pointslut

Well I think they pulled it because now its not showing

nufnuf77

We are doing exploratory stays around Koh Samui this/next week. Staying few days at VB.

Booked the Grand Suite cash as i wanted the best. Service absolutely top notch, the staff is always ready, helpful and super kind! The views of sunrise from the suite over the pool are great, beach is rough and not really swimmable as the surf is high. the sea breeze and warm temperatures are perfect.

The one disappointing part is food. My wife and I are local to asia and like authentic cuisine, we have done cooking schoolds in bangkok, krabi and chiang mai, have probably spent about 150 days in thailand over last 5 years and like it rough and spicy. The food at VB is catering to mostly more narrow western pallete. we tried a few dishes at panali and kiree and frankly felt fairly average for western and disappointing for thai dishes. dont get me wrong, it's still a fabulous resort, i just think, compared to a bunch of other luxury collection places, their food just isnt as good as what many hotels in bangkok offer.

UASPG

I like it gentle and not spicy, I have a western palate, but I enjoy all kind of food around the world, if they are not spicy and I reach the same conclusion: the F&B is weak at this nice property and has been weak for quite some time. A detail, but that usually tells a lot: the size of the slices of cheese on the breakfast buffet:
A little El Cheapo for a hotel that is not cheap.

Kacee

I agree, but it's unfortunately pretty common for high end resorts in Thailand. It's nearly always a real battle (and often a losing one) to get food made spicy. Even at Thai properties, such as Banyan Tree.

I've always enjoyed the breakfast here but dinners are disappointing and I just learned to leave the property. I've actually had better luck with room service in terms of getting something that approaches authentic Thai.

escapefromphl

We thought Kiree was fine, yes there is definitely better Thai food to be had off property, but it's basically a seaside bar catering to various tastes. We thought the food prices were pretty reasonable by Marriott standards. You need to ask for spicy otherwise you're going to get mild.

puchong

Excellent observation!

UASPG

I just remembered another breakfast dish that gave me that El Cheapo feeling about the F&B, at this Luxury Collection property: the size of the grilled salmon. if I was in charge (nobody would want that to happen), I would rather not offer that dish if the food cost is too high for the hotel or serve it right, like at this other Thai Luxury Collection hotel, the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, at the Rossini Executive breakfast,

This being said, the Vana Belle is a nice property, that is well located, and I have made a reservation for next month.

nufnuf77

We do like the SGS - go there very often indeed. Rossini is nice and so is abundance of food nearby the property
On VB we found the SALA restaurant not too far off property to actually be VERY VERY good! We dined there 3 times!

UASPG

If I remember, I will take a picture of the grilled salmon and the cheese board offered at the VB breakfast, so you can compare it to what the SGS has at Rossini.
Hopefully, things have changed since my last visit.

UASPG

I forgot to take a picture of the grilled salmon at breakfast, but it now double the size it used to be and it is well cooked (although the SGS does it a little better).

The cheese offering is still the half thin burger type slices, except for the Brie, but I hear that there might be an improvement in the near future on that side.

Lunches in the afternoon, under the big tree, on the left side of the pool, are very pleasant and refreshing.

The level of service is still good and was appreciated.

A strong point of this hotel is the sound of the birds.