We've just returned from a 7 night stay at the Anantara and I have to say the hotel grounds are stunning. The beach isn't good but we were told if you want a good beach you have to go to one of the islands. The only problem we had was with the service. Examples......

We booked a trip to the floating market through reception (which meant getting up at 6am!!) and when we arrived in reception for the trip and no-one came to pick us up, the receptionists on duty in the morning told us that the trip hadn't been booked for us. They did apologise but at the same time they were laughing among themselves about it which didn't go down too well as you can imagine! To be fair, they did get us on the trip for another day (meaning another 6am start!!) but we got the impression they weren't all that bothered.

The other problem we experienced was that we ordered room service one evening and were told it would be 20 mins. 35 mins later, we called down to find out where it was and were told after she had taken our order she had forgotten what our room number was so she was waiting for us to call her back. They sent the food up straight away but it was cold because it had been sitting there for 15 mins.

And last but definately by no means least (to us this was the biggest error by the hotel) on arrival at the hotel, whilst checking in, we were taken to one side by a man who tried to sell us a "meal plan" This involved us paying some ridiculous figure up front and entitled us to three 3-course lunches and three 3-course evening meals at the hotel. When I explained we wouldn't eat 3-courses at lunchtime he continued to tell us it would still be a good deal. I then explained that we would probably be eating in town mostly he tried to scare us by telling us 20 people recently had come down with food poisoning from eating in town and it cost them 2000 bahts to get better in hospital! I don't appreciate or expect this kind of pressurised selling at this standard of hotel (or any hotel for that matter!) With everyone we got chatting to around the pool or on the bus, this subject came up and nobody was happy about it at all. One couple we met said they received a call as soon as they got to their room after checking in and he wanted to go to there room to chat but wouldn't say what it was about. They didn't feel comfortable with this so they said they would meet him at reception. Needless to say, they didn't do the meal plan and were definately not pleased about the way it was done.

So, in summary, I would say from our experience its a nice hotel with lovely grounds but they have a lot to learn about service. I wouldn't be put off from staying there again (the problems with room service and the tour may be one-offs!) but I would probably look for somewhere else first.