Banyan Tree Samui

1   Not Recommended
January 15, 2011 by EXPERT

 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended
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Banyan Tree Samui
 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended

Save

Share
Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats

The Banyan Tree Koh Samui opened during the summer 2010 and was only mentioned a couple of times before on the forum. We visited mid December 2010. We then went to the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui. In a nutshell, the FS is a much better option, especially if you travel with children. IMHO, the rate difference does not justify the drop in service quality. The BT shares some of its design issues with the FS: both are built on a very steep hill which makes walking difficult. In both, the rooms are designed somewhat more for effect than for efficiency and comfort. But problems are worse in the BT. For one thing, the hotel is built on a horseshoe so buggy rides are even more roller-coaster-ish than in the FS: depending on where you are and where you want to go, you may have to go down first (to beach level) then up again...

Room

The other thing which is not immediately obvious from the web site and pictures is how dense the resort is. It would have been a lot better with half of the villas. It would have allowed a lot more privacy as well. If despite my report you go and book a beachfront villa, ask for 1 to 4. 6 and 7 really front the pool and are right on the path from the beach to anywhere (we had 7). Also, the bathroom has rolling shades on its windows, but it's not very opaque at night (when there is light in the bathroom but none outside). The effect is not entirely dissimilar to what you get with those new airport scanners (we tried).

Service

Service is OK, people are friendly and try their best -- but I cannot escape feeling some amateurism in the design effort: there's a kid's pool but no lounger next to it. The empty restaurant allocates us 3 a single table already too small for 2 (considering the large and nice tableware). The buggy path were being improved to allow crossing areas (who thought people would walk?). Some parts of the villa already looking dated 6 months after opening. The luggage closet is miniature (the villa is not that big in the end - the room is bigger at the FS). And for the grand finale: the steam iron clearly visible in the "closet" when using the designer bathroom

Pool

I cannot report on the beach or the pool because we did not stay long enough. On arrival, the hotel tried to get us to sign a liability waiver for 6-year-old son, something like "I have been informed the resort is dangerous for kids below 12 and will not hold the hotel liable... blah blah blah". Now, we had booked via the best pro travel FSPP agent lurking around this forum, the hotel knew from the start we were coming with a 6-year-old... but did not mention their policy before checkin (in our villa - which BTW had no extra bed ready for our son). There's no mention of this policy on the website, but the kids club (and pool) *are* mentioned. Huh?  

Overall

Needless to say we talked to GM who informed us this was standard procedure. The same apparently happens in the BT Phuket, and apparently again everybody signs. We didn't and arranged to check out the next morning heading for the FS (which had no forms and a bed (and more) ready for our son on arrival). For the record, the hotel understood our decision and managed everything with style and professionalism. As for the FS Samui, it's not perfect and, yes, Trisara is a better resort. But the food was good, the beach very useable for us, the buggy service efficient, the service immaculate and friendly, and we did not want to leave...

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