iantdean
Google
The rooms are very nice and well appointed. As are the views, though there wasn’t much effort made in blocking out Kamala town from the view, which really isn’t very pleasant. All of the photo are conveniently angled so this prominent view cannot be seen. The bed has huge and perhaps the most comfortable I’ve ever slept on.||||Before booking I assessed the room options and decided the tent villa would be ideal for us, given the large amount of outdoor space, we typically enjoy. However despite the room plan we booked off, we were given a room with no Patio. In-fact the only tent villa without a Patio. Not only this, but our room was the only one with its side canvas down, which was at the parameter of the outdoor space. This made the outdoor space dark and enclosed. It felt like they were trying to hide us maybe because we were a gay couple. They tried to say that our room was special as it was the prototype. I’m not sure how a room that hadn’t ironed out its problems was of any advantage to us. They did offer to move rooms after 2 days, but they offered us a room, that due to the angle it faced, would get little sun on the patio we wanted, so it seemed pointless to pack and unpack for little benefit. When I pointed this out, they said the shadow was from the mountains, but we were at the top of the mountain and the shadow was clearly from the canvas covering and not the mountains at all, this irked me, but is a pretty much standard illogical argument you get in Thailand. After spending a week in Thailand you let those arguments go, and become passive with the system. It’s cathartic as it forces you to let go of control. But at the time of writing this review it’s only been 5 days so I’m not there yet. ||||We awaited a nest villa to become available and would pay for the upgrade , which has a considerable patio covering the entire breadth of the space . Sadly this room type never became available.||||We’re British, the majority of us holiday to get the sun which our home land lacks. Putting British people in a room without any access to sun is baffling. Especially as the hotel had 90% Arab guests, who spent most of their time avoiding it.||||Food was better than average. For a 5 star hotel, with 3 Michelin keys, at a $ rate that was twice as much I’d ever paid, I expected better than this. Breakfast was uninspiring, with the cold buffet serving exactly the same food every single day, with no variety with the exception of a few fruit changes. The hot a la carte breakfast, prioritised choice, over quality or accomplished dishes. For example, where better hotels might serve French toast with crème fresh and a berry compote, or waffles with deep friend chicken, here there was 1 dish, with either French toast, waffles or pancakes. That dish had 3 jugs of standard different sauces and a passion fruit smear and a caramelised banana, that wasn’t caramelised. I’d give breakfast 5 out of 10.||||Because we booked 5 consecutive nights we were offered a complimentary afternoon tea. The butler made it clear that 24 hours notice would be needed to book afternoon tea. When we tried to book it the same day, there was no flexibilit, and an insistence that 24 hours should be given. Most of the food was terrible. Cheap chocolate cake with avocado, and whilst this seems interesting, it added nothing to the cake besides colour. A raspberry macaroon which would have been nice, but was spoilt with the same cheap chocolate ganache that was in the cake. Scones came with what appeared to be single whipped cream and some wet watery strawberry stuff. There was a savoury bun with 2 peices of feta cheese and 2 half’s of a black olive inside and nothing else. There were lots of other forgettable petit fours. Needless to say afternoon tea was poor. It would have gotten 2 out of 10, had it not been for the mushroom vol-au-vent, which was exceptional. So on the whole i’d give afternoon tea 3.5 out of 10. ||||Dinner was better. Whilst nothing was outstanding, I enjoyed it all. 7 out of 10.||||Building works continued most of the day. No one warned of this, but it wasn’t too obnoxious.||||The staff were friendly, but I wouldn’t say anyone went above and beyond. They only adhered to the arbitrary rules and 24 hours notice to produce subpar food/||||Access around most of the facility was via golf buggy. There was an instagram video of a chap saying that the buggy drivers will take you everywhere including to the beach. This was not true. Not only did they refuse, but the golf buggy’s are not legally allowed on the road, as they have no licence. In quieter areas of the island, I imagine that they would break the rules, but the road network in Kamala is quite fast and busy even during low season, so I can’t see that happening.||||The canvas of the building ’ are good quality , but the golf buggy’s will keep you awake all night, as they don’t block out any noise, so I wouldn’t recommend a tent villa to anyone. Ear plugs are proudly on display when you arrive, so they are aware of this. Unfortunately they were not the T shape ear plug that actually blocks out noise, just the cheap flat ones that do nothing but make your ears hurt.||||Although the Showers by the main pool had a hot tap, it had only cold water. When I asked about this, they said no hot water. When I asked if it’s broken or just that there was never any hot water, they shrugged their shoulders and just carried on. Not really the facilities and response I’d like from a hotel at this price.||||As with most independent hotels in Thailand all of the corners are knocked off. That said the setting and buildings were beautiful.||||Checkout wasn’t great. They insisted on checking everything, before we could depart. ||||I’m not sure how this place got 3 Michelin keys. It’s mainly an instagram hotel with little substance. The rooms are nice and the settings pretty unique, if that’s all they are basing the rating on, then I get it. However I thought there was a lot more nuance to a Michelin rating than that. Based off of this rating, I won’t trust the relatively new Michelin key assessment in future. They let themselves down before they started. That said I do agree with its 2 key rating for Sala Choengmon in Koh Samui, which is my gold standard for service, room and food offerings.
