The Surin Phuket is a beautiful resort, which had some hiccups. I called the housekeeping to resolve the problem (1-3 below), which failed to be resolved by them. Issue are:
1. Ants: Our cottage was an ants' war zone. Ants were everywhere.
2. Toilet: Our cottage's toilet was hard to flush and made me go thru the vicious cycle (Push down the lever->failure to flush->I wait till the water tank fills up->push down the lever...) It often took me 15+ minutes to flush the toilet.
3. Shower water: The shower had either cold or hot water. No warm water. My wife and I were okay with the cold water. But, it was too cold for my 21 month old son.
4. Life guards: Waves at the Surin beach are much stronger than Kata and Karon. I knew the waves were strong (especially much stronger during the monsoon season, when I was there). I body-boarded far out, and the waves carried me farther away from the shore. When I realized how far out I was, and it wasn't easy for me to go back to the shore, I just panicked.. I screamed for help and waved my hands in the air, but life guards were busy chatting with each other. I was lucky enough to make it back to the shore by myself. I was responsible for my actions. But, I expect life guards pay attention to people out in the ocean especially when I am the ONLY person out in the water.
There are a lot of stairs! Probably not suitable for older (70+) folks & people w/ knee problems.
However, the Surin Phuket truly is a beautiful resort!