Thailand has long been on the list of travelers and sea lovers. The pristine beaches and bounties of nature in the form of forests, caves and more are always inviting and tempting for people who want to take a break from city life and spend some time to heal in the lap of nature.
The Krabi province, on the west coast of southern Thailand, is one such attractive tourist spot. Overlooking the blue waters of the Andaman Sea and offering exclusive accommodation on this part of the island is the luxurious and elegant Pimalai Resort & Spa, Koh Lanta, Krabi. Offering personalized service, the spacious and sprawling property provides complimentary round-trip transfer from Krabi Airport to the resort.
The Foundation
The land that Pimalai is sitting on was intended to be just a retirement home. The founder of Pimalai and the owner of the land discovered this little paradise and fell in love with the land. The land was perfect for touring his dreamed sailboat, perfect sand quality and he thought that the land has the perfect Feng Shui: water in the front and mountain at the back. However, he wanted to preserve the land full of nature as much as possible so he decided to build a high-end environment-friendly resort instead so that he can still keep the land and preserve the environment. As a result, operating in a sustainable way is Pimalai’s guide in everything that it does even today.
Serene View
The setting of Pimalai and its friendly staff is what makes it unique. Out of 1.1 km Ba Kan Tiang Beach, which is one of the most beautiful beaches on Koh Lanta, Pimalai covers 900 meters already. So, the guests can always feel that they are on a private beach. Pimalai has 121 units of accommodation that are spread over 100 acres of land in the beautiful landscape that allows almost all of the suites and villas to have a clear ocean view. Nestled in a lush tropical forest, rooms at Pimalai offer a private balcony that overlooks the beautiful surroundings. Decorated with rich Thai fabrics and rattan curtains, rooms are air-conditioned and feature a polished teak wood floor. And because they treat the staff like family members and because many of them have been with the resort for a long time, the services that they provide to the guests are genuine. The staff are happy, content, and proud to always go and deliver the extra mile.
The guest experience is always unique. Pimalai is large enough to cater to all markets (couples, honeymooners, celebrations, families, and groups). They have their own boats for transfer and for island excursions which allows them to offer tours in Lanta National Marine Park during the off-peak time and avoid other tourists. Koh Lanta National Park has one of the most beautiful snorkel and scuba diving spots in Thailand and this is the place that ocean lovers cannot miss. Easier tours such as sightseeing cruises and visiting Old Town Lanta can also be arranged. Adventure seekers can enjoy hiking and waterfall on Koh Lanta.
Embracing Technology
The Resort has worked on Pimalai mobile application where guests can always communicate with the administration in their own language and the app can automatically translate it to English or Thai for the staff. Guests can order their services through the app and receive all information on what’s going on at the resort. They can even pre-order their food (either room service or at Pimalai’s restaurant) and the food will be ready for them when they arrive. A lot of technology that they use is to automate many processes on the backend so that they can free the people from manual work to give better services to the guests.
A Holistic Destination
The Pimalai resort is organically a holistic destination by itself. The setting that one feels like living in a jungle with a white sandy beach in front of them is serene. The scents of the ocean and the mountain allow the guests to be connected with nature all the time. The award-winning spa can help the guests to fully relax and de-stress. As one travels to learn new experiences, so the resort offers Southern Thai cuisine at its Spice N’ Rice Restaurant and different classes to learn new skills including Thai cooking, massage class, exercise classes such as yoga, aerial yoga, TRX, and Muay Thai. The resort offers several leisure facilities. Guests are able to lounge by the infinity-edge pool while enjoying the sea breeze and a cool drink or play a game of tennis at the courts available. It also has a fully equipped fitness center and library, as well as activities that include cycling and sea sports. The resort features 3 restaurants to satisfy guests’ appetites. Signature Thai dishes are served at Rak Talay and Spice and Rice, while Western cuisines can be sampled at Seven Seas.
Since 2001, Pimalai Resort has received many awards and recognitions. The major ones are the recognition by Trip Advisor as the top 1% of the world’s best hotels every year since 2015 and these were based on real user reviews. They are part of the Considerate Collection by SLH with a quality score of 98%.
In the years to come, The Pimalai Resort and Spa see itself putting more focus on sustainability not just in term of the environment but also in term of its stakeholders (staff, business partners, shareholders) and also the community. Because of the distinct climate change, people are well aware that they need to do something to protect the environment and many attempts are trying to fix what was destroyed, which is extremely difficult. The administration wants to work on preserving and preventing problems from happening and support National Park and conservationist on various projects to preserve nature as well as educate locals and tourists to travel sustainably. And not only that they look after the well-being of the guests, but they also have to look at the well-being of the staff too. Their living conditions (most live in the resort’s dormitory), their food and drinks are well taken care of, and lastly, their training programs so that they can always improve themselves.
