We booked two rooms via Agoda at Thai Life guest house in Khao Lak, Thailand well in advance of our stay from 12 August 2014to 19 August 2014.
References 49131640 and 49131368. Payment was taken from our credit card in advance as well.
I arrived at this hotel at 6.30pm on 12 August 2014 with my wife, two young children, several suitcases and found it closed. All lights were turned off, shutters were down, bushes were overgrown and it looked like the hotel had been abandoned. I called the number in the hotel signboard and got a dead tone.
I then walked across the road to a nearby shop and asked if Thai Life guest house was open. The woman said she had not seen it open for several weeks, the staff had not been seen for weeks and the German owner had not been seen for a while. When I told her I had pre-booked a stay she was shocked and said I should try and find another hotel. I told her I had paid in advance and she then made several calls and managed to get a number for one of the staff. She spoke to this person and was told there were no bookings. She asked that person to come because there was a family waiting to check in. We waited over an hour and nobody came. I then asked this woman to call again and she kindly did so. At 8.30pm someone arrived to open the hotel. She then tried to get us all - 4 persons - to stay in one room! We insisted we had booked 2 rooms. She spoke very little English and then called her sister who spoke to me and started arguing. I insisted we needed 2 rooms and after much more arguing they agreed to let us stay in the booked rooms.
I raise this serious issue because if the nearby shopkeeper had not helped us we would not have been able to find rooms there as arranged, the hotel would have remained closed and we would have had to stay elsewhere.
This is highly unprofessional behaviour and the German owner Mr. Gerard needs to get his act together so that something like this never happens again.
There is a serious problem with damp in the superior double room and the roof is leaking in the ensuite and above the corner sofa. The leak is close to light fittings and represents a serious risk to guests. When my wife showed the woman manager she just said it will dry!
Hotel policy is to change bed linen, towels and clean rooms every 2 days. Our towels and linen were changed just once in 7 days and the two female staff reacted angrily when we challenged them on this. We had two young kids with us and for hygiene purposes the hotel policy should have been followed.
Laundry policy is to charge 72 bhat for 1 kg but were charged 390 bhat for 2 kilos! The woman said it was because of low season! 1 kg weighs the same whatever the season!
In summary this was a pretty awful guesthouse and when we visit Khao Lak again we will avoid it at all costs.
I hope that if the owner does respond to my review he kindly does so in English as I do not read or write German.