Phi Phi The Beach Resort: Underdeveloped Potential
No matter where you stay, the natural beauty of these islands will make it hard to have a poor experience. The Beach Resort is one of the better, more scenic resorts on the Koh Phi Phi.
Whether you like it or not, Koh Phi Phi is not your typical tourist-style tropical island. There is much more focus on natural beauty rather than creating an environment that allows tourists to control the experience. Mother nature is dominant here, but that has a subsequent result that takes away just slightly from the resorts of the island. Phi Phi The Beach Resort has a great hard product. Two beaches, several restaurants, "spa", etc. Here's what I think of everything stacked together though:
Service: B-
Look, these guys are not trained in the same way of the staff at your typical chain brand resorts. These guys are all just a group of buddies and family who do as good of a job as they know how to do. Getting around the resort requires a car transfer for some routes, and they fully expect to be tipped for a 30 second trip. I did hop a ride with one of the cleaning ladies, much to the enjoyment of all her friends, so that was an entertaining experience. It goes to show the vibe of the hotel as one that is more laid back and not entrenched in the facade that the big name brands put out to make you feel like you're "at home" even though you're far, far from the normality of home. It has an endearing quality to it, but at the same time, there are certain expectations you have that Phi Phi The Beach Resort's staff fails to meet.
Rooms: A-
We had a standard room pretty high up on the mountain and it was stunning. It had everything we would have needed, including a comfortable bed, beautiful bathroom with an outdoor shower, and a view that truly was to die for. Getting to and from the room may be the only thing that I would slightly complain about but even that was nothing too big. WiFi was good enough in the room and all in all, we were more than pleased with where we stayed a few nights on Koh Phi Phi.
Not a bad place to hang out for a few hours
Property: C+
A pretty sad excuse of a pool, as it really was nothing more than a kiddie pool
There is a LOT of potential here, and it seems as though they are working towards taking advantage of their geographic luck. There is no pool worth swimming in although it seemed like they were in the process of building a beach front infinity edge pool which will be fantastic. Granted, there is no need for a pool when there's the beautiful ocean right in front of you. Walking around the resort isn't ideal either, as many of the paths are torn down or not built at all, with minimal signage to help get around the hotel. The lobby is somewhat shabby, without much space to lounge around. So there is room to improve but for the time being, the property is lacking in a setting that truly isn't.
Finding little nooks and crannies around the resort to hang out
Restaurants: C+
Damage was seriously done at this beachfront restaurant about a 10 minute walk from the resort
Pina Colada with a view
Main restaurant at the resort, nothing special but it does the job
We only ate at the breakfast buffet twice. Once was later in the morning and was a pretty terrible buffet experience with limited, tasteless options. The other was not as bad and actually surprised us after our first experience, but I think it was because we went earlier and got the freshest food of the buffet. Other than that, we did not eat at the resort mostly because nothing looked appetizing enough. Rather, we would walk down Long Beach and eat at the several restaurants located along the beach which were all fantastic (and cheap!). So go out and enjoy food out and around the hotel, and if you plan on having breakfast at the buffet, make sure you go early!
Beach: B+
Rough conditions over at Long Beach, but still stunning
Our private boat for our snorkeling tour down the backside-the calmer side-of the island
There are two beaches that are accessible from the property. Long Beach is directly in front of the hotel, and is truly stunning with I think the softest sand I've ever felt. Don't expect much of beach service, as it really was the bare minimum offering. But that's nothing to complain about because it is just so damn beautiful. The other beach is about a 30 minute walk over seriously rocky terrain (or a 30 second transfer by one of the roaming trucks-who expect tips). This beach, called Loh Moo Dee, is arguably even more beautiful but as a result gets overrun by tourists on tours throughout the day. We walked all the way down to the other end of the beach and found a pretty quiet spot to chill out for a few hours. Snorkeling right of the beach was pretty average, so we decided to go out to one of the locals and see if they could take us out. So we found a group of men smoking by a tree and one of them was more than happy to take us out for an hour on a private boat for US $60. The snorkeling was solid, but honestly nothing to write home about. The best spots were off-limits thanks to the weather conditions unfortunately, but regardless, going out with this guy was super fun (he gave us some chum in the water and we had a blast feeding fish in their natural habitat).
Loh Moo Dee Beach is where we docked upon arrival because Long Beach was too rough...we weren't complaining!
So there you have it. Phi Phi The Beach Resort is one of, if not the best hotel on the island, but with that said, it has a lot of room to improve. Getting to and from the hotel is a bit of a challenge, as you can either get their by boat or motorcycle, and once the sun goes down, your only choice is motorcycle. It all works though somehow, and we were able to almost figure out how to maximize our experience at this beautiful hotel on this stunning island. I'm excited to see what the future has for this hotel, as there is a lot of potential that seems to be slowly but surely being realized as construction is slowly taking place. Nevertheless, the hotel will give you the best, most authentic experiences in Koh Phi Phi.