The Slate Phuket Celebrates Four Decades of Visionary Hospitality
Iconic hotel The Slate, Thailand, celebrates 40 years in 2026. Here’s why it’s so distinctive.
On the northern shore of Phuket, beside Nai Yang Beach and Sirinat National Park, The Slate stands as an extraordinary paradox: part industrial dreamscape, part tropical reverie. Here, steel meets silk, heritage meets avant-garde, and every detail hums with the creative vision of its owners Wichit Na Ranong and his daughter Khun Moo, and brought to life by landscape designer, Bill Bensley, the man who turned hospitality into high art.
The story began in 1986 with the modest Pearl Village Hotel, long before Phuket was fashionable. Four decades and two transformations later; first as Indigo Pearl, now as The Slate, the resort has emerged as a design dreamscape, steeped in the island’s tin-mining past yet entirely modern in its sensibility.
Nestled on the shores of Nai Yang beach, The Slate plays tribute to Phuket’s past through the painstaking artistry of Bensley, manifesting the owning family’s rich tin mining history with the island’s true soul.
Decadent suites mix exposed beams, polished concrete and custom furniture and fittings to bring the owners’ legacy to life. There are 8 restaurants and bars including the Michelin-recommended Black Ginger, which floats atop its own lake and is accessible by rope-pulled raft. Facilities include Coqoon Spa, KRU Precision Wellness, three outdoor pools, two tennis courts, a full gym, Heliconia Flower Gallery, The Wine Room, Tin Box Kids Club, The Stockroom onsite boutique; and Shades Gallery, a collaborative art space which promotes cultural exchanges through art and fashion.
Perfect for weddings and events
Weddings and events are well catered for, with state-of-the-art meeting rooms and expansive spaces. The Slate Phuket has a reputation for creating incredible events including BOLD gastronomic journeys that encourage guests to Be Original, Lighthearted and Daring, making it the best place to see and be seen on Thailand’s largest island.
Step inside the property and it’s clear The Slate is unlike any other property in the meetings, conferences, incentives and exhibitions market. There are no cookie-cutter corporate layouts. Instead, vast open spaces are framed by sculptural ironwork, burnished timber, and lush greenery. The 550-square-metre Tongkha Hall, all sleek lines and pillarless grandeur, feels as much like an art gallery as a ballroom. Above it, the Jomon Pavilion with its high vaulted ceiling is bathed in natural daylight, perfectly sized for smaller gatherings. Across the grounds, the Coliseum Lawn and its five-tiered Coliseum Steps cascade down to a permanent stage. An open-air amphitheater where creative visions find their audience.
The Slate is a resort where an executive summit might become a sunset gala, a product launch might turn into a fashion show, and a meeting could just as easily end in moonlight cocktails at dinner at Black Ginger.
Sustainability and style
But this is more than beauty for beauty’s sake. The Slate’s soul lies in its storytelling and in its conscience. Sustainability is incorporated into the language of luxury lifestyle. The guest rooms have sustainability built into their walls. Plastic has been removed from the guest experience, food waste is transformed into compost for the resort’s lush gardens and refillable amenities and ceramic mugs have replaced disposable comforts. There’s even a worm farm and a mechanical composter, both emblematic of the resort’s commitment to close the loop between indulgence and integrity. The hotel is mindful of energy and water consumption, EV charging points are on the horizon and local ingredients grown, caught or crafted in Thailand anchor the menus.
At its heart, The Slate operates on the belief that design should be both dazzling and responsible. Sustainability, when done with grace, is simply another form of responsible elegance. Of course, none of it would work without the human touch. Behind every seamless event is a team of planners and dreamers who treat logistics as choreography. Whether it’s a board retreat for ten or a celebration for a hundred, the hotel’s event pros curate every moment with quiet precision and passionate flair, the kind that never announces itself, yet is felt in every detail.
Island lifestyle
And when the big occasion or final meeting concludes, there’s the other side of The Slate: a lifestyle destination that invites you to linger. Guests dine at Black Ginger, the resort’s celebrated restaurant with a memorable arrival experience floating over a candlelit lagoon, while at Coqoon Spa, a sensual signature of woven nests and natural therapies provides the ultimate in serenity. Beyond the gates, the village of Nai Yang offers another rhythm entirely with local beach bars, restaurants, convenience stores and the easy pulse of Thai island life.
Browse dates at The Slate, Nai Yang Beach, Phuket.
For group bookings and inquiries please email reservations@theslatephuket.com.
