Phuket weekend getaway part 1: Review of Holiday Inn Resort Phuket

Just back fr a weekend escapee! All thanks to le bf for an anniversary pamper trip! ;-) Feeling really rejuvenated even though it was really short - 3D2N. 

Phuket is really near by flight. Only abt 2 hrs. It has became somewhat over-commercialised with the influx of tourists from the Middle East and China. Still, it's worth a short holiday getaway! The cost is reasonable too. Perhaps $300-$400 could get u 2 nights and a budget round trip flight, depending on what sort of hotel you stay of course.

Le bf travels a lot for work. Due to this, he attained platinum status for the Holiday Inn chain of hotels for all those work trips he attended. Staying at their hotels allow him to clock points for free stay. The resort threw in a free upgrade after assessing his membership status. This gave us a free upgrade to their Busakorn Villa from... Studio room or something. Lucky me! 

The "villa" is actually a unit of a row of two story building. There are 2 blocks of these villas, with a private pool in the middle, restricted usage to the villas' guests. If you stayed on the first floor's unit, you can walk out to the pool. There are other room types in Holiday Inn Phuket Resort at the main wing and a side wing that have more units than the villas' section.

Here's an image from my 2nd story unit of the private pool below. You can roughly tell there are not that many villas. My unit was the first unit at the starting end of the block.

We also got a welcome fruit basket and unlimited free minibar drinks:

The room has 2 "sections", mainly the bedroom with a day bed and balcony, and a section with the washroom, the toilet, a dressing table and a washing basin (much like a walk-in wardrobe). 

Pictures of the Holiday Inn Busakorn Villa room:

King bed:

Day bed at the other end of the room:

Basin area with shower room at the side:

Vanity table with toilet at the side:

One of my main highlight for the trip is my  spa treatment at The Aspara spa, located right at Holiday Inn. According to my half day tour guide, the spa is regarded one of the best Spas in Phuket! The Body Bliss package I had consist of a 30 mins scrub, a 60 mins Swedish massage and a 60 mins heavenly facial. And guess what? There was a one-for-one promo when I was there! So this package for one person works out to only abt $84 for a 2.5hr treat, which is an indulgence at a steal!!! Lol! I'm a fan of overseas spa indulgence experience!

A side note - you don't have to spend a bomb on lodging to enjoy Phuket. This is the third time I'd visited Phuket. I had stayed in budget boutique hotel and 3 stars unknown hotel in the past and those trips were equally memorable.

I will blog more abt stuff at Phuket in the next entry.