FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Vana Belle, Koh Samui, Thailand [Master Thread]
Old Feb 16, 2019, 10:01 am
  #222  
Rowyourboat
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: AA PP, OZ *G, Hyatt Expl, Marriott Gold, Lots of Ex-statuses
Posts: 318
Hi, I stayed here in late November 2018. I booked a Deluxe Pool Suite, which I believe is now called an Ocean Pool Suite or Premium Ocean Pool Suite. At check-in we were upgraded to a higher suite (I believe it's Grand Pool Suite, but not 100% sure), and we were also offered butler service. Tong was our butler and he was absolutely fantastic - really made the trip amazing and meeting him was one of my best memories of Thailand.

The hotel was absolutely stunning and definitely one of the best properties in the SPG/Marriott collection. Everyone is really friendly, and the on-site food is amazing. As a Platinum, we got access to breakfast at Kiree (menus attached below), and we also got complimentary afternoon tea, which included lots of yummy snacks like karaage (fried chicken), different Thai desserts, Satay, mango sticky rice, etc. It was always a really fun snack and something we looked forward to every day. The complimentary tea is in the area where they normally offer breakfast (Kiree). I don't know about the paid tea on the beach - we saw something about it but didn't look into it.

The food in the hotel is really fantastic. My family loves to eat and try foods and their breakfast was pretty elite. I didn't take a ton of photos but some pics are attached below. Lastly, our butler was really attentive, always checked-in on us, and even baked a vegetarian cake (no eggs) for my mom on her birthday.

I would say there are two downsides to the trip:

1. It rained when we were there, which put a damper on things. Nothing the property can do.
2. We had big trees in front of our room which obstructed the view. I think if you book the base level rooms, they're in the second row of suites so even further back. I think few rooms have a great view that's unobstructed by trees - but hey, that's nature :-)

I remember looking into points vs. price. We were able to book the Deluxe Pool Suite for about 15k THB (incl. tax), which is $480 USD. I thought this was totally worth it given that the 60k points only got you to the base room, and I was really hoping for an upgrade to the Grand Pool Suite, which we got. The butler service was complimentary and totally unexpected and really made it an amazing stay. I think even without butler the hotel is a good value just paying straight up.

Here's some photos:


King bed in our room



Egg white breakfast dish



Desk area and rollaway bed



Thai food in Phensiri, great thai place nearby



Another pic from our room



Waffles at breakfast



Breakfast menu



Breakfast menu



Straight chillin'



Main lobby area



View from our villa
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