The Mercure Hideaway Resort in Bailan, 2km south of Lonely Beach, which, to my mind, tends to fall into the ‘Why stay here when there are better located alternatives?’ classification. And then I see the room rates and know the answer. It’s often much cheaper than other resorts of a similar standard.
3.9
1143 reviews
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(This score is based on the number of written reviews on booking sites since 1 November 2022. Because recent reviews are more relevant than those from many years ago.)
Some people are big fans of the Mercure brand and I am sure they won’t be disappointed. There’s good service and bright, airy rooms. But there is no aspect of this resort that really stands out as being truly 4 star and neither does it have an outstanding location which would thus elevate the resort onto any ‘must stay at’ list.
The interiors of the guest rooms and the standard of the staff as as good as you will find on the island. The rooms are all about soft furnishings, light wood and contemporary furniture. Maybe a bit too ‘Ikea’ for some.
The beach looks perfect at high tide, but looks a muddy, stony mess at low tide – as it is artificial. You won’t be doing much swimming in the sea. But fortunately the pool is large and the pool deck houses a couple of jacuzzis so you can watch the tide recede whilst relaxing with your loved one. And there are also the pool access rooms at the rear of the resort which have a nice lap pool.
Outside the resort you will be stuck for things to occupy you or spend money on. There are a handful of backpacker hut resorts plus a few roadside restaurants but no souvenir shops – other than a couple in the resort itself. That in itself could be a bonus for anyone wanting to avoid roadsides covered in shops selling souvenir junk.
But if you want a beach you can walk along at low tide. Or want to swim in the sea. Or want to easily be able to get to other beaches for a night out. Then there are better alternatives. But they can be nearly 50% more expensive.
Having said that, it’s a very good choice for a short, peaceful getaway. And when it’s often possible to grab a room during High Season for under 2,000 Baht/night it’s definitely value for money.
Worst Thailand hotel experience ever! 😞 - We had booked 4 nights, nonrefundable with our 4 year old child. On arrival we were informed about a big group having a celebration with a heads up it could give a little bit noise pollution. After checking into the room we smelt a odor of mold. As hotel was sold out, reception was not able to do anything about this at that moment. The next day there would be options. The hotel room did not meet the standard of Mercure hotels. Through the mattress you could feel the spiral. Besides that there were all kinds of dirty spots on the sheets. With the noise (far from being 'little' and this terrible mattresses our child could barely sleep that first night. You could feel the coil through the mattress. We complained about this with the reception. Meanwhile we went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. With 100+ guest the was only 1 stafmember clearing dirty tables and 2 'chefs' preparing 1 egg each at a time. After the attempts to get an 8 minute boiled egg, I gave up. On both times even the egg white was still partly liquid. Trays of food were practically empty and were hardly replenished. After putting our second complain with the manager she asked for a change to solve the problems.The manager indicated that it was not our problem but because of the low season a few staff members were send home. An attempt was made to improve sleeping comfort by placing a topper on the mattress, which did not help. The second night our child and us again had a worse sleep. The second day there was no improvement at breakfast. As a final solution the manager wanted to upgrade us to another room. Which we declined. After two miserable nights and the bad experiences at breakfast in the hotel we no longer had confidence in an acceptable solution. We would not let our holiday be ruined by this mismanagement of the Mercure staff. We checked out two nights earlier than booked in advance. With more than 80 euro per night in low season you may expect more than this rubbish.
M.
10/05/25
😀 - Very good hotel
Y.
01/05/25
Great place . Clean tidy 😀 - Very nice property … big open areas private and quiet 😞 - Pools are hot !! lol
J.
25/04/25
😀 - There is no beach here and it’s far from everything or any quasi nice beach. The resort however is beautiful. I strongly recommend a pool villa it was gorgeous.
R.
17/04/25
😀 - This review has been hidden because it doesn't meet our guidelines. 😞 - None
C.
14/05/24
relaxing 😀 - amenities 😞 - water pressure problem and not always hot water, communication between staff has not always been up to standard, and created a bit of chaos for us, we notified them during our stay that we want to extend our stay but this has not been passed on to another members, so we decided not to extend our stay. Except of this small misunderstanding and mention above water issues, we are very happy with our stay
