newshound

I have just retured from a stay at this property and thought I would post a few thoughts. Let me know if you have any questions as there haven't been many posts about this property yet.

In terms of location I think this place hits the sweet spot. It is far from the craziness of Chaweng and the beach is relatively quiet without all of the hawkers - I saw just one strolling up the beach. It takes 10 mins or so from the property to the main drag along chaweng for the bars etc and would probably take 15 mins to Lamai - it is in between the two. Taxi costs around 400 baht or it is around 60 baht per person on the 'public' bus.

The checkin procedure was a bit too much hassle for a property of this level. I wanted to use a Thai debit card to pay for my stay which wasn't something they thought they could accept. After doing some problem solving for the team they finally checked me in - I wish they could have figured it all out by themselves though. We then found out, at 3pm, that our room wasn't ready yet. This was dissapointing but we were comped lunch while we waited, the tab would have been 2k baht or more so this was appreciated and was a nice way to deal with things. I had contacted the property as I was booking to arrange a 4pm checkout wich was agreed to in advance and honored.

The property in general is really nice, the look and feel is that of luxury and the lobby areas have fantastic views which whet the appetite when you are checking in. As the property is built on a hillside that slopes down to the beach there is the potential for a lot of strenuous walking here but they use buggies to ferry guests around, a service that works really well. We didn't have to wait longer than 3 or 4 minutes any time we requested a ride somewhere. Not being able to walk around the property might sound like a negative but it really didn't work out like that.

We only ate breakfast at the main restaurant, Kiree and a light lunch at the beachside restaurant, Panali. The breakfast was pretty good but the set up was never really explained. On the first day we sat outside and were told we were to order off the menu despite the buffet inside - I figured we were on a different deal to other diners so that was fine. On the second, they had run out of beans on toast by 10am (dissapointing) so I asked if i could get some cereal from the buffet whish was OK by the server. I never really found out what we should or shouldn't be doing (but then I didn't ask so more fool me!).

The meals we had at the beach level restaurant were pretty decent and it was good to see some flexibility from the staff to allow us to order off the menu - we wanted a yam woon sen, which had to be made for us up in the main restaurant and brought down. The service here was a little patchy but the team leader, jicky,was very good and a real asset to the property.

The room itself was a little underwhelming in all honesty. I had booked a grand pool suite at a rate of 18,500 per night++. The room was nicely decorated but there were a number of quirks that seemed odd to me. Firstly, it is more of a junior suite than what i think of as a real suite in that the sofa etc are in the same room as the bed and desk etc. Secondly, there are curtains covering only half of the windows in the room. All around the hallway and lobby area are frosted windows that have no shading and let sunlight in. I was awake at just after 6 each morning which left me feeling tired for the rest of the day, I have needed a couple of days to catch up on my sleep - definitely dissapointing when I went for R&R. Finally, I didn't understand the layout of the bathroom. It is incredibly wide to accomodate the width of the bathtub - uneccesary space that could be better used in the living/sleeping area.

The pool was really nice and in our room we had plenty of privacy. The size was just about right, I think any smaller and it would have felt more like a large hot tub, something for consideration when thinking about room type when booking in the future. Other rooms definitely did not have the same levels of privacy. When waiting for buggies we could look directly into the pool area of other rooms around us - I would be asking for a high floor if I went for a classic pool suite in the future.

In summary I would put this down as a nice property, with a few wrinkles but I won't be returning with the room rates at the current level, and definitely not until they do something about the curtains. IMO 18k per night was not value for money.

Feel free to ask any questions, I took a picture of the lay out of the property that I will try and get up online at some stage but feel free to PM if you'd like that.

travelswithmyself

I'm getting the impression from here and TA that it's a large long building on the top of the hill? Which houses the suites... am I right that the suites are all facing the ocean then? And then down the hill and nearer the beach are the villas?

A bit like W Samui except with suites in the main building?

Picture of the layout would be great!

newshound

It is actually more like 2 rows of 3 buildings, each row running parrallel to the beach. These are set in the hillside with the villas seemingly dotted around a little lower down. So if you are in the uppermost floors of the back row you will have a good sea view but the lower floors have a seemingly undesirable view of the backs of the front row and the path leading to the doors.

If you are in the front row, the upper floor rooms have open views of the sea and my guess is that the lower floors have partial views broken up by the horticulture and the villas.

I hope I have explained that well enough that you have a sense of things. I am on the road but will try and post a pic of the layout in the next day or so. Feel free to PM me if you'd like me to send it direct.

Cheers

newshound

With a bit of luck, here is the plan of the property...

newshound

... yep that worked!

So you can see if you were in the lower floor of Vana 3 your view of the ocean would be blocked by Vana 6.

Hope that is helpful

travelswithmyself

^^^^^

travelswithmyself

Newshound, just to get a sense of the size - how many floors per "block" and how many suites per floor? Just an estimate. Thanks! :P

newshound

I stayed in Vana 6. This had two stories, the lower floor had 4 suites and the upper floor had 3 so that would have been 2 grand suites and 1 deluxe suite on teh upper floor. The buildings behind seemed to have 3 floors.

NYCWahoo

Had a great 3nights stay over the Memorial Day weekend. We were greeted by Ms Oui, experience manager, who was a phenomenonal host throughout our stay. Checked in at 830am and (as expected) our room wasn't ready, but GM Mark upgraded our room to a Pool suite--probably the best Platinum status recognition over any SPG properties.(they knew my lifetime SPG nights!)

The resort is owned by the family who owns Chang beer, they also own all the Banyan Tree resorts in Thailand. Because of that we received daily free Chang beers while hanging out at the pool. The entire resort staff knew who I was(kinda freaky) and even restaurant staff knew when we were checking out.

I liked the resort a lot--intimate(only 80 suites/rooms) and only 50% occupancy rate during our stay. Very "adults/couples" resort, no kiddie pools. A beautiful beach.

yosithezet

Awesome. We were in the next to top floor of Vana 7. Great room with an Amazing view!

dml105

Just saw that Vana Belle is on Starpicks this week (6/25/13), in case any of you can use it.

dannybhoy

I got a decent deal for 3 nights in August for a Classic Pool Suite which is about 41k THB including tax for the entire stay. Daily breakfast included and rate allows for cancellation up to a week before. Possibly an erroneous tariff.

I was wondering if it would be worth it to cancel the above booking and instead spend 45k THB including tax for a Deluxe Pool Suite on Starpix, obviously non-changeable/non-cancellation rate without breakfast, to chance an upgrade to a Grand Pool Suite. I understand that it's possible for Plat guests who have booked Classic to get an upgrade to Deluxe..

Any views/comments?

Another thing, is it difficult for Plat guests to secure 4pm late checkout at this property? Not sure of the occupancy in mid-August tho.

newshound

I think you need to check with the property first. If the deluxe suite gets you a sea view then it may be worth it if that is important and you are looking for privacy. As I said in my review, some of the classic suite pools were pretty open for all to see and had a view of the building in front.

If as a SPG Plat you get breakfast as a benefit then it is an easy decision assuming you don't mind being locked into the dates.

I called in advance for my 4pm check out as I wanted to line up flights. They didn't agree on the spot but came back within a few hours with the answer I was looking for

dannybhoy

Thanks for the advice. I'll give them a call.

Thunderroad

Thanks to all including scho who've provided useful info on the hotel!

Have quickly perused this thread and see this comment by scho as the only reference to other places within walking distance of the hotel. I'm specifically interested in whether there are inexpensive open air restaurants on the beach within say a 15 or 20 minute walk of the property. While the food prices at the hotel don't sound prohibitive, I find that in Thailand the more basic restaurants provide great flavors and variety, often better than hotel food.

If such places are in Chaweng town, can you walk along the beach to get to them or do you have to cut inland?

Also interested in whether there are open air massage shacks along the beach, within walking distance of the hotel.

If anyone has been to Le Meridien Koh Samui, the easily walkable availability of such restaurants and massage shacks is what I have in mind.

Thanks for any info!