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On-On Hotel Offers History, Leo DiCaprio, and A Lousy Night's Sleep

Where: 19 Phang Nga Rd, Tumbol Talad Nua, Phuket, Thailand

All this week, HotelChatter's roving correspondent Claire Duffett will be reviewing several beach hotels that she visited during her trip through Thailand. Got questions or suggestions? Send them to us and we'll have Claire answer them for you.

On On Hotel’s name is a little deceptive because it isn’t technically a hotel. It’s more like the hostel from hell… and we mean that in the best way possible. Though we try to steer clear of hostel living, there are times when a place’s historical significance warrants an exception. Plus, we have a motto that always serves us well: If it’s good enough for Leonardo DiCaprio, it’s good enough for us.

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Tags: Thailand Hotel Guide / Andaman Sea Hotels / Phuket Hotels / → All Tags

A Taste of Stylish Phuket

Where: 16-18 Rassada Road, Tumbol Talad Nua, Phuket, Thailand

All this week, HotelChatter's roving correspondent Claire Duffett will be reviewing several beach hotels that she visited during her trip through Thailand. Got questions or suggestions? Send them to us and we'll have Claire answer them for you.

It took us a while to drag ourselves away from Koh Lanta but we were grateful we took time to explore the Andaman Sea’s other largest island, Phuket. We were particularly grateful that we took a chance and stayed in the city, away from the beach.

Phuket Town is one hip place. With its café-lined streets and residents who are stylish in that pretending-not-to-care way, it’s like the Williamsburg to Bangkok’s Manhattan. So it’s fitting that the capital of Thailand’s largest island offers some understated, ultra-chic boutique hotels.

Case-in-point: The Taste Phuket.

We spotted the unassuming hotel while walking along one of the main streets in the Old Town section of Phuket, which resembles a cross between Paris and Brooklyn. It looked like the store front for an Anthropologie clothing store. White, wrought-iron chandeliers, surrounded by beaded curtains line the hotel’s narrow lobby. Guests sit at tables playing classic board games—typical hipster activity—like Scrabble. Some visitors stop and play a few notes at the upright piano near the entrance.

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Tags: Thailand Hotel Guide / Andaman Sea Hotels / Koh Lanta Hotels / → All Tags

The SriLanta Hotel Has Basic Bungalows, But Not on the Beach

Where: Klongnin, Koh Lanta, Krabi, Thailand

All this week, HotelChatter's roving correspondent Claire Duffett will be reviewing several beach hotels that she visited during her trip through Thailand. Got questions or suggestions? Send them to us and we'll have Claire answer them for you.

Here was our impression of SriLanta: Meh (see uninspiring photo to the right). The third Koh Lanta-based hotel we visited is nice enough, but its multitude of competitors overshadows this high-end boutique hotel.

Because it retains the intimate bungalow feel of its backpacker-oriented neighbors while offering the same amenities of the ostentatious resorts on the island, the hotel falls into the same category as La Laanta and Nice ‘n Easy. But La Laanta is the nicest and Nice ‘n Easy is the cheapest of the three. Sri Lanta’s most basic bungalows cost 6,200 Baht per night, or about $180, and really, they’re nothing special. Frankly, we couldn’t see how they justify the price when you can forfeit the A/C and stay at equally charming hotels closer to the pier for about $15 per night.

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Tags: Thailand Hotel Guide / Andaman Sea Hotels / Koh Lanta Hotels / → All Tags

Hiding Away at Lanta's La Laanta

Where: Bamboo Beach, Koh Lanta, Krabi, Thailand

All this week, HotelChatter's roving correspondent Claire Duffett will be reviewing several beach hotels that she visited during her trip through Thailand. Got questions or suggestions? Send them to us and we'll have Claire answer them for you.

La Laanta Hideaway Resort embodies its middle name. Getting there requires traversing narrow, pothole-covered dirt paths, then descending down a “road” that more resembles a vertical climbing wall than anything intended for vehicular travel. The trouble of getting there makes it a true hideaway.

Located on Bamboo Beach, Koh Lanta’s southernmost beach, it is also the closest hotel to the island’s national park, making it perhaps the most isolated. The island’s mountains serve as a backdrop. Each of the hotel's 20 villas, all angled toward the beach, has a hand-painted mural on one wall. The whole place is very hip. When we visited, most guests were European families with fathers who enjoy wearing Speedos and children who enjoy wearing only their birthday suits.

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Tags: Thailand Hotel Guide / Andaman Sea Hotels / Koh Lanta Hotels / Beach Hotels / → All Tags

Takin' it Nice 'n Easy on Koh Lanta

Where: Klong Khong Beach, Koh Lanta, Krabi, Thailand

All this week, HotelChatter's roving correspondent Claire Duffett will be reviewing several beach hotels that she visited during her trip through Thailand. Got questions or suggestions? Send them to us and we'll have Claire answer them for you.

At first we were skeptical about a boutique hotel named after a brand of do-it-yourself hair dye, but Nice n' Easy, set along Klong Khong Beach on the island of Koh Lanta, delivers a lot more customer satisfaction than a brassy new hairdo.

The place has a mod, art-deco feel that reminded us of the cartoonish, other-wordly house where the Dodo family lived in one of our favorite childhood (ok, adulthood, too) movies: “Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird.”

A round, white cabana curves around the ocean-side swimming pool. The eight bungalows tucked behind tall palms farther away from the beach are made of Teak, a strong, dark wood that also takes ages to grow and is usually banned in new construction. Each bungalow has hot water and air-conditioning, which are rare amenities in this backpacker-heavy section of the island.

Several other bohemian, chill-out bungalows line the same stretch of beach, but Nice n' Easy stands out to passerbys as the most upscale resort in the area, while still maintaining the intimate, laid-back feel as its competitors.

Nice n' Easy also owns a wider stretch of land, so the beach in front of the property is virtually empty on any given day, and the forested area around it protects bungalows from the sounds of revelers enjoying an extra bottle or two of Singha.

Room rates here begin at 1,500 Baht or $43 in the peak season which is Jan. 16 through April 30.