The Palms Kamala

Good cuisine! Very quick and friendly waiters! The cocktail bar is also highly recommended! Sometimes there is also live music!

We have been to Kamala numerous times and normally stay approximately two months in one of two hotels both of which were fully booked this year ,so we ended up at the Palms fortunately only for twelve days . First impressions are not the best the location is in the Main Street but the entrance to the hotel is via a busy restaurant is unusual ( this is supposed to be four star hotel) the actual reception is reasonable as is the check in and baggage handling but the welcome was very cold and unfriendly , and the policy of only one regular key which connects electricity’ as well as locking the door ,consequently if you want to charge a device whilst out of the room you can’t as you have to take the key with you they also charge for letting you into the room if you are locked out not having a two key card system is very unusual for Thailand and rather old fashioned and and inconvenient leaving the key all the time at reception is a pain if you do insist on a second key they make you fill in and sign a series of forms as though the key is made of gold additionally the receptionist ‘s English language skills were not the best which again is unusual for any tourist based hotel , that said I don’t speak Thai so maybe I shouldn’t complain. Our room (209) was very spacious with two bedrooms , two bathrooms a sitting room , kitchette and balcony. The room was presented in a clean state but was a mix of modern and very dated , the oven and hob had obviously seen better days as had the sofas covered with cheap covers over the original upholstery the oven which despite my previous comment was filthy ,not that we wanted to use it but future guests might the kitchenette was generally not very well equipped , no microwave cutlery especially the knives were blunt almost unusable ,no tea towels or wash cloths.The bedrooms were fairly basic both ensuite with double wardrobes .only the main bedroom was provided with coat hangers (4) additional hangers were requested and provided ( cheap wire hanger variety as you get from the dry cleaners .) Bed linen was quite a reasonable quality ,bright white and changed regularly. Sleep quality was good .The bathrooms were adequate but small and provided with terrible and very mean quantity toiletries we went out and bought our own as hey were so bad .Towels were not white but dark cream always a bad sign as they can conceal a multitude of possible. laundry sins . Water pressure was basic .with no rain shower head and a horrible plastic shower curtain in one of the bathrooms , a pet hate of mine .Connectivity was mediocre to terrible with regular fallouts. We used our hotspots all the time There were three T.Vs one of which in what would presumably be the children’s room was probably circa 1980 the other two were the small screen variety , not that we watched them but again others might.wall plugs are really thin on the ground with none near the beds.There is a breakfast option which we thought was uneconomical for us as we are tea and fruit people . Externally there is a large serpentine pool and a small fitness Centre both of which are adequate but have yet again seen better days .The beach is a very short walk away which is the main advantage of this property .In short we travel at least six months a year every year and stay in a lot of hotels , some very exclusive some not , we have also stayed in six different Kamala hotels over the years, this property is cheap in comparison to others in the area , but you get what you pay for which in the case of the Palms is not very much , I find it hard to understand the good reviews I can only presume that the experience of others is possibly less than ours. We would not return.

Lovely apartment, little oasis of the vibrant Kamala high street. 5mins to the beach and a large choice of restaurants just outside the door. Ann’s kitchen serves great food and offers a warm welcome, thank you Tony for always making a fuss of our little boy and your attentive service.