Mövenpick Asara Resort & Spa Hua Hin

The resort is a couple of kilometers from Hua Hin town center, situated directly at the sea. It has not really a beach, but you can reach the sea through some stairs easily to take a swim. The hotel has 2 pools, a quite one at the back of the hotel and the ocean front pool. Both are good, but we loved the ocean front pool the most. The pool is huge and has different levels, to accomodate all kind of swimmers. We had always stretchers available and people don't tend to "reservate" pool beds for an entire day without using them. So even if we came at the pool later in the morning of during the afternoon, we didn't face any problem to find a sun lounger. What a bliss! The Ocean Bar has good cocktails and smoothies and drinks are delivered to your sun lounger. What I appreciated a lot was the quiet atmosphere in the resort, the lagoon, the tropical plants and especially the low buildings (maximum 1 floor above ground level). This is really rare, most hotels have 20+ floors. The breakfast was fabulous, with everything what you could have wished for. Chocolate hour that was offered daily by the hotel was a big hit with my daughter! The hotel has 2 onsite restaurants. We ate twice lunch at Baan Dum and the food was great. In the evening, we went always to the center of Hua Hin, with the free shuttle of the hotel. This was very convenient. Don't forget to make the booking at the reception. The driver was a really good and very friendly. The room was spacious, beds were great and the bathroom huge. One little remark: drinks are rather expensive in the hotel, European price and up. But it's a 5star hotel and anyway, we are on holiday :) We stayed here for 5 nights and didn't want to leave! Recommended.

I loved staying here. Accor gold status was recognised with an upgrade to a Terrace Suite Lagoon View and, if (when) I stay here again, this room type would be my first choice. I loved lazing about out on the daybed on the terrace! The suites are huge and have impressive bathrooms. The turn-down service also includes lemongrass essential oil being heated, keeping mozzies away and making the room smell amazing. The only ket-down was that room service took a looooong time to arrive. I had several meals due to falling ill during my stay, and each took over an hour (sometimes over 1.5 hours) to arrive. Meals also were not as described on the menu, perhaps due to lack of ingredients, but no information/warning was given when ordered. No such delays or mishaps occurred dining at the restaurants or by the pool. Overall, I would not hesitate to stay here again. It was luxurious and the pool spectacular. I was very well looked after, especially while I was ill, and I really appreciate the staff’s efforts to make sure my stay was not just pleasant but outstanding.

This hotel is situated around 5 kms from Hua Hin and has excellent rooms and verdant gardens. But that is not enough for a five-star rated resort in Thailand where service is generally not far short of perfect. The breakfast provided was mediocre and like night compared to day relative to the Movenpick BDSM Resort in Bangkok where we previously stayed. There were insufficient staff and, on the first day, we had to clean our own table. We did not especially enjoy the greasy fried fish, undercooked kidney beans, or chicken skin and vegetable stew. The coffee was, however, excellent. On arriving at our accommodation, we were greeted by hordes of over hungry mosquitoes which was a disaster. There was fortunately a nearby 7-Eleven shop which sells insect spray, but it took two fumigations and a couple of hours outside the accommodation to resolve the problem. The 7-Eleven store is also a good place to purchase mineral water (€0.50 for 1.5 litres) if, like us, you find the free supply of bottled tap water is insufficient for your needs. The welcome plate of fruit and pastries provided was, however, delightful. Be aware that there is actually no real beach at this beach resort. During low tide, the beach is accessible via an unstaffed derelict step-way from the swimming pool area and many guests, including those with children, do go down despite red flags at the entrance. Staff told us that accidents have occurred yet no action has so far been taken. The hotel is the only property on the strip that does not have functioning steps to the beach. There are also too few beds and umbrellas in the swimming pool area which means that guests hurry down relatively early to bag their places. Even with a 70% occupancy rate, all spaces were normally taken by 9.30 am. The biggest problem at this hotel is that they operate the Baan Dum seafood restaurant as both part of the hotel and as a facility open to outside visitors. Consequently, there is separate road access for non-hotel guests. At the same time, there are two large open gates from this road into the hotel that are wholly unstaffed, which perhaps explains the theft reported in a recent review. This deficiency has serious security implications and needs to be sorted immediately. The hotel undoubtedly has massive potential but it needs more staff, especially staff who speak at least a little English. The waiting time at the Baan Dum restaurant was for us dire and not the fault of the two obviously exhausted friendly waitresses who were run off their feet. As an Accor platinum cardholder, this was also the first time in Thailand that I was told that the standard welcome drink includes only a mocktail or soft drink. Beer actually costs only around €0.50 a con and Thai wine is not overly expensive - the hotel could and should therefore do better. The food and beverage prices in the hotel are overly expensive and many guests therefore use outside restaurants like the excellent nearby Laciana by the Sea.

great place to visit, we shopped for several hours there and had a wonderful meal. busy and reasonably priced products. range is mainly clothing and food. Not much in the way of electronic equipment, etc, but the clothing was good quality and well priced.

Wonderful throughout. We had a beautiful private pool villa. Staff were exceptional throughout the resort, professional and friendly with great service. Food was excellent in both restaurants. The spa was a highlight, really professional.