Cape Panwa Hotel

Where do i start with my review on this hotel. What a fantastic place, full of wonderful staff. We booked with Tui on a multi trip. 3 nights in bangkok and 11 nights at cape panwa. We were overwhelmed when we were upgraded to the cape suites (we had 3 rooms in total as a family). The rooms are beautiful. We had a view of the lovely gardens and a partial view of the sea. We were full board so we had vouchers to use at the restaurants of our choice. Every 1 of them had amazing food and plenty of choices even for fussy eaters like my son. The only thing we had to pay for were our drinks but i would have happily paid for the meals as they were all of a high standard. The staff are so polite and cant do enough for you. The private beach was stunning. It is tide permitting if using for swimming and these times were given every day in the foyer. There was also a small freshwater pool to use. Never had a problem finding a sunbed any time of the day. Also never had a problem finding a bed around the hotel pool although in the 35 degree heat it could have been a little cooler, it was like a warm bath. The hotel runs a free bus constantly down the hill where there are more restaurants and small supermarket. The locals have a few stalls every night where you can eat street food and buy gifts. We booked the hotels trip to coral island to go snorkelling and had a wonderful day. You can also book other trips (which we did) from within the hotel. We went to the Phi Phi Islands, James Bond Island and my favorite being the green elephant sanctuary where we got to have a mud bath with them. We also went into Phuket town and Patong at night which is definatly an experience i wont forget. I cannot praise this hotel and staff enough and will definatly be returning. Get it booked you wont regret it 😀

I always try and be honest in my reviews and it takes a lot for me to issue 5 points. Cape Panwa Hotel did not disappoint! We booked the holiday with TUI and enjoyed a fabulous direct flight from Manchester to Phuket. Upon arrival we were treated by genuine smiles and helpful staff who soon showed us to our room (suite L113). There is a review further down from Colin1947 suggesting TUI customers get rooms with lots of stairs, we can honestly say this is not the case. The room itself was perfect. I travel a lot with work and stay in many hotels and this was one of the nicest I’ve stayed in. The balcony was huge with lovely clean furniture offering sea views along with the tropical hotel gardens. The bathroom was large with a big shower, large bath and jack and jill sinks. The hotel is large but doesn’t feel it due to it being spread over a large area on various levels, all the way down to it’s private beach and Panwa House to the upper level Cafe Andaman restaurant and perfect reception area. The grounds are lovely and well maintained with lots of wildlife to spot and listen to. The beach was pleasantly clean with gorgeous sand. The only negative here is a common one for me and that is smoking customers some of which (not many) think it ok to throw cigarette ends on the floor. The hotel restaurants are a real plus point and all offer exceptional food, (the odd hair in the salads being the only negative here, twice in two weeks). As part of our package we were allocated vouchers for lunch and evening meal. Lunch offers you a 480bht allowance while evening dinner is 800bht. These values are ample for nearly all the menu offerings. Breakfast was also included and was a real delight each morning with fresh eggs cooked to order (by two lovely hard working ladies) and enough variety for even the most picky customers. We chose the hotel and Thailand in general for the love of food and the fact there is so much variety on offer at the hotel. You are also allowed to use the sister hotel a short distance away to mix things up even further. Themed nights are common and dinner at Panwa House on the beach front was a lovely memorable experience. You are not limited at all in your choices of dining locations by the voucher system. You cannot double up on vouchers and any unused do go to waste unfortunately. The Thai food was stunning throughout our 2 week stay. Western dishes are also available. Bills all get a 10% service charge added and VAT at 7% which need to come out of the voucher allowance also. It would be better to remove this and allow tipping at customer discretion as it would highlight areas for improvement in service for the management. Of course if you go over you simply pay the difference and you are generally only talking a couple of £UK pounds anyway. A better system would be to give a full stays allowance on a card so that you could select the dishes you choose without wasting credit or vouchers. Something for management to consider. No drinks are included apart from a complimentary voucher handed at check in. The mini bar in the room is super expensive but the local shops sell beer and spirits at much more affordable prices which I would recommend. Drinks in the restaurants and bars are not the cheapest but probably what you would expect from a hotel of this kind. Happy hours are offered at 2 different bars at various times which make the cocktails reasonably priced instead of over priced. Reception staff were super helpful and we had a couple of trips organised during our stay including an overnight stay at the Surin Islands national park, (this is highly recommended and we arranged it privately before arriving in Thailand and a Phi Phi island trip was booked through the TUI rep, please see my other reviews for details of the Surin Island trip) any questions we had about the local area were dealt with perfectly. The reception staff also offered a private hotel taxi for 4 hours so we could visit the night market in Phuket and the Big Buddha, this worked out around £40 so was good value. There is also a mini bus service which is chargeable into town and a free shuttle bus service to the sister hotel nearby (Kantary Bay). Service was excellent with some fantastic members of staff working at the hotel, more so at Cafe Andaman than at Otters bar. The two couldn’t be further apart in their approach to customer service. I’d suggest the staff at Otters bar could learn much from their Cafe Andaman colleagues as they were really not that personable or helpful when we visited a couple of times, we generally stuck to Cafe Andaman who’s staff members were much nicer. There is also a bar on site called the Lighthouse which offers further variety and also has a pool table. Live music is offered here by a band along with Cafe Andaman, the band are very good! The following staff members all deserve a mention and are a credit to the hotel, I hope the management recognise their efforts:- Jirawan Natacha Pornwanat All the 3 above were working at Cafe Andaman. Apologies as no name but also the main pool maintenance and towel man from the day time, a true gent. Hopefully Simon the manager can recognise these members of staff in some way for their impeccable customer service and inter-personal skills, all credits to the hotel! On to the negatives of which there aren’t that many at all. The first is of no fault of the hotel but some of the customers are so rude both generally as you walk around and also to members of staff, it is pity to see and a credit again to the staff for their patience. Manners do not cost anything, remember this people! Just a sign of society I believe. The pool area although nicely laid out could do with some TLC. The beds are looking a little tired as is the wood decking. It is a nice area with beds offered with shade and a good towel system is in place so a quick revamp would lift the area to perfection. This and banning smoking. The last thing I want to see is cigarette ends anywhere near the pool or beach or dining areas. Again this is partly down to lazy and disgusting customers but the hotel could do a little more by limiting the smoking areas further. To sum up we had a fabulous time in Thailand and the hotel and staff certainly contributed to this. I would return and would definitely recommended to others. Enjoy! Liam (UK)

I Highly recommend this hotel. The location, scenery, staff, food and facilities were all fantastic at this hotel. My family and I had a very enjoyable stay. The staff were so friendly and helpful - nothing was too much. The general manager was also very available for guests which is rare to see. The food was delicious that we opted to eat at the hotel most days. When booking we were worried whether 9 days would be too long in one place especially with young kids but at the end we didn’t feel like leaving. Between the shuttle bus, poolside and beach we filled our days and everyone left feeling great. Thank you for a memorable holiday and we will definitely be returning in the near future