Phuket's oldest hotel the On On Hotel has recently (2013) re-opened under a new name - The Memory at On On. Curious to see how they had handled the renovation work I stopped by to take a look, planning to have a 'colonial' coffee break, sadly there was no coffee shop although it seems there will be soon in the shop house next door. (Watch this space!)
The ground floor space had a old fashioned feel to it, with the open roof that is typical of the Sino-Portuguese architecture and beautiful pale blue shutters around the main stairs and hallways.
In 1929 when the On On Hotel first opened to serve international traders arriving in Phuket it had only 5 rooms, this later expanded to 30 rooms and now has 49 rooms. The rooms were simple and offered everything from a dormitory sleeping 4, to twin rooms and suites, so the Hotel can boast prices from 500 to almost 6,000 Baht. The rooms were not luxury like the 5 star hotels along the coast but they retained the image of what you would expect of the old style hotel.
Close to the dormitory rooms there was a laundry area for guests to do their own laundry and a kind of kitchen area for guests to make their own tea and coffee.
The reception area still had the two original staircases and there were a few antique suitcases and typewriters around. The tiled floors were the original imported tiling that is common to the mansions in Phuket such as Chinpracha House
To summarise I felt the suite rooms were a bit over priced considering the facilities the Hotel has to offer but if you are a group of four on a budget the dormitory is a good answer. I guess it lacks the Colonial style of places like Raffles in Singapore or the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang.
Close to the dormitory rooms there was a laundry area for guests to do their own laundry and a kind of kitchen area for guests to make their own tea and coffee.
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