On arrival to Phuket (4 nights ago) we stayed at the Poppa Palace. This was pre-booked through Asiarooms and cost 1550Bt a night with breakfast (although did not eat this .so can't comment). It is a small hotel with pleasent staff, small pool, a lift and firm bed mattress.
There was really no down side to this hotel apart from when I asked about extending stay they wanted 1900Bt a night despite knowing I could book on internet cheaper
We looked around for something more Guest house style than hotel. (we have stayed at both the Merlin Beach and Coral Beach hotels before and whilst beautiful they offer a lot of things we don't use) We found Nine Ten Mansion which looked great. The rooms have wood panelling and tiled floors. The price was 1000Bt a night with free WiFi access. The the bad stuff started:
The mattress was as hard as rock - so bad we hardly slept and I woke with a sore back.
The room smelt of toilet drain and became quite offensive (especially as we had not used the toilet).
The Aircon was loud and the temp setting did not work very well.
The WiFi needed to have the DNS settings entered on the computer and the staff did not know this so asked the computer shop next door - he had obvoiusly been asked to sort this out before because he knew the settings by memory - no problems, nice chap, Next day hotel tried to charge me 100Bt for his service (cheap but not my problem). After 2 nights we left.
Have now found the FERB Guest house and are staying our first night. Clean and tidy. Shower not very strong but works well off it's own heater. Aircon is quite even has silent setting for night use) - there is also a fan. Room safe, TV. Bed mattress is firm but not rock. Fridge is well stockedbut pleanty of space for own stuff. Room we have is very large. Internet is via ethernet cable (provided) so those who don't have WiFi can still plug in. The cost is 800Bt which seems great. We looked at at least 10 places at this is certainly the best value we found. The restaurant also looks good and fair priced (110 - 200Bt for a main) and we are giving it a go tonight.
Sorry if this sounds like an add but may be useful to others - if nothing else avoid Nine Ten Mansion (oh and the hot water often ran out).