escape4

Whoa, thanks for the comments. I will avoid RC for the foreseeable future based on your feedback.

Kacee

Has anyone recently used points here and been offered a confirmed paid upgrade to higher room class?

The paid rates here have gone off the charts crazy lately, with the better rooms (what used to be called Grand Pool Suite) pricing around 25k THB / night. They're nice rooms, but they're not suites, and they are not IMO worth over $800 US.

AbuCordoba

How does this property compare to the W? and anyone been here for New Years, I am thinking of going to Koh Samui for then ext New Years.

JBG89

Would love to hear about any recent plat treatment here as well. Considering VB or the Six Senses for an upcoming stay

Aventine

post #210 was less than a month ago.

Kacee

And my rather detailed report less than nine months ago. I just don't get these vague "any recent reports" questions.

daicrura

There is a report that the Grand Pool Suite (and better rooms) include a complimentary "afternoon tea." If you do a Google search for "Jib Nam Cha" you will see that Vana Belle offers a Thai/British fusion afternoon tea on the beach for what appears to be a cost. Is the complimentary afternoon tea included with the better suites different than this Jib Nam Cha? Or is the complimentary afternoon tea just tea and small bites in the hotel room?

Kacee

Never offered to me in two stays spanning seven nights total.

Note that these are not actually "suites." One good sized room, with a small living space several steps down from the bed.

SHLTP

We had complimentary tea which was nice - lots of snacks. We could request the butler to bring anywhere in resort, from room to poolside etc.

Again, I highly recommend this property

1k650

Any successful platinum upgrades (using SNA) on a point stay?

Beltway2A

As the overall points cost of a reservation has gone down significantly since the merger, it looks like the cost of paid upgrades have gone up since the last post. For reference, 2015 rates can be found at Post 151. The rates I got for this summer are:

Ocean Pool 1 Bedroom Suite: THB 3,561/night
Premium Ocean Pool 1 Bedroom Suite: THB 7,122/night
Grand Pool Suite: THB 8,309/night
Tropical Pool Villa: THB 10,683/night
Vana Belle Ocean View Pool Suite: THB 14,244/night

It wasn't clearly indicated to me whether these rates were ++ or NET, and they're out of my comfort zone at the moment, but I thought it would be helpful to provide a data point.

Rowyourboat

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

Kacee

Thanks. Those prices are indeed very high. This is really an outstanding property. But they don't seem to mind letting rooms go empty by virtue of some borderline insane pricing. The grand pool suite is a nice room, but it is very borderline value at $800+ US per night.

LIH Prem

Vana Belle Titanium Welcome Letter ...

LIH Prem

Vana Belle Breakfast Menu April, 2019. (file size exceeds FTs limit)
We could order anything off the menu and have the buffet.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8aajynryv2...-Menu.pdf?dl=0

I ordered the salmon, Yanisa wanted to try the waffle and then ordered 5 oysters. The oysters were amazing.

Tried to upload images, FT isn't coooperating right now.