Well, here are my views on the Setai, having admittedly spent only one afternoon and night there:
- very nice arrival experience, refreshing lemongrass iced tea and cold towel
- beautiful room (courtyard view), although the view of the adjacent hotel not that great and the beach really not visible
- beach experience terrible, principally because there is no way to stop non-guests from using the chairs/towels...the beach is not very clean and the crowds there are not really the sort to stay in the hotel
- pool area full of self-important w@nkers
- pool bar hopelessly overpriced and with terrible service
- dinner at the restaurant was excellent, if a little expensive...and the waiters could try to be a little less obvious about up selling the most expensive dishes
- room service breakfast was late in arriving, and charging $40 plus tax and tip for three croissants, a bowl of oatmeal, a pot of tea and orange juice is really a joke
- checkout quick and painless
A final gripe: automatically adding a 20% tip to everything is irritating and presumptuous, so is then adding a line for 'additional gratuity'.
I would go back if in the area, but at a minimum of $550 a night it is very expensive for what you get.