Dusit Thani, Cha Am, ThailandOur "go-to" hotel in this part of Thailand is the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin and in particular the wonderful Barai. We felt that, for balance, we should review a local brand of hotel as well. Having been advised by the Hyatt management that there was going to be a very large wedding at their hotel and there may be some disturbances, this seemed the perfect time. As such, we decided to take the opportunity to try the nearby Dusit Thani Hua Hin (although it's nearer Cha Am), part of the Thai Dusit International brand.
Upon arrival at the hotel, we luckily found the lobby quite appealing. I say 'luckily' as check-in took an inordinately long time - we didn't have to wait for a member of staff, but the whole process still took around 15 minutes (still have no idea why). Anyway, we were eventually escorted to our booked Lanai Suite, our luggage following quickly behind. In general, the hotel felt very dated and nowhere near 5*. Sadly, this summarised our whole stay. Club LoungeWe were looking forward to experiencing the club lounge of a hotel that advertises itself as embodying the richness and tradition of Thai culture. We envisioned a wonderful spread of Thai delicacies, similar to the Grand Hyatt in Bangkok. Instead, we were greeted with a pile of sandwiches (cheese and ham or crab-stick), a large number of cakes and just two Thai dishes (minced chicken salad and a beef hot dish). After explaining our allergies, a platter of open sandwiches on gluten-free bread appeared, which were much better quality than those on offer in the lounge. However, sandwiches are not what we envision as either Thai food or canapés!
On the plus side, service was friendly and staff were almost too efficient at topping up our wine glasses. It was good that a local wine (from Hua Hin Vineyards) was one of the options and there was plenty of seating available. The ambience was not enhanced by the screaming of a young child, but it takes a brave member of staff to ask a guest to leave when their child is disturbing others using a facility. As a general caution though, this is a very child-friendly resort. Don't come if you are a couple seeking a romantic escape. |
Lanai SuiteAt 84 square metres, the Lanai suite is spacious and came with 2 terraces, one with sun-loungers. The lounge/dining area was large, including a kitchenette, and there was both an en-suite bathroom and a powder room near the entrance. However, the suite was simply dated and in need of renovation. There were so many scratches and scrapes on the floors, window-frames etc, we couldn't count them. The exit door to the main terrace showed signs of having been forced and was very difficult to lock. The bath was yellowed with age and the furniture was dirty in places. Whilst we can understand that these suites may be used less often than the other rooms in the hotel, this lack of quality is not acceptable in the second top suite (after Presidential) in a supposed 5* property.
In our minds, we were going to spend our last day on the Gulf of Thailand sunning ourselves on the balcony. In practice, one balcony faced a children's play area and the main swimming pool whilst the other faced a public footpath - not at all private. On the plus side, the toiletries were of good quality and some unusual exotic fruit was delivered to the room shortly after check-in. BreakfastOne of the best aspects of our stay was that the club lounge breakfast (a benefit of booking a Lanai Suite) was in a separate area of the main restaurant and included everything on the buffet (available to all) and the made-to-order menu.
The buffet was extensive and offered plenty of choice from Western and Asian cuisines with rice and noodle dishes, sushi, curries, egg dishes, waffles, pancakes, bakery items and fresh fruit. The teriyaki mackerel from the made-to-order menu was tasty, although the noodles it came with had a slightly strange taste (of course, taste is entirely personal). Unfortunately, the quality of the food was not quite 5* (I asked for soft poached eggs which were almost hard when delivered) and there was a serious problem with the level of English spoken - in the end we had to resort to pointing at the menu. We find this unacceptable in a hotel with international aspirations. |
Overall Impression
Overall, we really can't recommend the Dusit Thani Hua Hin. The building is dated and rooms are in desperate need of renovation. Both check-in and check-out took way too long (around 15 minutes each) and I was incredulous that the bill was worked out manually using pen and paper, followed by a calculator to check the arithmetic. There are numerous options in Hua Hin (too many for us to review) so we definitely recommend staying elsewhere.
The hotel is very child-friendly, but in the way a Butlins is, rather than being at all up-scale. Basic maintenance is not good enough - our balcony door had obviously been forced at some point and it was very difficult to close securely. Although Hua Hin and Cha Am had suffered with severe storms in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, the Hyatt grounds were immaculate, whereas the Dusit Thani still had broken trees and other signs from the storm. The suite was somewhat strange with a step down into both bathrooms (not ideal if going to the loo in the night!) and just felt old. Whilst the staff in the club lounge were eager to please, others were diffident and not at all friendly. We also had booked spa treatments using the online booking system, but were informed that the spa had not received the booking and they were fully booked.
There is potential for the Dusit Thani, but we really believe that they should stop trying to be a 5* luxury property and instead target families and aim to be a solid 4* hotel.
The hotel is very child-friendly, but in the way a Butlins is, rather than being at all up-scale. Basic maintenance is not good enough - our balcony door had obviously been forced at some point and it was very difficult to close securely. Although Hua Hin and Cha Am had suffered with severe storms in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, the Hyatt grounds were immaculate, whereas the Dusit Thani still had broken trees and other signs from the storm. The suite was somewhat strange with a step down into both bathrooms (not ideal if going to the loo in the night!) and just felt old. Whilst the staff in the club lounge were eager to please, others were diffident and not at all friendly. We also had booked spa treatments using the online booking system, but were informed that the spa had not received the booking and they were fully booked.
There is potential for the Dusit Thani, but we really believe that they should stop trying to be a 5* luxury property and instead target families and aim to be a solid 4* hotel.