Anyone have any experience with the “Expat Hotel” in Patong Phuket? My wife and I will be in Patong mid January ’04. We have not been to Phuket in years, and never in peak season. We were  shocked at the prices of accommodations I’ve found online.  We need to find “economical” accommodations and came across the “Expat Hotel”. 1090 Baht/night for room with fan. Simple accommodations are fine with us. As long as it’s clean, safe and walking distance to the beach and restaurants. We generally don’t book hotels in advance if we haven’t stayed there before, but I have the feeling Patong hotels will be pretty booked-up in January. Any info anyone could share would be greatly appreciated.

1090 a night....that is way over the top. I stayed in the Expat the first time i went to Phuket years ago. Found it very noisy and the rooms very basic.

Try the Regent Hotel on Rat-U-Thit road near the 7UP shop and about 100 yards from Club Andaman. It's clean, quiet, aircon and massive beds :-) and I stayed there for 600 a night last November and will be there again this year. email [email protected]  No pool, but you don't need one when the beach is only 200 yards away.

Don't accept their first price. Whatever they quote you, just say, you can get the same sort of room for 2 or 300 baht cheaper down the road. They'll come down :-)

Have a look at www.phuket.com too