IC Koh Samui or correctly Samui Baan Taling Ngam Resort
What is your Priority Club status?
Platinum Royal Ambassador
Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
On overall balance I was not that happy with the stay.
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked an ocean view suite and got upgraded to a 2 bedroom villa. Purchased Club add-on extra. I should mention that I had to contact the GM via e-mail to actually get any answers from the reservation department.
How are the rooms?
The 2 story villa compromised of an open area living/dining space upstairs with a large balcony and 2 bedrooms (each with bathroom) downstairs with another balcony but in my villa downstairs balcony was not in use.
The beds are extremely comfortable (one king in the master bedroom and 2 singles in the 2nd bedroom).
The bathroom in the master bed is featuring both a shower and a freestanding bathtub.
Each bedroom has a large TV with a Blue Ray player and the living room has also a Bose Sound system with an ipod docking station.
There is a small working desk (but WiFi was not working for 2 days) and the dining area has a large table for dining.
How is the IC Club Lounge?
There is no dedicated lounge, instead beverages out of minibar are free, breakfast is served in the restaurant or via room service, afternoon tea is served in the reception area and drinks in the evening in the open air bar. Also all day coffee/tea/juices are available from all bars/restaurants for free.
What was your welcome gift?
No welcome gift received, on check-out it became clear that they did not note the RA status and in effect the lady had no idea what RA meant.
Did you receive fruit in the room?
Yes, daily refreshed
How was the mini-bar?
Standard set, however it was pointed out that only beverages are free and not the rest.
There is also a large wine fridge which is chargeable, large bottles of alcohol are also in the room but are also chargeable.
What was good and what was bad?
Good- The hard product is excellent; the renovation had done a great job in getting this up to a good standard
- The views are outstanding from every point of the resort
- Breakfast delivered into the villa according to an a la carte menu.
- Spa services were great, but spa is still in a temporary place (villa).
- Butler was great and provided a tailored service.
Bad
- Staff was very inconsistent, some of there were outstanding, other just plan unacceptable.
- They can’t even print invoices, they give you a copy of the Opera PMS screens.
- Room service staff is great but the food is not the hottest when it arrives.
- The breakfast room in the restaurant is too small, it’s uncomfortable to constantly bump into other people trying to get items from the buffet.
- For 3 days I could clearly hear renovation work going on in other villas near to the SPA and my own villa.
- Internet was not working for 2 ½ days after a short power outage
- Reservation never responded to my e-mails, only after e-mailing the GM I got replies.
Value for $ or Priority Club Points?
For the rate I had booked I would say yes.
Would you return?
Right now the answer is No, I would wait a while until they have completed all the renovation work, the spa has moved to its real space and the staff is better trained, not to mention until they can actually print out a real invoice.