I'd stayed at J Hotel with my mum and 6 year old son. The hotel is a little run down and in need for some maintenance. However, that said, it's very clean. The rooms and bathroom was also very large. We requested for a room with a view so every morning, we woke up to a view of the limestone caves and the sea.

Great location
- 3 mins walk to the beach
- Lots of restuarants nearby
- 2 massage places just outside the hotel

Great service and friendly staff.
- The lady at the reception always greeted us with a smile.
- They even gave us a new towel every day.

We'd booked all our tours with the hotel as we found it much cheaper to book with them than the travel agents near the beach.
- We went for elephant trekking with Nosey Parker on our first day. Instead of the advertised 800 baht which we saw on Nosey Parker's website and brochures, they managed to book it for us at 550 baht.
- For the 4 island tour and 8 island tour (Phi Phi island and Maya Bay), we got it at 750 baht each instead of 900/1000 baht.
- The airport transfer was only 450 baht

Would definitely recommend it. Great value.

The room is in fact big and the bathroom too but that's all this "budget" hotel has to offer. The woman at the front desk was rough and seemed to only smile at us when she's offering tour packages. Ants were everywhere in the room although we didnt have any food inside.
What irritated me more was the cleaning staff. They would come knocking at your door at around 9 am (since they don't have these notes you could hang on your doorknob) waking you up just to know if they could clean your room. That's not all, they would come again around 10:30 am shouting "Your room?" and once I was forced to get out of bed because they simply wouldnt understand that we wanted to be left alone. They do this every morning and what was so STUPID is, inspite the fact that we shouted and they knew we were still in the room, they still opened our door! I think for these people is cleaning more important than comfort of their guests. They need to be trained about hospitality. After this morning disturbance, they wouldn't come again in the afternoon to clean your room. Another minus point was the fact that reception was only open from 7am-9pm. After 9 pm, there's no one at the reception to contact in case of emergency.
We stayed on the third floor and there was no lift. We had to carry our baggages (20 kg each) ourselves. I also hated the fact that we had to take off our shoes at the entrance of the hotel or carry it to our room since they want to keep their lobby sparkling clean. My goodness! Cleanliness is good but they shouldn't be neglecting customer service.
They didn't even have a telephone in every room to make it easy for us to contact reception. Imagine taking these steps every time at a humid 32-degrees celsius-weather whenever you need something from the reception! I guess this J Hotel is really good for backpackers but nor for family and couples who want to enjoy a relaxing vacation. Room has no wifi, only at the lobby which was only till 9 pm since reception closes at 9 pm too.

Never again.

The hotel doesn't look that much from outside but the room we had was fantastic! We got a good deal online so our value for money was incredible! It quite honestly had the nicest bathroom I had had whilst travelling the whole of Thailand. The furishings in the room were all dark wood and the ceiling in the room was a real feature too. Great location in Ao Nang too, only 5 mins from beach. The staff were lovely too and helped us book the next leg of our journey with ease. Would definitely stay here again!

Rooms are very large and air-conditioned, well kept and clean. This is not a resort hotel, but does give you excellent value for money. Located on the main street, 3 minutes walk from the beach. As a bonus, before an evening flight back to Bangkok for an all-night connection, we were able to take a shower. The hotel also stored our luggage when we travelled to the islands - a real assistance.
Hotel front desk is very willing to help - arranged taxi to airport, recommended the best motorbike hiring (just down the road, 150 Baht for 24 hour rental).
No breakfast or meals provided - not a hardship in a town where food is available every 5 meters!