I stayed at the Library hotel recently and I have thoroughly enjoyed it - I will return for sure. 

Price-wise, the Starwood options in Samui are the Sheraton (cat 4), Meridien (cat 5), Library (cat 6), Vana Belle (cat 7), and W (cat 7).  The Library used to be cheaper than LM on starpoints which made no sense; now Library is 20k points and LM is 12k which more or less an adequate differential.  If you are booking many months in advance, you can expect cash prices for basic rooms to be in the neighborhood of: Sheraton 5k THB, Meridien 6k THB, Library 11k THB, VB 17k THB, and W is north of 20k THB. 

The main categories of rooms for the Library are the studio, the suite, the bookmark room, and the pool villa, in addition to the 2-bedroom suites and 2-bedroom villas which would be suitable for families.  I was lucky enough to get the bookmark room for less than 9k THB because of a BRG off the price of the studio.  There is only one bookmark room in the hotel and it is a great room for a couple.  Several staff mentioned this was their favorite room in the hotel but I have not seen the pool villas to compare.  The normal price for the bookmark room is more than 20k THB so it won’t come cheap, but at least with BRG you might be able to bring the price down if your dates allow BRG. 
 

Location

The hotel is in the heart of Chaweng so you are in the middle of the action, but once you leave the main road to go on the hotel grounds, it is surprisingly quiet and peaceful.  I went to Conrad for dinner one evening just to compare and the Conrad is way out there in the boonies, completely remote location and there is nothing around it.  So if you intend to stay on the resort during your entire stay the Conrad might be for you.  But if you want the ability to go out and have easy access to restaurants, pubs, etc. then Library cannot be beat.  So it entirely depends what you are looking for.  On TripAdvisor, ratings are quite good but not stellar; however I noticed that most reviews on TripAdvisor which are not that great are actually from guests who did not stay at the hotel but who just went to the restaurant. 

This brings me to the second point about the hotel which you can see from the picture below: the rooms are quite exposed so you will need to draw your blinds and/or curtains if you want privacy in your room, otherwise people walking from reception to the pool can see you in your room.  So this property does not offer the privacy of other resorts.  It might bother some folks but was not an issue for us. 

Room

The bookmark room is simply stunning and it is clear why staff think it’s their favorite room on site.  The pictures speak for themselves: 11-foot wide bed, mood lighting, rotating TV panel to allow you to watch TV from different parts of the room, home theater system, bright red floor, outdoor shower in addition to indoor shower, and the jacuzzi.  The only weak point of this room would be that since windows are in front of the room, you get good natural lighting everywhere but not in the bathroom which is in the back. 

There are complimentary snacks restocked in the room every day.  We got a bottle of rosé bubbly as a welcome gift – not sure if this is offered to all guests or Platinum guests, or only to us because we were there for a pre-wedding photo shoot which my Ambassador informed the hotel of in advance.  Anyway, it was a nice gesture. 

Dining

For breakfast you can have it on the beach if you wish, as you can see on the picture below. 

Otherwise you can go to The Page restaurant.  There is a small buffet with fruits, pastries, and the like.  In addition, you can order any item from the menu, including fried rice and a couple of noodle dishes which were great.  While eating at a table in the restaurant is not the same as eating on the beach, the restaurant is virtually on the beach anyway as you can see on the picture.  You can also see a plane about to land at the airport on that picture: in Chaweng you are not far from the airport.  The noise did not bother us, but perhaps some people would not like it. 

Pool

The unique red pool is great.  There are plenty of chairs and since the hotel only has 46 rooms, I doubt you can ever NOT find an available chair at the pool or near the beach.  Guests by the pool get a complimentary snack and drink. 

Amenities

There is a library where you can borrow one of their numerous books to read on the beach or by the pool.  They also have a very extensive DVD library to watch movies for free from the comfort of your room in the evening or if weather is not great during the day. 

Gym

This being a small hotel, there is no need for a large gym.  Most times the gym was unoccupied, sometimes there were 1 or 2 people in there. 

Overall

As a departure gift we received two luggage name tags – a nice gesture.  I am not sure if all guests receive this or only Platinum guests.

It might be that Platinum members get no recognition at all at this hotel besides 500 starpoints, if the little extras we got are offered to everybody (I am not sure).  Given the small number of rooms, I do not think you should expect an upgrade.  Breakfast is free for everybody so it is not a Platinum perk.  In general, I am very much the kind of person who wants to maximize bang for the buck so any hotel not giving me much in terms of Plat benefits will not be on my list, but this hotel is the exception which confirms the rule.  The hotel was so great in many ways that I do not need extra Platinum perks to come back.  Just keep in mind that if you want ultimate privacy and if you want to go to a resort that you will not leave at any time, then perhaps this is not for you.  But for us it was just perfect and I will be willing to pay a premium over Sheraton and LM again to be back at the Library.  Since I was perfectly happy there, I do not think I would pay even more for VB or W.  Perhaps they are worth the extra money (I cannot judge), but I do not feel the need to spend more based on our preferences.  Location is just perfect for us in Chaweng, the service in the Library is great, the room was fantastic, etc.