It was the ultimate Patong opening: lip-synching ladyboys galumphing around the stage, tiny skirts (on girls and boys alike) and big fronts (on the ladyboys, mostly), volume cranked up, crowds of passers-by rubbernecking to see what was going on, free drinks, balloons, flowers and an opening ceremony presided over by the deputy mayor and the deputy police chief of Phuket’s Big Play Pen.

The grand Andara Resort has now opened on Millionaires’ Mile in Kamala, following a well-established model whereby developers build villas and apartments, sell them, and then – when the owners are not in residence – rent them out by the night to tourists.

The latest Absolute property is the Nakalay Beach Resort in Phuket, which opened officially on January 27. Halfway between Patong and Kamala, on the west coast.

Three resorts in Phuket appear is this year’s Condé Nast Traveler magazine Gold List, which lists the “best places to stay in the world, selected by the readers”.

This is a great place to watch the sun dive into the sea. On the evening the Observer was there, a gleaming gin palace to slide across the face of the bay as the sun sank behind it. Sitting in comfort on the classy restaurant terrace with a good cold Mojito to hand, it’s possible to image that this is something the management arranges every night just to add to the sunset experience.

Cape Sienna, the chic cliff-top resort on Millionaires’ Mile, Kamala, is the most romantic hotel in Asia, and the fourth-most romantic in the world, according to the 2010 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice survey.

New Cloud 19 boutique hotel on the west coast of Cape Panwa.

Andara Resort & Villas, the recently opened resort element at the Andara villa development in Kamala, is already drawing rave reviews, despite being a month or so away from its official opening.

The Mangosteen Resort in Rawai has signed a management agreement with Netherlands-based Golden Tulip Hospitality Group.

There was a time when visitors to Phuket would go to the Siray area, east of Phuket Town, for just one reason: to catch the big ferry to Phi Phi. Now Koh Siray has snagged its first five-star international hotel brand, with the opening of the Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa in March next year.