Review: Amari Phuket + Onyx Rewards Status Match

The Amari Phuket, part of the Onyx Hospitality Group, offers an expensive but excellent stay in Phuket. I stayed at this property in mid-February, and had a relaxing experience. All-in-all, I would absolutely recommend this hotel.

Booking / Status Match with Onyx Rewards

I booked this hotel using a publicly available coupon for the travel industry, which gives you 50% off the best available rate and an upgrade to the renovated part of the resort. The hotel also gave me complimentary club access, which was a highlight of the property. I booked the hotel through the Amari website. Amari has a frequent guest program, called Onyx Rewards. At the highest tier, Platinum, you receive things such as early check-in, late check-out, a welcome amenity, and more importantly, club access.

Onyx Rewards offers a status match program, including to Platinum. To take advantage of the status match program, email contact@onyx-rewards.com with the following:

• Recent hotel competitor account summary email;
• A scan/photo of your competitor membership card (virtual card worked fine for me);
• A confirmed booking made directly with a participating Onyx hotel (provide the confirmation number), and;
• Your Onyx Rewards membership number.

I matched my Hilton Diamond status and was granted Onyx Platinum status within a couple days.

The Hotel

The Amari Phuket is located a short tuk-tuk ride away, or maybe a 15-20 minute walk to the central part of Phuket. The hotel is located in a secluded area, so it’s outside the bustle of Phuket city, but near enough to enjoy the town on short notice. However, the property is located up a steep hill, and the property itself is hilly, meaning that a tuk-tuk is pretty much necessary to get back to the hotel from Phuket, and you need to use a buggy to get to different areas of the hotel. While it’s annoying to wait for the buggies to get anywhere, if you’re located in the renovated part of the hotel, the Ocean Wing, you pretty much need to use them. They come quickly, usually within 5 minutes of being called.

We were located in the following room type: “OCEAN WING: One Bedroom Suite Ocean Facing”. I took a look at the non-renovated rooms, which are attached to the lobby, pool, etc. While close to the hotel’s amenities, they looked rather drab and lacked any decent view. Our room had an absolutely stunning view:

When we got to our room, we were given an elaborate welcome amenity – something new appeared in our room every afternoon of the trip:

The room itself was a suite, with a bedroom, living room, and a small kitchenette. I didn’t take any pictures of the room (sorry). There’s nothing particularly interesting about the room though – comfy bed, good air conditioning, great views, and so-so shower/bathroom (kind of dirty, bad shower pressure). The hotel does not purify the tap water, so you have to get complimentary water which is replenished daily and delivered to your room on request.

This is not an all-inclusive hotel. There are a couple restaurants at the property, though the only one I can recommend is La Gritta, the Italian restaurant on the beach. Restaurants at resorts tend to be pretty crappy, but La Gritta was phenomenal and had the best mushroom risotto I’ve ever had. Room service is also reasonably priced at the hotel, and some of the items are catered by La Gritta, so definitely look at that if you’re feeling lazy. The Thai cuisine at the hotel was as expected – meh. Note that pricing of food/beverages is equivalent to Toronto pricing – you are not getting local/cheap pricing at the Amari.

To my knowledge, there are three pools on the property – one located by the lobby, one in the old section of the hotel, and one at the club. The one by the lobby should be your go-to if you don’t have club access. It’s not very crowded, located right beside a bar, and has stunning views. The pool in the old section of the hotel was kind of gross, with people running about, very crowded, and has uninteresting views. By far the nicest pool is located at the club – it’s almost like an infinity pool, has the best views on the property, is rarely busy, and there’s complimentary drink/towel service.

The club is located near the highest point of the resort. It has a daily happy hour, where they serve complimentary drinks and a high tea service. I’d recommend you arrive slightly early – for obvious reasons, the better tables get packed up quickly. During the day, there’s free nibbles and non-alcoholic drinks. The breakfast, which is included, is best served in the club – at other locations in the hotel, breakfast is buffet style, but at the club, it’s a la carte and quite yummy.

The Amari Phuket was great. Perfect location, far from the grit of Phuket but easily accessible if needed, good food, and great service. I’d caution that it’s not a resort for young people, with a low-key vibe. Would I go again? Probably not, since I wasn’t a fan of the Phuket area, but I’d highly recommend the hotel and am eager to visit other Amari hotels.