Ripper3785

If you are seeking a specific level/location of room, you may want to contact the hotel immediately after booking and ask if you can guarantee your desired room location(with an upcharge if necessary).

princesakura

Which rooms have a bidet? Some reviews say yes and some say no bidet.

MaldivesFreak

I'd bet an arm and a leg that there's no-one here that has stayed in every room so no-one can answer your question. Email the property for that one. And every villa has an infinity pool.

Abidjan

lol, yeah probably not.

elna_na

Just got back from a 6 night stay as a Diamond, 2 adults + 2 kids (ages 3 and 9). Burned 380k points plus a free night cert. Few updates/notes:

• Upgraded on a points stay to a Five Islands View villa 305, can confirm an unobstructed view of the five islands. Walking distance to the breakfast/KO lounge and gym so super convenient. Buggies were plentiful and not long of a wait but we just felt silly taking them since were just a few feet up the hill.
• Used Mr Samui for transfers. One way with short island tour (stopped at Big Buddha, Coconut Ice Cream truck/Lamai viewpoint, The Cliff Restaurant viewpoint, Tesco for shopping) cost 2000 THB. Return to airport 1200 THB.
• Got free breakfast for entire family (2 adults, 2 kids), and 4 drink chits.
• Turns out that there were 3 weddings going on during our stay, so we wouldn’t be able to access the pool area for 3 afternoons. For the trouble, we were given a few extra drink chits and offered a free private muay thai class. My 9 year old took advantage of the class.
  
• No longer offering the complimentary trips to Chahweng/Lamai or the boat to nearby island. Chaweng/Lamai is now paid, 250 pp/each way, only offered at a couple of times a day. Was easier to rent a car. Boat to nearby island is instead the sunset cruise, offered once daily for 1200 THB pp.
  
• Main Lobby Lounge HH is now from 3-5p. Huge selection of 2 for 1 drinks (more than Azure), very reasonably priced.
  
• We ate a few meals in town (took hotel transfer for 600 THB roundtrip). Can recommend Hemingways and La Coppola - very reasonably priced, good food with big portions. Worth it even with the hotel transfer cost. Had planned to go to Green Talay per the recos on here but the ambiance was not great (not beachfront) and it was always empty when we walked by. We would walk to a nearby 7-11 after dinner to stock up on things, and asked Conrad transfer to pick us up there. Looked into Navigo but cost was almost double the Hotel transport.
  
• There is an ATM on site now so not sure if the manufactured spend trick still works. We didn’t need any cash so didn’t try it.
  
• Used Ocean Samui a couple times, for an ATV tour and jet skiing. Pricing, as expected, is higher than other companies but thought it was worth the convenience and extra Hilton points when charging to the room.
  
• For those asking about traveling with kids - there were a few babies/toddlers at the resort. My kids were occupied with the beach and pool for most of the time, but did use the kids club once for a couple of hours during our spa treatment. The kids club is tiny - obviously not meant for more than a few kids at a time. When my two were there, only one other toddler was there at the same time. There is a published schedule of activities but we found the kids club agent just went with the flow and let our kids do the arts/crafts they chose. Another fun (and free) activity our kids enjoyed was visiting Botanica - they had a plant potting session, played some board games, watched the ducks and tended the garden - good way to spend a rainy morning

MaldivesFreak

Thanks for the data points. Would you know if the taxes are still 10% SC and 8.7% govt tax for accommodation and 10% SC and 8.7% govt tax for F&B, spa, excursions etc?

Israshot

Yes it is (the taxes is 7.7% +1% city tax) but on the transfer from the airport and some of my outside purchases made through the hotel, they didn't charge me the 18.7%.

MaldivesFreak

Thanks for the reply. Actually I made a mistake in my post. There are 2 different tax rates. I C+P'd the first two figures and forgot to adjust the second govt tax. Here it is again for clarity;
* 10% SC and 8.7% govt tax for accommodation only - 18.7% in total
* 10% SC and 7% govt tax for F&B, spa, excursions etc - 17% in total
Can you confirm these? TIA.

elna_na

My folio shows VAT at 7% for everything (doesn't distinguish accommodations vs F&B/spa because everything was on points I think). Individual receipts for dining show VAT 7% and service charge 10%. Receipt from spa shows same but clear that service charge is on VAT (separate line item). And it seems they didn't charge us any VAT on the two transfers we took from the hotel to town.

princesakura

Currently here for the first time after stay at Ritz-Carlton. As far as tropical resorts, I’ve only been to Four Seasons Lanai and Andaz Maui, but I thought RC was fantastic. Leaving RC for Conrad, I thought it couldn’t get any better, but I think it did.

Planning to go down to the beach soon after breakfast. Has anyone ever kayaked from here to Five Islands? Looks like about 1.25 miles or 1.5 miles on Google Maps. I kayaked yesterday at RC and went out pretty far, almost to the first of the rocky outcrops to the left of the RC beach, and felt very comfortable.

Filipino country singer at the lounge last night with a fabulous deep voice. He sang Take Me Home Country Roads and a Garth Brooks song at my request.

Staying in the uppermost 1 bedroom villa I think. The view is incredible; 180 degrees of the Gulf of Thailand. I may post some photos later.

Ripper3785

Did you get a Bidet?

princesakura

Sadly no. I saw two reviews mentioning bidet on TripAdvisor, and both were for the Royal Villa category, which someone mentioned there is only one of, room 127?

David Pritchard

Hi all,

going to be going mid April, and was just wondering what is the best option for transport/taxis from hotel? Relatively new driver and not confident at all in Koh samui, so renting car is out. That and I’d want to have a few drinks.

been glancing over this page for months, very informative!

princesakura

I had thought about renting a car at the airport to get to Conrad at the opposite corner of the island, but I am so good I did not. First of all, one has to contend with scooters, and new drivers may not be confident knowing when to pass them safely, how much room to give them, and anticipating their behavior. Second, the last two to three kilometers to the Conrad arrival is basically a road under construction, with many unpaved sections and places where it is one car wide. I would rather not put myself through that twice, every time I wanted to go out.

So if you're not going to drive, you should download NaviGo and Grab apps, create a profile, and save a credit card. I think Grab drivers may not come to the airport; the one I tried to hail in the app said that he can't go there because of, his words, the "mafia". But otherwise NaviGo and Grab are easy to use, though pickup times may be longer around the Conrad due to the remoteness. I used the hotel Toyota SUV to get to the airport for departure and thought it was a good deal at 1500 THB considering the comfort and the lack of worry and figuring out on my own during check out. Otherwise, you can use those two apps or book with an third party like the ones mentioned in this thread.

Ripper3785

Or Book with Mr. Samui for <2500THB roundtrip as is mentioned numerous times in this thread.