Phuket Emerald Beach Resort

The hotel is ok! BUT my issue is a serious one. On my first evening at the hotel I was on my way to meet my grandson at one of the bars at 19.00 pm approximately. As I walked along the pathway towards my destination I suddenly found myself flatlined in a water feature that ran along the side of the pathway. There was a section of path with a hole that my left foot went into. Next thing I remember is hitting the bottom then as a reaction I pushed myself up to the surface and grabbed the path and held on for grim life. Luckily for me a guy saw me fall ,called for help and jumped into the water to get me out . A fractured leg and abrasions was the result. Now as far as the hotel. And TUi are concerned they refute any liability for this. It was dusk and the lighting was poor. There was a hole that should have had some form of warning that it was there , The hotel say I was in a restricted area as the pool closed at 19.00. The security cameras show me on the path prior to my accident at 19.07. We were not advised of this on checking in , there were no signs anywhere to advise this, there were no staff in attendance and as I wasn’t dressed to go swimming in any way shape or form so as far as I am concerned I was on my way to the bar This was our first night of a family holiday that was ruined . One further point , 7 days after my accident the hotel installed a rope barrier/fence along both sides of the pathway and according to staff it was to hopefully avoid any further accidents. An act of liability in my mind. Currently 10 weeks after the incident I am still walking with an uncomfortable limp and doing physio . So thank you to TUI for not having a reasonable customer care and to the hotel for not having the decency to admit any form of liability

Dear Management,

I would like to formally express my disappointment regarding the way I was treated during my recent experience at your hotel.

When I made my booking, I correctly registered 2 guests because only myself and my female friend were staying at the hotel. Another male friend was simply our driver and was accompanying us after dinner to continue our conversation briefly at the hotel before leaving to stay elsewhere.

However, when the reception staff saw him with us, they immediately insisted on charging an additional 1,500 THB, assuming that he would stay overnight, despite my clear explanation that he was not a hotel guest.

What made the situation even more uncomfortable was that the staff demanded to see the third person’s hotel booking confirmation to prove that he was staying somewhere else. I strongly believe this crossed a professional boundary and became an invasion of personal privacy.

Where my friend chooses to stay is private information and should not be something guests are pressured to disclose.

I even informed your staff that if this was truly the hotel’s position, then I would prefer to cancel my booking and not stay at the hotel at all. At that moment, I genuinely felt that the reception staff were being extremely rude and showed absolutely no trust or respect toward me as a paying guest.

Most importantly, I believe I should receive a refund because I never actually used the room. I decided not to stay specifically because of how this situation was handled. This was not 100% my fault, and I do not believe it is fair for me to bear the full financial loss under these circumstances.

I completely understand that hotels must manage occupancy and security policies, but your staff should handle such situations with far more professionalism, better communication, and greater respect for guests’ privacy and dignity.

I sincerely hope management will review this matter carefully, improve staff training, and reconsider the refund for this booking.

We stayed at the Phuket Emerald Beach hotel for a week in April 2026 with our children (9, 10 & 14). The hotel was excellent and great for families.

Rooms – The room was excellent. Extremely clean and spacious. Lovely balcony (all balconies overlook the pool). New towels and new pool towels were provided every day in the room. We had a minor issue with the shower not draining – this was reported and it got sorted, not immediately but within a few days. I would have chased it up sooner but we also had a lovely bath with a shower attached so it wasn’t urgent. I found the bed pretty comfy-I suffer from a bad back and I was perfectly comfortable.

Pool – Lots of different pool areas. The kids loved the 2 bigger slides and spent lots of time going down them. The pool attendants were great with the children. The only thing the hotel is missing is a larger pool area where you can have ball games/inflatables etc, all the pools were fairly small/narrow. There wasn’t anywhere to swim properly although this wasn’t an issue for us. We weren’t sure when we went, from looking at the photos, but you are allowed in the pool areas where the swim up rooms were, they are not reserved for those rooms only. There was a slightly deeper swim up pool towards the rear of the property where the kids found it easier to play. There were always plenty of sunloungers although we only normally used one to put all our stuff on, but it looked like there were always some available. The cave bar was lovely, we had daily drinks and ice-cream here-really friendly staff.

Hotel – The hotel reception was lovely, as was the sky bar, which is located on the roof of the property. We had a drink up there most nights after we had been out for dinner. Beautiful view and never busy. The hotel in general didn’t seem very busy – not sure what capacity it was at, but it never seemed overly busy which was nice.

Location – the location was great for us. Karon is a very touristy area but great for families. You are on the main beach road so although the hotel is set back from the road you are directly on the main strip. There is a 7/11 pretty much next door which was handy. There are loads of restaurants, shops, market stalls, food stalls, massage parlours along the main beach road and round the corner on Patak Road. The beach was also nice, although we only visited once as the kids weren’t keen on swimming due to worries about jellyfish! There are plenty of tuk tuks waiting on the road outside if using those rather than Grab/Bolt etc. It is also a good location for trips – not too far from the Big Buddha and Hidden Forest Elephant Sanctuary.

Food – The hotel breakfast was very nice. Plenty of options-fresh fruit, an egg station, meats, pastries, curries & rice etc and we never struggled to get a table for the 5 of us. We ate lunch a few times at the hotel which was also very nice.

The hotel held various events such as a foam party for kids, buffet for Songkran etc. They also had underwater scooters for hire.

The only negative we have about the hotel was on check out we were charged for 2 x cans of drinks from the mini bar and a missing laundry bag. We hadn’t used/taken these, and they must have been missing on arrival (but we didn’t know to check items on arrival). We were left with no choice but to pay for these which was about £10 in total as we couldn’t prove we didn’t take them, so I would recommend ensuring you know what is supposed to be in the room on arrival and taking photos and alerting staff if something isn’t present.

As others have said I do feel it is more a 4* than a 5* hotel but that is not meant as a negative.