was getting a bit worried and wasn't sure what to expect - I want to clear some questions up that I had!!

Breakfast- there is nothing at all to complain about!! there was everything you could imagine for breakfast ranging from croissants, bacon, omelettes made while you stand there, cereal, fruit, yoghurt, pancakes, baked beans, eggs, rice, hashbrowns, stirfry type things, toast, nutella bread - everything!

The Safe - the safe in the room is free, you dont have to pay as some reviews have said, you pick your own code. There are also safes in the reception area that are free (except if you lose the key its 2000Baht). To get in the safe at reception you need your key and a receptionist also has a key that needs to be used at the same time. You also have to sign a card that says the time you accessed your safe. We kept extra money and our passports in this safe.

The staff - are very friendly, room service is at your door within 15 minutes of ordering a couple of mains and pudding. They can speak basic English but there is no point in trying to have a big conversation with most of them (but this is the same throughout Phuket - you get a few that can talk proper English but with most its best to stick with the basics). The staff always try to help you out when you ask them something.

Room cleaning - is great - we never even saw the people that did our room... we would leave for breakfast and usually it would be done by the time we got back and was very tidy.

Rooms - Some people have complained about beds in previous reviews - the beds are quite hard... but nowadays you can even buy beds that have half soft, half hard etc to suit a couple's preference - which just proves how hard it is to please everyone - if they were really soft, you would have people complaining they were too soft. I never had any trouble sleeping. The rooms have airconditioning, a balcony which either look over one of the pools or the beach, a decent sized shower and bath and a little fridge.

The Pools - are massive and always clean. One has a pool bar which is awesome - you can go up and order food and drinks and ask them to take it around to where you are sitting. We never had trouble getting deck chairs, no matter what time of day. Each day you can get 2 towels per person - you just have to return them before 8pm each day or you get a 500Baht fine.

Food at the hotel - we always had breakfast at the hotel - during the day sometimes we got food from the pool bar and had room service for dinner a couple of time - you can get 2 mains and 2 desserts via room service for under 1000Baht (approx $40 NZ) which was ok (we werent being careful with how much we spent). If you are on a budget I would go to the restaurant on the hill - the food is really nice - we got 2 entrees, 2 mains, 2 sprites and a beer for about 600Baht ($25 NZ). Cocktails etc at the hotel are approx 180Baht each from the Pool bar, fizzy drink is approx 70Baht a can (you can get it at most restaurants for about 30Baht). So as expected, the hotel food is more expensive.

Shopping - Definitely go into Phuket town first!! And make sure you ask the taxi driver to take you to the cheap markets in town - show them the kind of t shirt etc you want and say where can we get one like this cheap - they know all the places. The reason I say go to Phuket town is that they dont really barter so you know how much you can get stuff for so when you go to Patong markets you know when they are ripping you off. You can budge them maybe 20-50 Baht per item if you are getting lots of something. My husband bought 20 t shirts for 180Baht each in Phuket town. Patong they start asking for 600Baht etc per t shirt. You can usually get them down quite far - apparently if you pay half price or less you got a good deal. We usually paid about 200Baht for singlets and t shirts.

Tours - we went to Fantasea - it was good - save your Souvenir money for here - they have cheaper stuff than in Patong (little statue elephants etc, they have the people making stuff in front of you as well - key rings, glass carvings etc). Its like a little carnival. You arrive about 6pm and go through the market type things, have dinner in a massive buffet restaurant and the show starts at 9pm. The show was alright - the elephants are the best thing about it... but overall was a good night out. We also did a half day eco tour elephant trip - went elephant riding, saw baby elephants, a money show, ox cart riding, canoeing (wasnt really canoeing, they took us up a muddy type river and we just paddled back down), lunch included - was good overall. If you plan on doing day trips to Phi Phi islands and James Bond island (I recommend both!!!) go with Simba Seatrips. Look them up on the net. They are the only foreign company there that does it (Jenny is an Aussie and Geoff is from England and are both awesome people). They have a max of 15 people on the speedboat which is great. We saw people piling off a boat exactly the same (there were about 40 of them). Also because there are less people you have more time snorkelling, exploring the islands - we even got to go in a cave type thing from the boat when we went to Phang Nga Islands (James Bond) - all the other boats were driving past taking photos of us climbing out of the boat into the cave).

Taxis - We are definitely glad we stayed out of Patong (Merlin Beach Resort is a couple minutes out of Patong). By the end of the trip we were sick of Patong (constantly having people say "look in my shop madam", "you want suit, we make you suit" etc), so it was good knowing we could go to the hotel and be away from all the hustle and bustle. There is a free bus from the hotel that goes at 10am, 11am, 3pm, 4pm and 9pm i think it was into Patong. We got the 10am one sometimes into Patong and then just got a taxi back. A taxi from the hotel is 200Baht into Patong and 500Baht into Phuket Town (there are a bunch of taxis outside the lobby that charge a flat 200Baht). But from Patong back to the hotel we had to pay 300Baht. We had one taxi driver from Phuket town take us to all different kinds of shops that he thought we would like - he was taking us from 4.30 and took us back to the hotel at 9pm. He said he would only charge us the 700Baht for the whole time (he even waited in the car while we went in all the markets - it worked out for us cause his whole boot was filled with our shopping and we were glad we didnt have to carry it around - he gave us his taxi id card because at first we were worried he might drive off with our stuff). He helped us out by staying with us that whole time so we paid him 1200Baht.

Tipping - they are quite big on tipping there - at the end of the tours etc they quite often have tip jars or say if you enjoyed your day etc, please tip the crew or elephants etc. We gave taxi drivers tips sometimes - if they gave us a good rate we just gave the extra 100Baht that we had expected to pay - they dont hold out their hands or anything for tips but are very grateful if you give them tips.

We loved our trip - within 5 minutes of getting there my husband said - we are definitely coming again - I said to him, dont get ahead of yourself, its only the beginning - but now I would definitely agree!!

My parents picked us up from the airport and after hearing all our stories they booked the exact same trip that day.

We had previously stayed at the Merli beach resort in 2006 so decided to book this hotel again as it was a fantastic place our first tripm to Thailand. On returning to this resort with the same expectations as before we were sadly sadly dissapointed. The hotel staff here were unfriendly, didnt smile, and there is no longer any service here. Its serve yourself! The food is now of poor quality and is cold.I dont beleive this hotel is under any sort of management now. Sad for this hotel was once a great place to stay

We arrived in Phuket late at night and when we arrived at Merlin Beach Resort they told us that our room (pool access room, which we paid more for) wasn't ready until the next day.
They gave us free buffet dinners and some free cocktails to compensate, we were pretty tired so it didn't matter a great deal, however it did take the shine off!
The next afternoon we were moved to our pool access room and it really is much nicer there than the other part of the hotel.
The breakfast is pretty good with a fair bit of variety.
I found the people working in the hotel to be quite friendly (not as friendly as the Balinese tho) and I could communicate with them ok, we went to visit Barnhem Orphanage one day & took alot of gear with us from Australia and had to stop at a supermarket and we bought alot more items to take to the Orphanage, the Hotel staff helped to organize a driver that helped us to do all this with ease.
Yes, the beach at the front of the Hotel is very rocky as the tide goes out, but thats nature!
It would make for great sunsets when the weather is clear.
We had our laundry done three times from the ladies on the beach at the front of the hotel (to the left) it all came back to us nicely washed and cost around $5 to $8 to get it done each time and it was worth it, you can pay extra for them to iron it too but we didn't, the weather was very steamy and it rained alot whilst we were in Phuket (apparently due to the terrible cyclone in Burma) so we couldn't get any clothing dry at all.
We did have massages from the same ladies they were ok but people tell us we should have gone to the other massage place on the right hand side as you walk on to the beach, so maybe next time.
We had alot of foot massages while walking the interesting, wonderful streets of Patong, 250Baht for an hour massage, just great. They offer Thai massages or oil ones, the difference is that the oil massages are alot more gentle.
We didn't try the 'Little Tiger' restaurant on top of the hill
(the only other place to eat with in walking distance to MBR)
as were went out alot and the few nights we did stay in the hotel it was very windy and the restaurant looked shut, so maybe next time!
We thought the shuttle service was fine and caught the 10am or 11am ones out to Patong beach or Phuket town quite often without any problems, one morning we were late and we weren't allowed on so we had to go across the road and get a ride to Patong for 200Baht = $7 we shared the fare with another couple and it was only $3.50 AUD each couple.. not bad.
They usually bring out an extra shuttle bus when the first one fills. We often managed to get the shuttle back to the hotel too, if we weren't ready to go back at that time we just paid for a ride back, no major problem.
Merlin Beach Resort is a lovely place to have a holiday, I think I would go back there one day but the next time we go back (maybe Feb) we will probably stay closer in Patong as we will be going with many more family members. When its just the two of us the MBR in the Pool Access Room will be great again.
We ate at some of the restaurants in MBR when we wanted a quiet evening, but when we went to Patong to eat we really enjoyed 'NO.6' it is very very cheap and the food is of good quality at fast service, its on the main street behind the beach road. There is also a NO.9 that we saw but didn't try it. Sabai Sabai is another very popular cheap place to eat and we also enjoyed a delicious and well priced meal at 'John Cheap Seafood Restaurant'.
However there are so many places to explore that you could be in Phuket for a year before you tried them all.
We ate from the carts in the streets and very much enjoyed the banana & coconut pancakes, cooked corn on the cob, variety of skewered foods, and fresh coconut juice..they keep it on ice and simply chop the top off when you buy one and stick a straw in.. very yummy and refreshing.
Back to MBR.. we had a lovely stay and if you would like to be away from Patong on a romantic getaway this is a fabulous place to stay.
I think with a larger group some may want more frequent access to the main parts of Patong , shops, malls, bars, restaurants etc.

If I can help with anymore info at all please don't hesitate in sending me a question.
Go and have a ball.

We recently had a family trip to Phuket (April 08)and stayed at the Merlin Beach Resort for 10 days).

The resort was clean and comfortable, nothing over the top but was quiet adequate for us. Plenty of choices for food, although nothing outstanding, I wouldn't do the buffet dinners again though. The little restaurant up the hill is great to sit at with a glass of wine when the sun is setting, the food isn't to bad either.

A huge plus was the honesty, my husband lost his wedding ring in the pool, we advised reception later that afternoon. At 1.30am next morning we received a call from the pool cleaner advising us that they had found the ring, we were amazed.

We had no problems with finding seats by the pool either, contrary to many other reports, possibly the time we visited.

The resort is situated about 5 minutes Tuk Tuk ride from town, which is good if you need to get away from it all, but not so good if you want to frequent town regularly. There is a free shuttle from the resort but on quite a few occassions was full.

We did some tours with Simba Sea Trips, Jenny and her partner were fantastic, highly recommened.