Rayong City Beach Hotels

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.

Stayed for 2 nights and 3 days. You can snorkel directly in front of the hotel, and there are more fish near the coral reefs, but I wouldn't recommend going there if the waves are big. It's best to wear long pants and diving socks to avoid scratches. The sand right outside is very fine and soft. Breakfast is served by the sea with ocean views. The bar street can get a bit noisy at night, so it might not be suitable for light sleepers, but since we usually go to bed late, it didn't bother us. A major plus is that the bedsheets are changed for every new guest. The room has many windows, making it bright and airy. The only downsides are that the shower only has a handheld showerhead and the water pressure is a bit low. For shopping, try to go to the 7-Eleven on the main street, as the supermarket here is about a third more expensive. Overall, it offers great value for money and is perfect for a relaxing holiday.

The hotel room itself was fine, clean and included everything you would expect from this hotel. However, on the second day, we told the front desk that the water heater was not working and could they send someone to have a look. The staff replied they would send in 5 mins. 5 mins came, 1 hour came, 3 hours came. No one came and nobody said anything when we walked past reception. So in my experience of staying in over 100 hotels in Thailand, i learned something very important. When you select a hotel, it does not matter how much you pay. The hotel service is usually equal to the standard of the hotel. In this case, it is ranked 2.5 stars. So even i paid 4000 Baht per night , no ABF, we should only expect a 2.5 stars service from this hotel. I will book Sai Kaew next trip, and only 200 metres from this hotel.

We recently stayed at Samet Cabana Resort on Ao Wong Duean, and it was exactly the tropical escape we were looking for. We booked the Beach Cabana, and we cannot recommend it enough. The Room: Staying in the Beach Cabana meant waking up to the sound of the waves every morning. Stepping out onto the porch with a view of the ocean was the highlight of the trip. The room was clean, comfortable, and had that authentic island bungalow feel while still having modern amenities (the AC worked great!). Being just a few steps from the water made all the difference. The Location: Ao Wong Duean is a fantastic beach, it’s lively enough to have good restaurants and fire shows at night, but much more relaxed than the busy main pier area. The water was clear and great for swimming right in front of the resort. Service & Food: The staff were friendly and helpful throughout our stay, from check-in to check-out. The breakfast buffet had a good mix of options to start the day. If you are coming to Koh Samet, do yourself a favour and splurge a little for the Beach Cabana. It transforms the trip from a standard hotel stay into a real beach holiday. We’ll definitely be back!

The front desk was unstaffed at night, requiring a phone call to get assistance, which was inconvenient as we didn't have a local SIM card. Breakfast was quite mediocre, and the hotel's appearance didn't quite live up to the polished photos. Our room had only a small window, making it a bit dim with no view. The location was decent though, very close to the beach. The family room was fairly spacious, and we could push the beds together, which was enough for our group of three adults and two children. We booked primarily for the pool, but it turned out to be quite small, only suitable for kids to splash around in. Housekeeping staff were friendly; they'd fold towels into animal shapes if tipped. The shower pressure and overhead shower were much better than in other hotels we've stayed at. What's more, our 10-year-old wasn't charged for breakfast, whereas other hotels charged for the child in a 2-adult, 1-child booking.

An extra bed can be added, and the front desk charges 1500 THB, which includes breakfast for the extra guest. The hotel is right by a public beach and has its own bar, so the overall environment is quite good. However, the room facilities are mediocre; there are no disposable amenities like toothbrushes or combs. A 7-Eleven is very close, just a 2-minute walk from the hotel. But they don't provide plastic bags for shopping, so you'll need to bring your own.

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.