three stories walk up, in addition to walking up several hills?
did you celebrate your anniversary, or planned to train for a marathon during your vacation?

They do off dining which makes it reasonable IMO especially the "street market" dining they do on a Sat (if I recall correctly) especially with the wine package...

Spa Im not sure

Arrived at the Ritz Carlton Koh Samui for a 5 day stay. So far the property looks amazing. Stayed at the Four Seasons Koh Samui 2 years ago and was reluctant to try the Ritz but so far I'm impressed. Booked an Exclusive Pool Villa and was upgraded as an Ambassador to an Ultimate Pool Villa with unobstructed views. The views from the villa are breathtaking. We're right on the beach but away from the pool and noise. Service has been great, food is very good. Here are some pictures from the living room and patio/deck. Will post more later.

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Currently at the RCKS and thus far during out stay the service has been amazing. Was a little weary prior due to mixed reviews, but everyone has been very pleasant. Used points for a 5 night stay, and was upgraded to an ocean view room. To my surprise, breakfast was also included. Not sure if that was because of being a lowly Gold Elite or? Didn't find anything on the website that would guarantee breakfast with a points stay.

Room is great, view is also amazing. There is a Ritz Carlton shuttle/taxi of sorts that will get you to and from most places if you book in advance. For most locations, the price has been 500 Thai Baht, which is about $17 USD. After two days of this, my wife and I figured it would just make more sense to rent a car, which ended up costing us $30 USD a day. I would say either a scooter or car is necessary to get around - free parking at the Ritz for both.

Also, one other thing to keep in mind - food is very expensive here at the hotel. Not that it was a huge surprise to us, but I guess my wife and I thought the mark-up was absurd. For example, on Saturday nights they do an outdoor "Street Food" all-you-can-eat buffet which includes sparkling wine. The cost? About $80 USD per person before the 17% tax and service charge. Considering you can buy street food at the local markets for less $1 per food item.... $80 seems nuts. I certainly couldn't eat $80 worth of street food.....

Once a week they also have a manager's cocktail hour overlooking the beach with a sunset view. Very nice touch, and you get to meet a lot of the property managers. Drinks were free, and you could have as many as you wanted. I plan to have a full review of the property at some point.

So I've been debating booking a stay here for quite a while but those photos have possibly just sold it, wow. How would you rate the quality of the interior of the villas? I was feeling pretty good about my current suite until I saw that! https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/images/icons/icon10.gif

The villas are fantastic. Pretty large with living room, bedroom and spacious bathroom. But the best is the view. I haven't had a view like this from a private pool in any of the previous resorts IU've stayed at on Koh Samui. The villa views beat the Four Seasons which had been my favorite resort. I would try and get an Ultimate Pool Villa if you can.

Is the swim reef here actually a natural pool inland or part of the ocean as a roped-off reef section? That seems a bit misleading if the former.

W is similar . . . while there is a real beach (with very coarse sand), the water is not inviting. VB beach (Chaweng Noi) is better. Library, on Chaweng, probably offers the best beach of the Samui properties. Samui is not a great beach location overall.

I'm deciding between the RC, VB and W. Since you have stayed at all three, I would greatly appreciate any information on each of the properties. Thanks! Breakfast Buffet, dining and the beach are my priorities.

Since the beach and breakfast are your priorities, i would strongly suggest Vana Belle. However, their base suite is kinda boring, bland and nothing special. No significant upgrade to be expected unless you pay for it.

I found W samui has lost some of its WOW factors, but still overall a better W resort in the entire folio. I would love to return but its price always seems to be the highest of the 3 and also hard to do the BRG claim.

RC has upped its game so much since the opening so it’s not a bad choice at all. I found the rate at RC quite often lower than the other two (much more rooms). they also treat elites very well (ex. upgrade to pool villa, free breakfast).

To me, as a local who quite familiar with the Island, all 3 properties have equally good service. No one stands out from the others.

Personally, i would choose RC more often than the rest because of its price point (yes, I'm poor). I don't care much about the beach because i would not go to koh samui for that at the beginning. (Much more spectacular beaches in other parts of Thailand and also lower cost.)

Appreciate your response! Definitely some good info here, however may still further cause indecisiveness for me. I can get an upgraded room at the RC for a decent rate, however at VB I can only get the base suite. I'm leaning towards the RC at this point, being able to forgo the nice beach requirement.

I plan to be go towards the end of Oct which I hope is non-peak season which should limit the number of families and kids in the pool. The pool seems like the largest out of the three. Breakfast is quite key as I like to work out as soon I wake up and would love to reward myself with a great breakfast afterwards.

On the other hand, I don't get to travel to resort or beach destinations often. Having a nice beach would really be quite a memorable experience.

First world problems, but still tough to make a choice!

Found a rate called Season of Discovery (min 2nights) where it is all inclusive (breakfast at Shook, lunch by the pool, three course set dinners at two selected restaurants).
9000bht++ / US$295++ per night for the standard Garden Suite. Seems like a very good rate to me? Any reasons why I shouldn't stay here other than I will be held captive on the resort (not that it really matters) unless Chaweng Beach and/or nightlife off the resort is amazing? I haven't been to Koh Samui for over a decade so things might have changed a fair bit since then.

That’s an excellent rate. I’m now considering changing my 5 nights on points to this rate.

It doesn’t appear to be a sale rate with a defined window for booking, rather something they’ve introduced separately. Let’s hope it remains for some time.