In Phuket there are lots of hotels, and we choose this one because it was near a wedding we were attending. Check in was slightly drawn out by our room not ready at 2pm, so we tried to have lunch, although the beach/pool restaurant was off limits to us. For what reason I do not know, but the man said that we were not able to eat or drink there. Ever. So we ended up back at reception asking why we weren't allowed and rather than walk back and forth we had an average lunch in the empty restaurant next to reception.

The wireless also didn't work when we arrived but did 8 or 9 hours after check in.

The room it self was not that bad, although two single beds for a couple is always a a pain.

When we were getting ready for the wedding I called and asked for an iron and ironing board. I was told that they did not have an iron any where in the hotel. I was so shocked that I didn't know what to say, I pursued the matter and was told their laundry is taken care of outside and that no iron would be possible. My wife called and stressed the importance and 45 mins later they produced the oldest and most hazardous iron I have ever seen. It was easily older than me and no ironing board. Frankly I am surprised I didn't get an electric shock from it because the it was rusty and wire was frayed and taped up!

For that reason alone I would never stay here again. Phuket has hundreds of hotels and there is no real reason to choose this place over dozens which compete on price, location and service.

Given that we paid around £30 for bed and breakfast this proved a good choice for us. It's got a lovely little pool and jacuzzi area and access straight onto a gorgeous and deserted beach - this is rare in Phuket as you normally have to traverse a road to get to the sea.

The downside is that it's incredibly quiet and the food is not the best. If you need a taxi then try the excellent Mr Bud, who is based just down the road, he'll do airport transfers and can take you anywhere you want - abbud34@hotmail.com.

Low season; the best time to make a recreation trip - and this is a location where you can do it.

It was my fault not to check out the diving possibilities before making the reservation, thus I recognized that the minimum distance to an opened dive base ist about 45km. Pity; but as I wrote - my fault.

About the resort it is of good midclass. Isolated and the quality of service is not award suspected, but the staff is polite and try to arrange things. Pity that they are not ever successful and that they do not inform the customer.

For example: I asked for diving. The counter promised to check the possibilities - but he didn´t. The main problem is, that they do not speak English well, but they do not ask if they do not understand. This is typical for the Thai people - but it is difficult to check.

The Restaurant is good, the breakfast is á la carte (you can choose between 3 different sets).

The beach is a little bir untended; maybe because of the low-season.

The rental rates for a bike, spa or a car, are - as usual in the hotels - too high. You can pay about four times as much as on the street.

Thus if you are looking for a nice little resort to relax a few days without any action and some guided excursion in the environment, this resort is a good and cozy idea.

Stayed 19 to 23 Jan 2010. Booked a deluxe room at rate of 1999 baht
per night including breakfast with latestays website.
Resort is well located by a beautiful long beach (beach must be about
10 kms long and is close to deserted).
There's nothing going on in the area and you will either have to stay
at the hotel relaxing or you need your own transport. There is one
other resort on the beach plus two more in construction. There are
also many luxury beachfront homes (check out 'Beyond' just to left of
hotel - must be at least 1000m2 of living space!
I would rate Ranyatavi as a 3.5 star resort. Location is beautiful and
very peaceful. Great pool. Careful with jellyfish on this beach - we
did not get stung but when walking on the beach we saw many huge
jellyfish (ie about 70 cms diameter) washed up on the beach. I asked
hotel manager about jellyfish and at first he admitted that it was a
problem but said that they were gone after a problem last week. When
pressed for further information he took standard Thai position when in
an awkward position and his level in English suddenly fell back to
very basic....
Problem with this hotel is attention to detail by management and staff
- they basically don't have enough experience on how to run a 4 star
resort. Eg. the electronic key to our room stopped working many times
while we were there and each time they would just give us a new key
without fixing the problem (or apologizing for the inconvenience).
When we reserved we requested a room on a high floor. Despite fact
that hotel was basically empty they had allocated us a ground floor
room. On request they changed us to a third floor room but again it
was badly managed as they gave us a room with neighbours right next
door (ie we had a shared balcony) despite fact that hotel was nearly
empty.
Also a problem with maintenance eg. pond at reception area is full of
stagnant water that looks really bad.
Hotel has few guests - about 10 - 15 in total when we were there, so
many of facilities are closed
Free wireless Internet and use of computer in business area.
Good quality room with comfortable bed, small terrace with chairs,
fridge, safe etc. Not easy to take a shower though as it's a bath and
there's nowhere to attach the showerhead.
Good breakfast most days but seemed to depend on the staff that day.
Individual order of continental or American and quailty was pretty
good. Special mention for Noi who served us most days and was
excellent - carefully took our order, made a nice table decoration and
presented herself very well - she was a bit wasted at the Ranyatavi
and would be better suited for five star resort down the beach to the
left.
Overall we would stay again at the Ranyatavi but make sure you don't
overpay - 2000 baht for deluxe room is correct and don't even think
about paying rack rate of 10,000 baht for a deluxe room at this hotel.
It's a great hotel if you want peace and quiet with a nice beach.
PS try tewson seafood restaurant about 1km from the hotel - great
seafood and about four times cheaper than hotel.
This is one of a series of 18 reviews posted during a two month stay in southern Thailand from Dec 2009 to Feb 2010.