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The Hotel Pools of Phuket: Triple Dips at the JW Marriott Resort

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 231 Moo 3 Mai Khao,Talang, Phuket, Thailand, 83110
October 12, 2011 at 5:15 PM | by | Comments (0)

Next up in our Hotel Pools of Phuket series are the three—count 'em three—pools that sit nice and pretty between the buildings and the beach at the JW Marriott Resort.

To be perfectly clear, we didn't sleep at the JW Marriott, but next door in a hotel to be revealed tomorrow. The thing is, the hotels share a beachfront: Mai Khao Beach on the northwestern tip of Phuket Island. Because the beaches are public, it's quite easy to walk between the properties, and there's even a boardwalk and direction signs to guide vacationers around the area.

If you found yourself with a long stay, you could hop hotel pools no problem, but that wouldn't work very well if you fancy ordering cocktails at the swim-up bar and charging it back to your room.

Back to the pools. The JW has three of them for the general guests, because—as it goes in Phuket—there's also a selection of suites (and one villa) with private pools. For most, however, the North, Main and South pools will be more than enough aqua entertainment.

Strolling around, we observed that the majority of the bathing beauties poolside at the J Dubs were British or American, mostly families or couples and very, very sunburnt. The resort is a resort after all, and there's not much encouragement to leave the property, or even the pools.

The North Pool appeared quietest, probably because it's furthest from the kiddie pool and not particularly large. The Main Pool has a small waterslide, the kiddie pool, a view back towards the hotel lobby and a giant infinity-edge area perfect for getting your Olympic laps done. Further on, the South Pool boasts the swim-up bar and proximity to a beachside restaurant.

If you desire a private pool, we're afraid your only option is a villa, set apart from the main hotel building and with a lagoon out in front of the pool for maximum privacy. Don't even trust the one bedroom oceanfront pool suites, because walking down the boardwalk we could see everything, including that they're open to the beach and anyone in rooms above can easily look down into the "private" pool area. Count out skinnydipping.

Overall, we kind of felt like we'd stepped into a sprawling resort in Mexico. Only the elephant and turtle sculptures reminded us of Thailand. Still, a solid option for a blowout vacation with a large family. According to their site, room rates start at 6,800 THB ($220) during high season, which begins around now.

[Photos: Cynthia Drescher for HotelChatter]

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