We stayed at garden villa for two weeks just at the beginning of the high season. Overall the hotel was a very positive experience. Nice and very friendly staff (they were particulary friendly to our young kids!), spotlessly clean public areas, beautiful location. A few things to consider, though: If you wish to dine outside the hotel area, there's basically only one restaurant within a reasonable walking distance, the Memories Bar. However, the hotel restaurants are good and the Memories Bar excellent. Nearest minimarket is some 2km away. The hotel has a shuttle bus service to Khao Lak village. The villa area seemed nicer than the main area, I'd expect the main pool area to feel a bit crowded during high season. The villa guests enjoy a separate really nice pool area as well as separate breakfast restaurant. The beach is very beautiful with stunning sunsets and definitely not crowded but it's not most suitable for swimming due to waves. Our kids liked to swim in the pool and play in the beach so not a big problem. Perhaps our biggest issue was that there was a strongish mouldy smell in the wardrobes, we actually even changed the first villa due to that (nicely handled by the staff, though!). The second one was a bit better but there's just not enough ventilation for these extremely moist conditions. The villa cleanliness was otherwise perfect.
