bdschobel

I still regard those prices as too high. I would bet that lower rates are available to walk-ins.

Bruce

haveric

As an FYI, I stayed at the new Renaissance last week. Although I booked a garden deluxe room (in the main hotel building) we were upgraded to a pool villa due to the renovations.

The main building (and its accompanying lap pool) were closed, and renovations could be heard to be ongoing when walking past (although we heard little if any noise from our villa, the restaurants, or the pool).

The resort was nearly empty -- we never saw more than 10-15 other people, and we basically had the main pool to ourselves.

The service was outstanding, in particular the breakfast, where the staff practically begged us to cook something to order (great waffles and omelettes).

Afternoon tea, served in your villa, was also complementary.

Thunderroad

Sounds nice! What side of the island is it on? Any sunset views?

haveric

The resort is on the East side of the island, about 10 minutes from Chaweng Beach (the main beach town on the island) and a few minutes north of Lamai (the second largest beach town).

Although on the East side, the resort's beach faces (roughly) south and the sunset to your right over the island and Lamai Beach as looking out over the Gulf of Thailand.

http://www.samui.org/map/map-c3.html (see Buriraya) for it's exact location.

Richard1148

I assume these times are by car. Are there any restaurants, shops, markets or mini-marts within walking distance?

c699534

Just be on the lookout for "Jack Byrnes" involved in covert operations there.

"Jack talk Thai real good!"

(Reference from "Meet The Parents", of course)

haveric

There are a few small resorts with some affordable restaurants adjacent to the resort. These are on the lane that connects the resort to the main ring road. Once there, there are some food stalls and other things as you go south. I understand that Lamai beach is walkable (to the south) but we did not walk down that way.

Chaweng Beach, the main town seemed too far to walk. However, there was a motorbike rental place about 100 yards from the resort, so that's an alternative to Samui's "taxis" which are actually just pickup trucks with benches...

Kent Maury

As general manager of the newly rebranded Renaissance Koh samui Resort and Spa a couple of things:
1. The life safety upgrade (sprinklers / smoke deetectors and the only resort in Samui with the entire hotel done - a Marriott international brand standard) in all villas will be completed by December 15. All deluxe rooms are complete.
2. There isn't a "better rate" for walk-in guests as we price based on best value for the time of year.
3. we will open a new al fresco restaurant mid December overlooking Lamai and it will be very special.
4. anyone can now determine availability vis marriott.com
5. we were the old Buriraya Resort
6. the entire resort is great, the gardens just super and our new spa products will be introduced January 15
Let me know if you'd like aditional information. we're here to serve.

Richard1148

Kent, welcome to FlyerTalk. I have a reward stay booked for next May at the Renaissance Koh Samui Resort and Spa, so I will stop by and say hello. In case you aren't aware of this, FlyerTalk members should be upgraded to a suite and get extra amenities.

bhatnasx

Hi Kent!

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

I was actually in Surat Thani last week & was planning on staying at your property - but was unable to get to Samui due to the ferries from Surat apparently being shut down! One of my friends in Surat made it to Samui said that the Chaewang Beach part of the island was pretty flooded - hopefully your hotel didn't sustain any damages with that flooding!

Next time I head to Samui or Surat, I'll be sure to check out your hotel - for what its worth, I did actually call from Surat to check on the status of the hotel & whether it was open & your reservations team there was very friendly & spoke english very well! Looking forward to staying there one of these days!

Festus

I am planning a trip to Ko Samui and am considering booking the Renaissance but am somewhat hesitant due to the lack of reports here. Has anyone stayed there recently after completion of all the makeovers?

rebadc

Bump.

Any recent reports?

snorkmaster

Re-bump.

And, Mr. Maury, if you're still around, do you offer upgrades to Marriott Platinum members based on availability.

Richard1148

I had a reward stay there a couple of weeks ago. As a lowly Silver, we were upgraded to the deluxe wing. The room was very nice with hardwood floors, comfy bed, an outdoor jucuzzi tub, porch overlooking the sea, and Thai furnishings. They have two pools. One is a very long pool, obviously for swimming laps. The other is by the beach and is the one we used. The beach has lots of interesting rock formations and a view of another island in the distance. The water is only waist deep for a long way, but once you get out a ways, there are a lot of tropical fish you can see snorkeling. (We had our own masks & snorkels with us).

The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. They have a free shuttle bus to Cheweng Beach, where you can do some shopping or go to one of the many restaurants. The times are limited to only 4 departures and 3 returns (if you take the last departure at 7:00 PM, you have to get your own way back), but it worked OK for us.

My wife loved the hotel and is ready to go back. As a category 4, I think it is a good use of points.

JanetPlanet

I didn't know fish snorkeled