Mai Holiday by Mai Khao Lak (Adult)

This hotel was lovely! We had a swim up room in the adults only section. We went all inclusive and we liked the food in all the restaurants especially the Sky restaurant and the Thai restaurant. Our room was a quick swim away from the pool bar and the staff there were lovely. The grounds were well kept and the staff were all fantastic. The beach was lovely,, right by the hotel, the sea was warm and we had no issue getting sun beds when we went there. We had a great holiday at this hotel.

This place is a contradiction, the whole resort needs a good facelift inside and out , we stayed in the adult section with a jacuzzi pool access suite .The room had 5 inconvenient faults which all but two were rectified very quickly.Inernet and tv needs a major upgrade ,the internet kept dropping out very regularly and with virtually no tv channels was a little frustrating.The staff are all incredible with Chon , the bell captain who was always a outstanding ambassador for the resort .As to the on-site restaurants , they did not disappoint and served some amazing food , with the buffet at The Restaurant being a stand out.Now the pool bar in the adult section needs a major upgrade , with virtually no atmosphere, which made it unpleasant sitting there , plus not having any bar snacks nor music playing made it a place to avoid , even with our package have free drinks there.Also another inconvenience was having to go to the lobby , which is about 700 metres away , to change your pool towels, which doesn’t seem to far away but in 35 heat and high humidity made it a very hot journey. Still overall I gave a 4 star rating , the resort could be 5 star with a little TLC.

This is the best holiday we have ever had. Thailand is beautiful and Mai Khao Lak was a brilliant base to explore it from. The food was great especially the breakfast, the room, amenities and reception staff were great. A special mention to the entertainment team who made our holiday extra special. Our daughter loved every evening singing and dancing with them. Johanna, Mayara, Tiago, Signe and Stine were absolutely brilliant. The kids club too with Fie always being so friendly and providing a great experience. Marcus and Debora were fantastic too keeping us exercised and entertained. Cannot speak highly enough about this hotel.

The Mai is a huge TUI hotel split into 3 parts. We were in the original front section closest to the beach in a pool access room. I find it a bit hard to review as we were only here 3 nights and this isn’t our usual type of hotel. We like smaller boutique or family run places generally. Having said that, we didn’t have anything to complain about either and I think it’s a fantastic resort for families in particular. Our room was perfectly fine, yes it’s a bit dated but everything worked and there was heaps of space. There’s an area between the main bed and bathroom that has a large daybed/sofa bed in it so a family of 4 could fit in comfortably. Bathroom a bit old but again nothing wrong with it and water pressure in the shower was excellent. The ground of the hotel are beautiful and really well maintained and there’s plenty of places to eat/drink if you want to stay in the hotel. There’s also entertainment at night on the outside stage (seemed to be young TUI staff?) which is odd to us as it’s just not a thing in Australia but the kids seems to enjoy it though and I’m sure if we had young ones with us they’d be joining in. For us the big positive is the beach out the front. It’s stunning, never looks crowded and was lovely to swim in. There's also a litte smoothie/cocktail van that parks just outside the entrance called Freshy Bar and it's a lovely spot to sit sipping a cheap but very good cocktail and taking in the surrounds. The beach restaurants to the left and right of the hotel are great and have a lovely atmosphere at night with fairy lights etc. If you stay at this hotel I think you’d be mad going AI. Pros: The beach out the front is stunning, lovely pools, well maintained, friendly staff, very good breakfast, large rooms, great for families with activities, pool slides, playground etc. Staff were excellent especially one of the reception trainees. I love that they have a filtration system so you can refill water bottles rather than so much plastic. Cons: The access to the pool from the room is a bit difficult if you have any sort of mobility issues, there’s a shallow shelf then straight into the pool. My husband found it difficult to get back up. Tiles and wood on the outside of the room need a refresh as some were definitely looking worse for wear. A bit far out of town for us but we knew this when booking. Overall, this is a great hotel if you don’t mind being out of town and just want to relax. It’s a place that if you had young kids you could all be happy with not moving much outside of the hotel and beach surrounds. Would we stay again? Probably not but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it - we just like smaller places and being closer to the main towns.

Stayed here for a couple of nights in March 2025 - won’t be coming back. First the positives - the breakfast food and restaurant are excellent, and the beach is lovely and there are some sun beds and the hotel gives you beach mats and beach towels. Also the room is spacious and nicely decorated. But, the hotel is an ugly grey concrete jungle that smells of toilet water everywhere. There are nowhere near enough beds at pool or beach unless you reserve one at dawn, and there is one adult pool at the far end of the resort, and people are allowed to bring kids in anyway. The swim up bar does some nice (but quite expensive) drinks but no food. We asked for a 2 hour late check out and they said it would be $115 even though they had nobody coming into the room ! They don’t refill water in your room - you have to get it yourself. This TUI resort is for families with young kids really, and it is a bit tired, with broken bits showing around the resort such as hand rails, bridge supports and jacuzzi bubbles not working, as well as worn pathways that were uncomfortable to walk on in bare feet. We ate dinner along the beach ha couple of times - Krua Sniper along the beach to the left was excellent