Saturdays Residence by Brown Starling in Rawai

This hotel looks very modern and luxurious. We booked a family room which comes with ensuite kitchen (fully furnished) and two master bedrooms. Absolutely fitting for a family of four. However, such a modern theme also comes the downsides of poor lightings and illumination when the night falls.

What could have been a pleasant stay was made worse because of mosquitoes within the premises!!! We lost count of the number of mosquitoes that we killed. Absolutely no idea where the mosquitoes were from, how they kept coming and why they frequently lurk in the bathroom and bedrooms.

Why we gave a one-star for cleanliness — Not to exaggerate, but in just an hour upon checking in, my son was bitten at least six times on his legs. My second son also had a swelling in his ear on the third day that was so bad that I had to bring him to the hospital due to perichondritis (it’s common knowledge that young kids can be more prone to swelling from mosquito bites as a result of over-sensitivity, but this was way too serious). This was despite all the mosquito repellents that we sprayed in the rooms, including using the electronic repellents that the hotel provided to plug in the bedrooms. We have an average of 3-4 mosquito bites each day after all the killings, with the first day the worst. We stayed a total of 4 days and 3 nights, so the mosquito problem is quite bad. We should have taken a video of 4-5 mosquitoes hanging around outside of the balcony’s window and trying to fly into the room 555…

The hotel is also 30-40mins away from the Old Phuket Town, so for those who wants to go to the beaches and old town, this place is slightly out of the way. We booked here primarily because we rented a car, it was on discount (and looked good), and we don’t mind staying and chilling in the room whole day. Which is why, the mosquito problem was such a terrible experience for us…