smokie

Could anyone who has stayed at both resorts provide an opinion of whether a 5-night stay at the W Retreat Koh Samui is worth 52k more points than Vana Belle? It's 156k vs 104k for the 2 properties respectively under this promotion.

I have stayed at Vana Belle, and loved it, but can't help but think that W Retreat might be even more amazing...

Any advice would be appreciated!

TIA

dannybhoy

Like you I've stayed at VB but not the W (summer 2013). The W seems to out of the way for me (much further from Chaweng where my wife and I had developed an unhealthy obsession with Green Bird restaurant). Moreover, the impression that I got from FT was that the W's beach was inferior to that of V and that was a big deal for us.

ftrichard

Not the you've listed it, but under no circumstances stay at the Sheraton Samui. Despite a recent refurbishment the property is an embarrassment to Starwood and its treatment of SPG guests is derisory.

HHQX888

We was at VB, Sheraton and LeMeridien.

1. Le Meridien - very good stay, nice GM touch
2. VB - overpriced hotel, we have much better stay in Bora Bora with this price level
3. Sheraton - it is TUI/Thomson joke (this same owner as VB I think)

EuropeanPete

I actually really like Le Meridien too and it's my usual and frequent choice in Koh Samui, but personally I don't think it compares to the W, or the photos that I've seen of VB.

The W villas are very impressive and the views are beautiful, but the beaches aren't up to much and the inevitable effort at the "W vibe" means that I would presume VB would feel more luxurious and relaxing. If I had the points for a long break I'd try the VB personally.

3rdworldresident

Been to W, VB (twice) and LM.

My pick would be W.

yosithezet

Schoflyer was at the W and VB both in the same week. See his reviews in their respective threads. He started at the VB and then moved to the W. After one night at the W, they canceled the rest of the stay and returned back to the VB.

dannybhoy

Personally, I would pay 104k points for 5 nights at VB but probably not the non-discounted daily rate of 26k and certainly not the non-discounted daily rate of 39k at W. For me, it comes down to a question of usage of points rather than the merits of each resort.

'Less of course I was trying to burn a million points asap.

schoflyer

Yup. We were outta there fast!

VB was a slice of heaven. Pool, beach, nice dining. Rooms were great and offered privacy with a view.

The W seemed a little tired. We had a pool villa. The room was nice but stains on the sun bed turned us off a bit as did the giant cockroach that liked our bathroom wall. Yup it the tropics. Yup, yup. yup.

The ice cream bars were cool. Dining was not exceptional. Beach wasn't great for us. It was kind of a windswept point. We wanted romance not drinking and disco balls.

We woke up in the morning after the assorted issues the night before and decided to bolt back to VB because our time there was epic.

We called for a golf cart saying we were leaving, the GM met us in the lobby, we apologized and asked for our points back. Great service guy. Comped us our night via a full refund and had his hotel car take us back to VB.

If you want to spend your time in your villa enjoying your pool villa in peaceful privacy maybe give it a shot.

If you'd rather spend quality time outside your your room on property stick with VB and keep the 50K points (which is 5 nights at the SGS)!

What promo BTW?

yosithezet

Paradise is Closer [35%off Top End Property Point redemptions] Relaunches 1 Sep '16

smokie

Thanks everyone for your advice. I've booked the VB for 15 nights on the Paradise is Closer rate (works out to 20,800 points per night). Broke up the stay with a foray over for a 3 day / 2 night stay in Khao Sok National Park on the mainland with Elephant Hills (http://elephanthills.com/).

Has anyone done this trip with the transfer to and from Koh Samui? How was the experience? Any logistical issues?

Thanks again in advance!

Los_Pepes

I know you already booked this trip but I wanted to add my $.02.

My wife and I went to Koh Samui last March. When looking for hotels I only checked SPG properties and we ended up at the LM. The staff is pretty good but we did not think much of the property.

We hired a LM driver for the day and while out and about decided to stop in at the Four Seasons for lunch. I cannot in any more emphatic way state that the FS on Koh Samui is the most gorgeous place I have ever seen. The GM of the FS saw us get out of a LM car and he came us to us to introduce himself. He was an absolute awesome guy. He took us in his golf cart and showed us the resort, answered all of our inane questions and dropped us off the restaurant for lunch. He even opened the gift shop for us to buy a shirt. He was from Vegas and was just an all around great representative of the Four Seasons.

If I had it to do all over again I would never have stayed at the LM and would have spent the cash (and most likely gone into debt) to have stayed at the Four Seasons. It is that awesome. At a minimum stop in for lunch and hopefully Jeff Rednour is around to show you the property.

smokie

I hear awesome reviews about most FS properties worldwide, and we'd love to stay there. But it's about $25k ($CAN) for 15 nights, which we just can't afford...

So I'll burn 300k Starpoints and enjoy my Platinum benefits while they last. I think it's an OK redemption (>3c/point).

I'll be sure to scout the FS for my post-SPG life though...

BritishUnited2014

In a similar situation. I booked the Vana Belle and the Four Seasons (higher price point), both via FHR and both cancellable.

When are you traveling to Koh Samui? What room did you redeem? BTW re: upgrades with SPG Plat status, the hotel will not offer upgrades (I called to check and per their website: "Resort is an all Suite property; so not applicable for SPG member upgrades").

3rdworldresident

If budget isn't an issue, i will stay at Four seasons definitely.