Feedback is important

I know many people think that your comments on TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Expedia or direct to us or other hotels are ignored, but here at Mook Lanta Eco Resort, we are always keen to listen to people's ideas.

Whilst we cannot act on every request, we do on many, or we come up with a better solution.

This has really helped us in the past:

- We bought toppers for the mattresses for those who like a softer bed.
- We added more mirrors to the rooms.
- We helped our guests recycle their used toys, toiletries etc with other guests.
- We limit the bar times, to ensure our guests get a good night sleep.
- We choose the tours we recommend, SOLELY on your feedback.
- We have added additional fans to rooms.
- We have improved the curtains in the fan bungalows.
- And we have fixed problems that we could not know about unless we slept in each room.

So this week, we listened to the request, by guests of more electric sockets in the rooms. But with every request we look at what people want and why and try to come up with the best solution. Most people want extra sockets to charge their phones and tablets, which all have a USB cable. So instead of just adding extra sockets to the rooms, we have bought electric sockets which also have a USB plug (so no need for a Universal plug) and offer more than enough sockets for all your devices.

Your feedback is really important to us, as there is no way we can sleep in every room, use every toilet and see what you see. Please do not be shy and tell us what would make your stay better. We cannot guarantee we will do it, but we will look into it.

Island Life!

So Saturday was an interesting day.

Nick and I had taken Friday evening off and headed to Krabi for a well earned break. Heading back to Koh Lanta, we get the dreaded text.... the electric meter had blown up!

Our burnt out Electric Meter!

Unfortunately living on an island in Thailand, this is not an unusual happening, but in the middle of high season, right in the middle of breakfast, it is the last thing we need.

Gin, our Hotel Manager and our staff leapt into action, calling the electric company out and turning on our emergency water supply (our water pump needs electricity to drive water to the rooms). By the time we returned at 10:30am the Electricity company had reconnected us!

Next to go was the Transformer

Then we hear a 'BOOM'........ and that was the transformer!

Unfortunately, our electric here is not as stable as elsewhere in the world and this had lead for the Government transformer supplying us and a few businesses near us to blow up! This is the 3rd time I have seen this happen on Lanta!

Now we had a real issue, we had no transformer and the nearest one was in Bangkok (12 hours drive away!). But Gin explained to the Electric Company how essential it was to our guests that they had electricity (and water!) and they agreed to send over a generator for the night and the morning, until the new transformer arrived.

The Generator that we were so delighted to see!

We anxiously waited, worried that the generator would take a long time to arrive and be very noisy, but we need not have worried, it arrived by 6pm and by 6:30pm there were cheers throughout the resort as all the lights and air conditioning came to life!

The next day as promised the new transformer arrived and was installed quickly and easily.

Our new Transformer

Big thanks to the Electricity Company for working so hard to get us running again and big thanks to Gin (for her tough negotiating skills!), Ya (for constantly trying to ensure guests had water), Teng (for ensuring all the customers knew the situation), Tar and Pi Deng (for delivering breakfast with no electricity!), Sao, Kai 1 and Kai 2 (for sending the laundry out that day, cleaning the rooms with little water and doing a mountain of washing the next day) and of course all the guests (who took the whole thing in their stride, enjoyed the free beers and cooled off on the beach).

Replacing the Transformer

It can be tough sometimes living on a tropical island, but it can also make everyone pull together!

Safety 'Thai Style' keeping the 3 phases of electric separated by water bottles!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

In our continued effort to reduce waste, we are helping our guests share the toys, beach mats, toiletries etc with each other.

We are now collecting the items our guests do not want to take home with them but may still be of use to someone else and enabling other guests to use them.

The kids are loving the idea, sharing each other's games, lilos, bucket and spades.

But the adults are enjoying it too, many guests have kindly left their beach mats and umbrellas for others to use.