3rdworldresident

already booked a night in april next year (before transferred to W), cant' wait to 'discover' this le meridien.

ps. how much is the rate for pool villa upgrading? and all the rooms at this property are suite?

TerryK

It is a matrix based on your room category and pool/ocean villa. It is not based your rate. All 77 units are either suites or villas.

Rambuster

I just returned from a 3 night stay at this property and to be honest I was underwhelmed.
The hotel itself is nice but they clearly still have some opening pains.
Although the hotel was nearly empty (low season combined with tourists scared of the Thai flooding?) I found it hard to get the attention of the restaurant and bar staff. Only if I proactively contacted the waiters could I order food, etc.

Additionally, this has to be the darkest hotel I have ever stayed in. After dark there is hardly any lighting in the hotel. In the restaurant they bring you a torch with your menu. Once the food is served you can hardly see it in the dark.

This might be their concept but I found it to be too dark. It's difficult to unlock your room at night as there is basically no lighting outside. Maybe someone might find this romantic - I didn't.

I had booked a Verandah suite and was upgraded to a pool access "suite".
To be honest this is just a bedroom and a bathroom. The bathrooms by the way are "outside" bathrooms. That means there is an open air gap between the wall and roof. Therefore the bathroom is not air-conditioned. Also these "suites" are not very private. There were six suites located around this small pool (4" deep) and from each room you could see into the other rooms if the curtains weren't closed.
Unfortunately due to the rainy season the place was mosquito infested. (No fault of the hotel ... I am scratching by numerous bites as I write )

At checkin I was not informed that as a Platinum guest I would receive breakfast and evening drinks. I found out on the third day ...

The hotel has free internet access for everyone with wireless service around the entire hotel. What annoyed me was that after logging in, the system would automatically log out after about 15-20 minutes, even if you are active on your system. The front desk were unfortunatley not able to provide me with a user account which stays logged in (at least for a longer period of time).

All in all, I'd say there are much better SPG properties in Thailand.
I have stayed in all of the SPG properties in Thailand (except for the W Samui) but this is one hotel I won't be returning to.

btw: This hotel does not participate in the Starwood Privilege Thailand program - so none of the benefits apply.

TerryK

All bathrooms at LM Koh Samui are open air concept, even for villas. I think it is kind of fun, but understand some may not like it.

Yes, Pool Access Suites have absolutely no privacy. You might have been better off with Plunge Pool Suites which offer complete privacy. They include terrace in footage and consider the whole unit as a suite. If you exclude terrace for privacy reason, then it is only a room with bath.

makin'miles

Does anyone have any comments about the local area? Thinking of going here with some friends for five or six nights in February, and just want to find out if there are local restaurants/maybe a bit of nightlife somewhere not too far away, or if its a really secluded place... its a long enough period that the resort restaurants will probably get old.

Also, I assume there is some decent diving near by?

BonViveur

Pretty much next door to LM is the soi which leads to Beach Republic. They have a pretty good Sunday Brunch. When you say the resort restaurants will probably get old... there is only one, as far as I know. I find hotel restaurants a bit bland, as they have to cater to so many different tastes, so on Samui, I recommend a car so you can get to other parts.

For some street life and food, there are 'walking street' pedestrian markets which have local specialities and some foreign foods, too. Fridays at Bophut Fishermans Village, Saturdays at Chaweng and Sundays at Lamai, not far from LM.

holtju2

You can walk to the Beach Republic unless there is a high tide. Same for the Lamai.

The "real" nightlife area is in Chaweng maybe 15 minute drive from Le Meridien. There are some bars in the Lamai worth visiting as well, although quite a few local ladies looking for "company". Personally, I prefer the scene in Chaweng.

Here is a video of the Plunge Pool Suite http://bit.ly/lmusmppste and from a Pool Villa http://bit.ly/lmusmpoolvilla.

ajca

As a point of reference, we were charged 8000 baht / night to upgrade from Pool Access Suite to Beach Front Villa.

ajca

I stayed there for one night last week at the LM Koh Samui and having to continually re-login to the wireless drove me CRAZY. It's such a stupid system. Especially when you're got a Macbook, an iPhone and iPad to keep logged in...

The W Retreat Koh Samui (where we went after the LM) uses the same wireless system and had the same problem at first, although about half way through our stay all of a sudden it was fixed and we no longer needed to keep logging in.

I had a good chat with the wonderful GM of the W, Nicholas, about the wireless. He said their IT people had been there this week making some improvements to it.

ajca

It is not very secluded at all. You can walk up the main road about 50m and get to shops, and about 100m to get to a big court-yard with some Western restaurants and an Irish pub. The wine bar there has an excellent selection of international wines at reasonable prices (available for takeaway too).

The room service at the LM KS was pretty bloody good, although the breakfast was miserable. The local restaurants all seemed to be completely empty (which makes me a bit nervous) but we were wandering around mid afternoon so perhaps they become busier later at night.

DGS822

How have folks gotten from USM to the hotel? local taxi? how much should it cost?

i'm headed there in a few days on the 30th...

thanks!

BonViveur

I usually rent a car so I can get around the island as it pleases me. Otherwise, ask the hotel to send a car.

UASPG

The transfer from the airport is only $30 and avoids eventual taxi headaches.

I would recommend to rent a car for a few days, but plan also on relaxing at the hotel, to enjoy it.

The breakfast is actually good with plenty of choices for a hotel of this size.
The restaurant is also pleasant during the evening and the nearby Beach Republic gives you a good alternative.

The staff is nice and efficient, especially if you consider that Starwood just took it over.

If you can, stay at a pool villa (highly recommended).

If you like to spend time on the beach, in front of your hotel, you might be disappointed, but there is a unique very long pier, to relax and enjoy the sun.

The new GM is very present and you will often see her helping the guests.
Also, the restaurant manager is quite active and efficient ...... and has a nice personality.

Overall, a better experience than the one we had at the W Koh Samui, last year.

Aspirant

Can I ask you to expand on this? I thought the resort was right on the beach. From the picture on their website, it looks like there is a beach...

DGS822

The hotel is situated along the beach. There is not a beach to lay out on and at high-tide you can't walk on it (without being in water). The pool is quite nice as is the floating "pier" that is essentially connected to the "beach." However, as other FTers have pointed out, this is not a property to lay on the beach all day long. If you want a good Starwood beach property, the Meridien Phuket has a great beach to spend the day on. I'm flying back to the states tomorrow, but will try to find a picture of the property to post along with a more in depth posting later this week.