Koh Samet Hotels with balcony

Pros: The hotel features an all-wood design, and the ocean-view rooms offer a truly pleasant experience with stunning sea views and the sound of the waves. I'd expected the bedding in the room to be damp, but to my surprise, it was dry and fluffy. The hotel restaurant: The dining environment is spacious and comfortable, with a pergola and tatami seating right on the beach. The chef's culinary skills are excellent, with both presentation and taste being perfect. Both hotel and restaurant staff are incredibly polite and friendly. Right next to the hotel is their company's pier for guest transfers. The hotel provides free shuttle service, boat rides, and luggage handling, making island access and departure very convenient, hassle-free, and effortless. Cons: The hotel offers paid laundry service, but there's no self-service laundromat. The nearest 24-hour self-service laundromat on the island is a bit far.

The resort is beautiful and the location is excellent. The rooms are clean, and room service is convenient. The natural environment is lovely; we often saw squirrels running around. However, the room facilities are quite basic. The bathroom didn't have hot water, and the bedside lamp and door lock were broken. The staff were generally friendly, but not particularly enthusiastic. We rarely experienced proactive or smiling service. On the way to our room, no golf cart offered to help with our luggage. When we asked to use a sun lounger at the private beach, the attendant surprisingly said, 'I don't know,' and we never saw any guests using the sun loungers there. We ate twice at Winkks, and the staff at the entrance never greeted us or proactively showed us to a table. When they found out we didn't have a reservation, they immediately said there was no availability, even though there were clearly two unoccupied tables indoors that hadn't been reserved. They only seated us after we explicitly said we could eat inside. The front desk staff on check-out day were quite good, but the overall service compared to other places in Thailand was pretty average. Overall, it's an unremarkable resort. If I return to Koh Samet, I would consider other hotels in the same price range.

How do I even begin! I went to Koh Samet with no expectations, but Le Vimarn Cottages & Spa is supposedly the second-best resort on the island. My overall impression wasn't great, mainly due to how the resort handled the broken air conditioning in our bungalow on the first day. We took a private car from downtown Bangkok to Ao Prao Pier (the hotel's private pier, which has its own lounge). Following the resort's email instructions, we boarded the 1:30 PM boat to the resort, which took about 15 minutes. The welcome drink upon arrival was quite good. The resort isn't very large, and there weren't many guests. When we discovered the AC was broken, we immediately contacted housekeeping. From housekeeping to engineering to the front desk, and then to Ctrip, we spent an hour in the sweltering room and outside before finally being moved to another room. It seemed like Ctrip had to intervene to resolve the issue before the front desk staff led us to our new room... The whole process was incredibly frustrating due to the heat! Later, the front desk found me on the beach and offered us an upgraded room. I went to see it but declined, as it was quite dark inside, and I prefer bright, airy rooms when I'm on vacation. She told me the room would be held for us if we changed our minds. Because I didn't move, the front desk came to find me again on the beach and offered a complimentary pizza as compensation. This proactive attitude was a definite plus. We stayed at Le Vimarn for three nights. The rooms are simple, Thai-style wooden bungalows. The 1.8-meter bed was just right for a family of three. The mini-bar is chargeable. If you're visiting Koh Samet, remember to bring a filtered shower head. Breakfast was pretty much the same every day, but it tasted good. We had dinner at Buzz once, and the food was good, but with a 10% service charge and 7% tax, it ended up being a bit expensive! The resort is a 15-minute drive from the main street (where the 7-Eleven is, 200 baht one-way). The front desk can arrange a taxi. Later, we rented a scooter, which we could park on a slope about a 2-minute walk from the front desk. I scraped my foot on a coral reef while swimming, and the front desk provided basic first aid. For the last two days, we stayed at Paradee Resort, which is a sister hotel to Le Vimarn, so they offered a free transfer. However, if you're traveling with kids, I'd highly recommend Paradee Resort – the environment, facilities, and staff are all much better.

The taxi from the pier cost 250 baht. The beach right in front of the hotel is fantastic, and the male attendant who manages the towels was really good – he's the reason I gave the last 100 baht as a tip. His enthusiasm also led us to book a night squid fishing trip for 9 people. However, all the staff here seem to have two different attitudes: one for Western guests and another for Chinese guests. While everyone else managed basic politeness, the female server in the restaurant (pictured in photo 2) was incredibly rude to us. This is my fifth time vacationing in Thailand, and I've also traveled to the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, the Maldives, and Hamilton Island, but this is honestly the first time I've encountered a staff member so rude. She pointed her finger at me and loudly demanded that I push the water bottle from the middle of the table to against the wall. I was completely stunned. Upon check-in, they asked for 500 baht per night for an extra bed for our 6-year-old. Since the three of us could comfortably share the king-sized bed, we declined and only paid for the child's breakfast, which was 200 baht per day. One evening, we also encountered teenagers on the beach who were indiscriminately bullying kids playing there. I never even saw something like this in Australia, yet it happened on Koh Samet. Thankfully, my English speaking skills are decent, and after a big argument, he ended up yelling that he was going to call the police. Overall, I still wouldn't recommend booking a hotel here. The pricing attracts a certain type of clientele, and since there are many very cheap hotels nearby, the beach attracts all sorts of tourists.

A good hotel for the price. The location is excellent, just a 6-minute walk from the pier and literally 2 minutes to a great beach. Downstairs, there's a 7/11, cafes, massage, laundry, and fresh fruit. They only provide one key for the whole family, which is a bit inconvenient. As for the room itself, it has everything you need. The bedding and towels are definitely old and have seen better days. Housekeeping and towel changes are by request, but tea, coffee, toilet paper, and water are replenished daily. There's also a small balcony. The receptionist is a very sweet and polite girl. We had a great time and I recommend it.

The facilities are great. I stayed here once for New Year's Day and came back for a few more days. The hotel has its own beach, and in the evenings, they offer open-air movies and fire dance performances. They thoughtfully provide both deep and shallow swimming areas, so kids can play safely. The pier is also a unique feature. It's a bit disappointing though that when I came for New Year's, the room included a welcome scarf, and the mini-bar had free snacks and drinks. This time, the room price was significantly higher, and those little extras were gone. However, the overall experience is still excellent, making it perfect for a vacation. P.S. First thing to do when you get to the island: rent a scooter!

First off, the environment is nice, and the staff are all very good, especially the one who helped us with the small boat for snorkeling. Secondly, the pier is extremely far from the hotel, and there's no shuttle service – no pickup, no drop-off. A songthaew costs 500 Thai baht one way. There are no convenience stores nearby, so you're stuck at the hotel for all your food and drink, but the hotel food is really bad. There wasn't enough conditioner in the room. I called the front desk, and they told me they didn't have any conditioner. How can a hotel costing over 2000 RMB a night not have conditioner??? Good environment, but service needs improvement.

So good that I have to go back again. Quiet, very beautiful room, lovely maid, private garden to sit and relax in the morning, two large and small showers are very good, big TV, very good wifi, 7-Eleven, food, dry cleaning are just a short walk away to Sai Kaew Beach. Next time I will stay at only this place.

This hotel isn't bad, it's stylishly designed, and the room is clean and tidy. The only downside is that there's no real beach directly attached to the hotel, and the access is from the sea side. There are no sun loungers, just tables on the sand. When it's high tide, the water comes right up to the hotel entrance, and when it's low tide in the evenings, it recedes about 200 meters, creating space for a walk. Breakfast is mediocre, and the service is too; everyone is a bit slow, but that's okay, it works for a couple of days' stay.

The location is excellent, but it doesn't meet expectations for the price. When we visited in 2023, sun loungers were free, but now they charge 60 baht per person, I believe. The standard rooms are terrible – old, with no shelves or tables, so clothes just end up on the floor. The shower is bad, offering no comfort at all. The noise isolation is awful; every morning from 5:30 AM, a rooster crows non-stop right under the windows. Staff start making a lot of noise and working early in the morning, and then at night, someone was snoring incredibly loudly. For this price, you could definitely find a much more comfortable and convenient place to stay.