The Sands Khao Lak by Katathani

Cannot fault this hotel. We had three family rooms in the Aqua wing All Inclusive. 6 adults and 5 children. Rooms were huge and well equipped. Pools and water slides/play equipment were clean and well supervised. Staff were lovely and very helpful. Food was great. Upon check in hotel gives you an app on your phone. App has everything you need to know. You can book activities, order food, check opening times, everything is on there. You can eat in any restaurant or get it delivered to your room. We had a few picnics on the grass with the kids and also ate on our balcony/pool area. Hotel replaces beach towels all day long and you can order anything you need through the app (ie: bottle opener, more water, bucket of ice etc). We absolutely loved this hotel and would definitely return.

Only two more days to go What a wonderful hotel. Great ambience and incredibly helpful staff. Nothing is to much trouble for anyone. The rooms are very clean with a great power shower!! Breakfast time can be a bit chaotic as there are lots of children here but the grounds, beach and pool have plentiful space. We booked the all-inclusive option which we thought might be a mistake but when we realised you could use the A la carte restaurants at 3 other hotels it has made it perfect. The food in these restaurants is stunning. Tow special mentions. Firstly the pool bar staff by the beach who never stop working and bringing drinks all day. Secondly but most importantly a young lady called AE in the Talay restaurant. This girl is wasted in here. She informed us more about the hotel and what was on offer than even the reception staff. Her English was perfect and if anyone in the hotel reads this then you should put this lady in a more customer facing role. All round a brilliant holiday

Just finished a lovely 7 nights here. Bed and breakfast and we had a pool access junior suite which was spacious and cleaned daily. We had a really nice welcome, and our cases were taken to the room with us on a cart. We really enjoyed sitting on our own terrace and swimming in the swim out pool. We had a couple of days around the main adults only pool which was nice and never full. Also had a couple of walks on the beach, you could walk quite a way in either direction, and the sea was a nice temperature. Breakfast was nice, lots of choice and we also got room service a couple of times as the weather wasnt great. All staff were amazing, so friendly, helpful and happy to us. The town centre is a 5 min (up a short hill) walk, and there are always tuk tuks around, and on market day they will order a taxi for you. Had a perfect stay thankyou.

The Sands in Khao Lak is a top very quiet holiday spot. It's in walking distance to the main shopping precinct and restaurants. The resort provides separate swimming pools for children and adults. It's located on the beach which is ideal for beach walks. The resort has excellent amenities, provides good food, has very friendly staff and has large clean rooms. Thank you Charif and Katie at Tully's Restaurant for your kindness and your professional service. We'll be back.

8 of us travelled to this hotel for 12 nights between the end of October and the first week on November. For perspective we had a mixture of ages ranging from 60 to 7 We have travelled to Thailand and its islands before staying in the katathani in Phuket and various Amari hotels, about 8 times now so we feel pretty well versed of the standards expected. The good Big hotel with every facility you could ever want or need Excellent water park for the children Well manicured gardens Excellent beachfront location Great gym facilities Superb selection of pools Good themed evenings Location great The bad Service can be erratic depending where you are eating/drinking. The team in the Talay restaurant were excellent, as were the team in the beach pool bar and the adults pool bar, however some of the team in the waterpark bar were completely untrained! A few times one meal would come out and would be finished before anything else arrived (we had to chase it). Also when ordering at the pool bar the team got the drinks wrong. Food is average for Thailand Breakfast is like a hectic canteen very busy if you time it wrong. The ugly Check in reception is dirty and needs a good clean, when you check in you can see the dirt, never experienced this before in Thailand normally everything is immaculate. Rooms were not clean on arrival, I am a little fussy I admit but mirrors were smeared and areas of the room worn but overall who spends time in a hotel room? This is a great hotel for a young family going to Thailand for the first time, however we have experienced far better standards of cleanliness and service at Amari hotels in Phuket and Koh Samui for possibly less money! It feels like this hotel is trying to be more European in its approach which will appeal to many, however people visit Thailand for the experience more than anything else and I felt this was lacking, maybe due to the size of the hotel. Tip We booked some great trips with the family going to elephant sanctuary, turtle conservation, tsunami museum, James bing island on long tail boat, bamboo rafting and temple with rung ontour khaolak who were sensational and half the price, ask for your tour guide to be BOND he is superb at his job

I really wanted to love this hotel but unfortunately this was not the case. This hotel was saved until the last leg of our Thailand adventure after staying in Bangkok, Krabi and Elephant Hills. We booked 5 star for all areas and this is the only hotel that did not come anywhere near 5* I would say 3*. First the positives: The hotel’s location is good. Fabulous sunsets can be seen on the adjoining beach and there are good sized swimming pools with lots of sun loungers. We stayed in a pool access room and it was nice to have this option. We found the first room we stayed in wasn’t particularly clean on check in and also we struggled with my teen not having any privacy so moved to a family room. Staff were good sorting that out and let us see the room then moved our things. The staff are generally super friendly and go out of their way to help. We have found this to be the case across Thailand. Negatives: the cleanliness of the hotel is very disappointing. One thing we noticed about everywhere else we had stayed in Thailand was that the cleanliness was exceptional but certainly not here. The room was unclean on check in and this was also the case when checking into the 2nd room. There is dust everywhere. Things have obviously not been moved just cleaned around as I found a hair clip and a ball of hair under the tissue box. The rooms really do need a good clean. The second room we were moved to had a cockroach problem. We counted 4 on the last night. I’m pretty understanding that we are in a different country in the jungle but we haven’t seen any other cockroaches at any other hotel out here! Whilst it isn’t the hotel’s fault, the cleanliness problem was extended by people leaving dirty plates outside doors after having room service and also dirty nappies!!!! Exacerbating the cockroach problem I expect. We encountered quite a few drunk teenagers who were clearly under age and sat merrily drinking after being served in the hotel bar. There was sick all over the toilet in the lobby. The bars and restaurants are pricey but that’s expected with hotel prices and there are so many other options outside the hotel. The breakfast buffet was absolute carnage - so busy, noisy and dirty. We found it was calmer in the manta ray restaurant and for the first part of our stay it was for adults and children over 12. This changed to accepting all ages but it was still much calmer. This is the first ever negative review I have written on trip advisor but I feel people need to hear it. I am still at the hotel as I write and am looking forward to leaving. We considered checking out and booking somewhere else but we would have been so out of pocket. It’s such a shame as I really hoped it would be the amazing final leg of our trip I expected it to be but it has just made me want to return home. Unfortunately we booked with a small agent in the UK who have been useless at sorting anything out whilst we have been over here. My advice is do not book here if you are expecting a 5* stay there are so many other options

Hotel location right beside a good beach. This is rated as a five star however it is most definitely not five star standard. Hotel is very big and was very busy during our stay. Rooms were decent size but cobwebs in room and lamp beside bed was not clean. Breakfast was chaotic and food quality was really poor. We had come from a five star hotel so I had booked this hotel based on it's five star rating however it is not five star. Positive would be it is a few minutes walk to main town and a Seven Eleven store. But very disappointed overall with the breakfast food quality and also the general upkeep of the hotel grounds with uneven surfaces and general maintenance needed.

Returned for the third time and just one year after our last visit. Had an amazing time again. Had a room with great view of the sea and sunset. Breakfast selection has many options but I hope they decide to have fresh fruit juice the next time we visit as the juice on offer is so sweet. Many hot local cuisines such as stir fries, curries, congee and soup noodle station. Egg station, bread, pastries, salads, cereals and fresh fruits. Although Chita no longer works here it was great to see her at the food offerings to the monks. The lovely Sugar is now in the role and she is as wonderful as Chita. Was also great to see that Mel is still working here. All staff are so friendly and helpful.

Overall experience was poor… initial room smelt and we had to request chg. New room had same issue with air purifier not overly effective. Maintenance onsite was clearly poor with numerous issues incl Tv reception and quality (broke down 3 times with varying issues); balcony door lock broken, curtain rail broken, lights not working, mould in main adult pool on water line and throughout, rain poured thru shower head when heavy outside, onsite washing machines and dryers broken and out of order with 500 guests fighting for 1-2 machines and no acknowledgement of issues by management. Staff engagement (other than front rest) was poor and lack of understanding and English not good. Zero proactive offering of food and or drinks at adult pool and no availability of pool towels anywhere at pools. Once your towel was wet it stayed that way for whole day as nil avenue to get new one. Umbrellas too small for pool seating and plastic pool lounges got very hot especially given towels not of sufficient size to cover. Quality of food and presentation at breakfast sites below standard. Old serving containers, food cold and not replenished, order of presentation all over the place. Management did not seem to acknowledge our issues and responses to live chat on app where at best slow and or unresponsive. When we did get some ‘compensation’ it was impersonal with voucher just slid under the door and nil follow up on any service issues. In summary we won’t return noting we acknowledge you get what you pay for on a heavily discounted packaged offering. Resort seems to be very focused on family groups. ( huge volume of kids) If an adult group spend the $$ and stay at the new K Shore resort next door. A

The Sands Khao Lak has always been a dream hotel for kids — the only one in Khao Lak with such a large water park where little ones can play all day. We’ve visited four years in a row, and while the fun at the water park remains the same and the pools are still clean and well-maintained, we’ve noticed a decline in service standards and breakfast variety compared to our first stay. Some facilities, including the rooms and kids club, are also showing signs of wear over time. Still, we truly appreciate the hard work and kindness of all staff — from the front desk to housekeeping (Building 6), the breakfast team, and the Talay Restaurant crew — even during a fully booked period. We hope the hotel continues to improve its service and upkeep, so it can remain the magical place our family loves returning to every year. 💛