Hotel berhampiran Ao Thian, Koh Samet

First, I chose Koh Samet because I asked a local Thailand friend which island has not been overdeveloped since my early days coming to Thailand in the 1990s. His response was ”head to Koh Samet”. I looked for a value hotel on one of the more southern, less developed beaches which led me to Wong Duean Bay and the Vongdeuan Resort. The pool was a big draw. With the low tide being pretty extreme, it is really nice to have the salt water pool to cool off in and swim laps. The food seemed pretty authentic to me. With mainly Thai visitors coming in on the weekends it figures the food would be good at the Vongdeuan Resort. :) The staff were wonderful and always so fun to share a story or two with. The beach area all along the bay was extremely clean with no plastic on the beach or garbage in the water. This is a big plus when going to the shore in SE Asian countries. There are several beach restaurants but none of them had loud music, at least during the weekdays when I was there. It is definitely a sleepy and peaceful place to enjoy the water at high tide as well as the white sand beach for walks.

I'm a professional travel agent and travel expert. I inspect hotel throughout Asia for 6 months already. Big hotel chains has hosted me for a reviews in media in my country. Bofore leaving Thailand I decided to spend some time on a beautiful beach Ao Cho of Samet Island. That's the most beautiful beach here with clear cristal waters and white sand. The resort itself is very old, Iean The Grand View Ao Cho redort which manages Tropical Samet Resort. And Tropical Samet Resort is a newly built part of it. The construction looks very good, but only looks. It is very bad done in details. I stay on a standard room on th second floor. Good bed, no furniture at all. No table, no any chair. So you will not be able to work eith your notebook for some time if you need. The shower is only the wall shower. So when you walk in from the beach you can not only just wash your legs off the sand, you gonna need take your all body shower. It's very inconvenient. For ladies especially, there is only one mirror in the bath room and there is no light to see your face appropriately. So, forget about making a good makeup. There's no safebox in the room. Pay attention to it! You will have to take all your valuables and belongins with you always! No any special place to allicate your luggage. No shelves. The good thing is that you sleep in a new bed. And the room is fresh. But it will be downgraded quickly because the quality of works is so poor. The locker in the door is electronic but it is shacking like it is broken. The restaurant of the resort is very expensive. And the service is very slow and bad. Today I had a dinner. There were only two tables occupied. I waited for my club sandwich for 30 mins. I also ordered hot latte and tgey brought me cappuccino. Ok, I decided to check and ordered latte again. Same. They brought me cappuccino, bitter cappuccino again. Although the restaurant has wide variety of coffee in the menu. And it's definitely supposed to understand the difference between latte and cappuccino. I waited for another cup of coffee 10 mins)) What could be easier to push the button in the coffee machine)) Also how come to mix ketchup and maionese? The chef, where are you from? Are you from far resorted village from the mountains in Thailand? For those travellers who wish to stay here and enjoy the best beach, the hotel is still in shape noting the fact that even bad bad resorts on the island are all full because of high demand now, I advise you to eat in a small cafe like a rasta-bar on the beach. The service is very quick, very delicious, even soups and 2 times cheaper then in the hotel restaurant. Have a safe and enjoyable travel.

The Samed Villa Resort must not be mistaken with the Samet Ville Resort. The latter is not the slightest in the same class as the Villa Resort. The renovated double bungalows are of the highest standards. Especially the bathrooms are of Swiss quality. The staff is very friendly, understands and speaks mostly English and is quick to serve any requests. The breakfast buffet has a lot of western dishes. The restaurant in general is delicious and not pricey at all. There are great options for lunch and dinner also nearby. There is a spa on the premises but also outdoor massage places under the trees on the sea side.

A little expensive.. But worth it. Great service from the staff. Well kept rooms and a great little pool for the kids. The breakfast was the best I've had on Samed for 20 years. The rooms very new and comfortable. They could improve by having satellite TV, but we are not there to watch the TV. Also they could buy some beach space for guests, but personally letting the kids swim km the pool, sand free, was better. Very close to eating areas but secluded enough to be romantic. The best resort in the area. We'll done guys.

Great location on the beach with everything you need 2 mins walk away. Great white sandy beaches. Lots of bars and restaurants which ever beach you walk to. Hire a scooter for an hour or a day and explore. Regular baht buses right outside hotel. Room was very modern with fan and air con. Nice big bathroom, bed on the firm side. Buffet breakfast nothing special with mix of Thai and European. This place however is very noisy at night with very loud music right up to midnight. Then very noisy again at 7.30am in the morning with all the staff shouting, builders arriving and breakfast starting. We had a very enjoyable couple of days and it's a great place to forget all your troubles.

Stayed at Avatara Resort Hotel from 8 to 10 December 2021. We booked a Triple Room, which was very spacious, clean and comfortable beds. Layout of the bathroom was awesome with full view of the jungle. Location is not bad just a walking distance to the Sai Kaew beach which was lively and vibrant at night, with many restaurants nearby. Unfortunately this multistory building has no lift or escalators and a long walk from the lobby and beach. Our room was on the 5th floor and climbing up those many stairs is a big problem especially for those with disabilities or older age. Path and corridors along the building are poorly lit. Breakfast by the beach is very popular with guests but service is poor. On our second day, my son found out that the fresh cold milk he had with cornflakes has gone bad. Brought to the attention of the staff who was quite reluctant and no apologies, Restaurant staff should have pay more attention to the quality of food served. Poor and unfriendly staff; no smile, no greetings and treated guests as if we are a liability to them. The staff was busy playing with their mobile phones and chatting with their colleagues rather than paying attention to the hotel guests. We need to approach them every time we needed to order and foods service are poor. Serviette and tissue paper are not provided with the food, have to asked for them.

I’ll start by saying that the hotel’s surroundings are breathtakingly beautiful. The beach is one of the best on the island - clean and tranquil. It made spending time in the hotel a delight. And overall, we had a really memorable time - which was enhanced by exploring the island on motorbikes every day (which you can rent from the hotel). However, there are a number of areas where there could be significant scope for improvement and which, if improved, could make this a much better class of hotel. These are primarily: 1. There was repeated miscommunication with the hotel staff, who generally-speaking (with the exception of one or two receptionists) have poor English. It would of course be unreasonable to expect everyone to speak perfect English; that’s not my criticism here. But what I will say is that a lack of common language between us and the hotel staff made asking questions, even simple ones, about our trip difficult and led to mistakes. 2. The food is really poor at the hotel restaurant, Breeze. We had expensive Thai food which was inedible in part and the only bad meal which we have had during our two week stay in Thailand. Until improved, I’d suggest going to other restaurants on the island - Banana Bar is a real highlight. 3. The rooms which we were first shown to were unacceptably far away from the main hotel and up a number of flights of steps. We asked to change and were moved with no questions asked, which was a great result for us. We thought the hotel dealt with that issue brilliantly. We wondered how often they had encountered this issue having shown people to those rooms. And to be honest, those rooms shouldn’t really be hired out at all unless it is for a serious discount and it’s made clear to guests when they book. 4. Parts of the hotel feel unloved and a bit neglected to be honest - I don’t want to be too harsh here as it may be that the hotelier hasn’t been able to put as much money back into the resort following COVID and it’s aftermath. In particular, the room showers could do with an update. And generally there is an outdated feel to the hotel which could do with being modernised - the furniture in the common parts, the shower by the pool, etc. For the reasons above and taking into account the price paid for our stay, I would give Ao Prao three stars, but my lasting feeling is that with a bit more money, love and attention to detail, it could become a four or five star in the future.

First visit to Koh Samet and feel very lucky to have chosen this resort- in the middle of everything but yet situated on the beach.. room clean and well serviced. Staff in the dining room good and we got very lucky as one guy became ‘our man on site’ and was more than helpful with my husband who needed some assistance with steps etc. we will return and perhaps upgrade to a delux room which looked amazing

Beautiful beach front hotel and all hotel staff are really amazing, very friendly and helpful. Appreciated for all their efforts to make our stay perfectly. The services and amenities should be 4 stars standard instead of 3 stars. Thank you very much and we would definitely stay again in the future

The hotel has mini villa type rooms, each with a good-sized balcony to enjoy the beautiful foliage planted all around. The rooms are large, airy, sp****, and super clean. Bathroom size is good too, and all amenities are provided. The bed is one of the softest ones I've ever slept on. Absolutely loved it! Check-in and check-out was smooth, the staff is warm. There's a shortcut which takes you to the main Sai Kaew Beach in a minute's walk. It is also easily walkable (15 mins) from the main ferry pier (Nuan Thip). The hotel did not have a restaurant yet (which we knew before booking), but I did see some construction going on, so they could be adding one in the future, But there's plenty of restaurants on the beach, so no worries there. We had an immensely satisfactory and comfortable stay. Would recommend to all travelers.