La Vela

Happy Caterpillar

We recently stayed here with our 2 children after a few weeks travelling around Thailand. This hotel was the best by far - the service and food was fantastic. If you are gluten free the breakfast buffet has a dedicated section with delicious food that are safe to eat. The gluten free bread was delicious. The staff also made a huge effort for my husband’s birthday- they presented him with a cake as well as decorate the room! It really made our holiday! The kids club staff and spa staff were equally lovely and overall we felt very lucky to be at this hotel. The location is excellent and most evenings we tried the local restaurants - most had gluten free options too.

Sleepy Sunsets

La Vela seems to get loads of extremely positive reviews, and we are quite surprised. This is one of those hotels where if you point the camera in exactly the right direction, at exactly the right time, you will get some lovely instagrammable photos, which seems to be the thing to do these days, constantly. However fundamentally, the hotel is tired, worn out and looks nothing like the photos you see online. This is obvious immediately from the moment you check in, the reception area again looks nothing like the photos. It is cluttered, untidy and hot. The check-in process was a little weird, at one point it was suggested that we help ourselves to a welcome drink, which was a large container of blue liquid with some plastic glasses next to it. We have never before had to pour ourselves a welcome drink, pretty sure that defeats the purpose of the welcome? We booked a Grand Pool Access room, which I believe is their premium room. The room had a very strong musty and mouldy smell, which we know is normal for Thailand (after living there for 7 years) but it remained in the room and the pillows and everything smelt damp and gross, despite the hotel loaning us a dehumidifier for the duration of our 6 night stay.(Thank you for trying to fix the problem.) The gym had exactly the same problem, but even worse. We had to open the doors of the gym during our workouts just to get some fresh air in there, extremely unpleasant. The breakfast was literally the most chaotic experience we have had in years...the inside/outside dining room was overflowing for much of our stay, and we had to wait 10 mins on our first two mornings just to try and pounce on a table. The food is displayed poorly, little saucepans on small gas burners with poor quality, cheap contents. The poor staff simply could not keep up with the supply of food and cleaning of tables. If you wanted eggs/omelette or similar, cooked fresh, you stood in a very HOT queue of ppl waiting to get served and then waiting for your order to be cooked. One morning I waited literally 15 mins in a queue to order a coffee for my husband and I. (The coffee itself was barista made coffee and excellent when it came however.) The overall experience is hot, rushed and chaotic. Kukulo beach club looks nothing at all like the current pictures you will see floating around the internet. There are no lovely yellow umbrellas in the pool area, no pool lounges in the water, and the pool is just not an inviting area to relax in. When you are in the pool you do not have a view of the ocean, you have a view of some weird painted yellow concrete blocks. (Most certainly not in the online resort photos.) We had a pizza and a burger at the beach club and the pizza was the worst we had on our 3 week trip. (there are excellent restaurants for pizza in Khao Lak, try Amici's and also the burrata pizza at Al Dente) The beach club itself is ugly, with exposed wiring everywhere and broken fans and broken neon signs and lights. At night time the whole resort is a vast expanse of blackness and no attempt is made to light up the various pool areas to create a cosy ambience and glow. Despite it being our anniversary, there were no welcoming gestures, like a bottle of wine or a cake or flower petals or anything like that. Upon checkout the manager approached us and explained that apparently they are due for renovations in 12 months time, but he said it like we should be excited or like it excuses the current state of the resort, which of course it does not. We wasted 6 precious nights of our holiday here and will not be back in a hurry, nor would we recommend it in it's current state. We are not chronic whiners or whingers -we also stayed at The Pavilions in Phuket, The Little Shore and The Slate and had a fantastic experience at all three of those resorts. We will not be back to La Vela.

New Jpg

This was my first time staying at this hotel, and I was truly impressed. From the moment I arrived, the front desk staff were incredibly friendly, welcoming, and attentive. Their service was excellent, and they even escorted me to my room, which made me feel very comfortable and well cared for. The overall atmosphere of the hotel was warm, relaxing, and pleasant. My room was clean, spacious, and comfortable, with everything I needed for a great stay. Every staff member I met was polite and always ready to help with a smile. I genuinely appreciated the hospitality and attention to detail throughout my stay. Thank you for making my first visit such a wonderful experience. I would definitely stay here again and highly recommend this hotel to anyone visiting the area.

Colette Rooney

This resort has fantastic customer service and a fabulous Spa. Location in Khao Lak was good with being able to walk to the main town in 10 minutes. Felt safe walking up to the town. Admittedly we went to Thailand in the low season but this resort really had nothing going on. We were lucky to see 5 other people a day staying at this resort other than at Breakfast. They didn't have anything going on. No activities for kids. No nightly entertainment other than the light show. It was quite boring. The resort is quite spread out too, so the main big pool nears the rooms is completely away from the bar/restaurant. They had no music playing at the pool. No fun activities. WE ended up leaving early. We did visit the sister resort which was nice for the day, a little more of a vibe going on there; La Flora. Just ask at reception to go over. The Buffet dinner was not worth it, save your money.

Arthur Tsoukalas

Where do you start? This place is amazing and the staff are fantastic. Very friendly, accommodating and easy to talk to. With a huge pool to spend the day, you also have the option of the beach which the resort backs onto. It is just past another of their pools which is in front of the restaurant. Plenty of sunbeds to make your beach visit comfortable. The food is top notch and surely the best in Khao Lak. We tried a lot of different dishes and all were amazing. You simply cannot go wrong with Kokolu Restaurant, complements to the chef and the service staff. Spices buffet breakfast was the best start to the morning with plenty of tasty options. Great food and again compliments to the chefs and service staff. The rooms were great, they were huge, the beds were very comfortable together with awesome shower facilities. They also offer a great gym and spectacular massages. I highly recommend you get one of these massages done during your stay. Would I come again.... Absolutely.