Right we went to Thailand for our Honeymoon. 7 nights booked for this place after spending some time in Bangkok. We were told and apparently so are a lot of people that La Playa is 3 or 4 star.

Anyway. we arrived in this location. Sat in the lobby and served some drinks as we waited for our room key/paperwork etc. They do this for everyone it seems. We got to our room to find a nice towel arrangement and some flower petals on the bed. We were also promised champagne and fruit, we hadn't recieved these yet. The room was the 'delux/superior room'. It is fairly large and based above the pool access rooms. Or at least ours was. The pool had some old school machine throwing water into the pool itself. The pool was dirty in that it had many leaves and roughage in it. Immediately we noticed that the pictures of lovely skies from their own brochures were a lie as the pool side is surrounded by neighbouring high rise buildings. The corridor to our room had some wooden boarding blocking the view to these neighbouring buildings. Along side us in our room we had other guests. Cockroaches. Nice! The bathroom had no bath. Just a shower. taps of which were rusty. Tiles were scumy. The whole bathroom looked like it needed more then just a good scrub. However it too was a spacious room. After a hunting session(cockroaches!) and the first night of the relaxing part of our honeymoon ruined, we decided to complain. We tried at least, due to the poor english of the staff. We confirmed that this was the superior room at least. We placed a do not disturb sign on our door and after a little while somone barged in with a large rectangular plate with 3 small clementine like fruits in them. No knock no sorry or excuse me, nothing! Also, when I say small I'm talking ping pong sized here! Along side them were 2 small slightly bigger then pea size balls of chocolate, with a ripped sticker saying enjoy your honeymoon or something along those lines. By ripped I mean reused. Pulled off something else causing the rip and then placed on our chocolate pea sized ball packaging! Thanks!

During the night we heard a dripping noise. Apon getting up we seemed to have aquired a waterfall feature in our room. A leak of some sort from the A/C unit possibly. Leaving a large puddle on the floor right on the path to the bathroom. Imagine if we hadn't seen it!

We called for the manager. After much laughing and giggling from the person at reception, we eventually got the manager and a colleague of hers to visit the room. We showed her the leak and the cockroaches. She didn't seemed bothered by any of it. We asked again if this was the superior room and asked to be moved to another due to the leak and cockroaches. Apparently they were fully booked.

We called our agent in the uk who contacted them and apparently they then had other rooms available. We spoke to the manager again who then said no other rooms were avaialbe and if we wanted to leave we'd only pay for the nights we slept in the rooms. so we sorted another hotel(A million times better: Krabi Thai Village) and left.

Can I also add to the above. The staff speak very little English. the manager speaks just enough to understand you. Staff otherwise looked polite.

Breakfast was a joke. Broccoli soup for breakfast? Ok. the rest. Oh my! The toaster was broken and would not move the bread meaning you had to do it with your fingers or a knife!

Quality of nearly everything else was poor. Not much choice, but choice nonetheless! eggs, bacon, cereals, breads sweets things, bland fruit.... Just not much else and not great. I mean it was a joke that they serve this stuff. The quality was just not there! Oh and Butter blocks, in water! I'm guessing this was Ice at some point. which had melted. But come on! Get those indivdual butter tub thigns and serve them out! Dont just cut up a block of butter and dump it in a bowl with ice or water and leave it out in the open!

I'm kinda rushing through this review as It's late. But let me tell you this. I did not see one happy face from any other guest whilst being there.

They charge 300 baht per day for internet access! The hotel we stayed in in Bangkok, which was 5 star, new and a lot better in terms of class and quality only charges 99!

I can not believe this is rated 3 or 4 star. It's barely 2 star at a push.

The hotel is a 5 or ten minute walk to Ao Nang beach, depending on your pace. The hotel is down what appears to be an alley type road. It's not scary or anything. In fact I wouldn't even call it an alley. It's a road. Theres a tour place at the end of its road which was ok. The little supermarket up there was lame lol.

All in all we will never go back there. We will never recommend it either.

Oh and to top it off the manager still tried to charge us for the 3rd night despite us having checked out all ready!

Apologies for the late review; we travelled (my sister, niece and I) Easter 2010 but better late than never! And given some of the negative reviews I have read on here, I want to give an unbiased review. Here is the real deal :)

After a long flight from London to Bangkok with Thai Airways (totally charming staff, spacious plane, great food, drinks on tap, but no screens on seats and so no choice about entertainment) and a connecting flight to Krabi (only an hour or so), it really did fell like we had been travelling for a while. But it was easy and comfy enough so no big deal. We were met at the airport with a cab and whisked off to La Playa resort (about 45 mins- an hour). The scenery was beautiful and we really did feel that we were miles from home.

I did my research properly so knew what the hotel was going to be like. It's not on the beach. In fact, it's tucked away, up a small road and alley, about a 5 minute walk from the beach. The entrance to the hotel is small, but totally charming in every way. Service was understated and professional. We were taken to our room and happily surprised; the room was well air conditioned, spacious, clean and with a good sized balcony with a partial sea view. As we arrived ealry afternoon, we had a chance to use the pool area. It was always quiet and plenty of loungers available. I really can't stress how peaceful it felt. The swim up bar is a lovely addition and you can get hot food there as well; bliss.

The restaurant is absolutely fine. We had 2 dinners in the hotel. Again, it was quiet (there are so many other places to eat in the area) but the food was good. I always had Thai food and loved it, but there is a real selection if Thai isn't your thing. Breakfast time. What are some people fussing about?? "You have to cook your own bacon?" What kind of a comment is that?! It's buffet style. There is an egg chef too for yummy omelettes. There is enough to please most people unless you are a greasy spoon fanatic; but why would you expect that in Thailand?? And yes, you have to cook your own bacon and I thought that was such a nice touch. Not just that, but I always threw on some tomatoes! Anyway, I like my bacon crispy, so, result :)

You can book excursions through the hotel and we really enjoyed the kayaking tour (just stunning scenery whilst kayaking around different islands...I mean stunning) and the elephant trek was great fun. I'm not getting into the politics of it, but they seemed well looked after to me.

If you walk down to the beach, you have 2 options. Go to the right and you will find tens and tens of boats (and not the part of the Ao Nang beach to swim in my view). This is where i recommend you spend what turns out to be a small amount of money, to get your own boat and captain for the day! There are lots of options in terms of itineraries, but you won't be disappointed. We had a fantastic day; snorkeling, visiting an isalnd to see monkeys, relaxing on a sand bank...etc. You must do it. OK, and if you turn left at the beach, you will find the main stretch of Ao Nang and the nicer beach, perfect for swimming. This is also where you will find loads of restaurants and bars. They were all much a much. I really wish I could remember the name of a restaurant high up in the hills overlooking the bay (they have a shuttle to take you up) as it was beautiful. Essentially, from the hotel, walk in the opposite direction to the beach (you will pass some clothes shops) and it is advertised on some billboards. It is more than worth it for the fantastic Thai food, the incredible views and the wonderful experience. We went twice and would go back again in a shot. I've included a picture of us up there whilst the sun was setting. Please make the effort to find it, you won't be disappointed!

I'd like to say that all ended well, but alas,, the asj cloud stopped us from getting home for another 2 weels!!! You might think, great! But with no money left, being relocated to Bangkok (great city, but wasn't safe at that time), it was quite stressful. However, a couple years on, I am so ready to re-visit Thailand. It's a fantastic country and I can't wait to go back.

Please do ask if you have any questions. La Playa is not the Ritz, but it was our perfect little getaway. And make sure you get out and see some of Thailand! Great value for money.