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Reviews of recent stays |
Comment on the hotel |
F & J
2008-04-19 until 2008-04-28 |
Santhiya
Resort and Spa, Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi
Santhiya is a very nice resort in a beautiful landscape. Rooms:
We stayed 9 nights in the villa suite. They are available with indoor
and outdoor bathroom. We had first the outdoor version and changed
it after a week into the indoor one. For a few days it is a nice
experience, but if you are sensitive to bugs, heat, or rain, better
choose the other version. The rooms are nicely designed and decorated.
The cleanliness is very good. Management & staff: like everywhere
in Thailand every employee is very friendly and smiles all the time.
Unfortunately this is sometimes their only competence. For a 5 star
resort it happens very often that you recieve answers like sorry,
i don t know, I have to check paired with a sincere smile when asking
even simple questions. But that terrible inefficiency seems to be
normal in Thailand. We experienced that even in American Hotels
like the Millenium Hilton in Bangkok. If you have crucial questions
better ask one of the managers. F&B: The food in both restaurants
is very good and compared to western countries reasonably priced.
Due to the fact that wages in Thailand are 90% lower than in some
western countries, we did not unterstand why the food is only 10-20%
cheaper than in Europe. That s the reasons why most of the guests
visit after a couple of days only the restaurants outside the resort
at the beach, where prices are 50% lower. Due to the fact that Santhiya
offers NO bar that is opened in the evening it is necessary to leave
the resort anyways, when you are not willing to spend the time after
dinner only in your room. Overall impression: All in all Santhiaya
is perfect for honeymooners and couples looking for silence and
privacy. If you are interested in meeting other people or even entertainment,
you probably get bored pretty soon. But for relaxation and some
sort of luxury away from the cheep and crowded bars of koh samui,
Santhiya is probably one of the best places in south east Thailand. |
Martin Haas
2007-09-09 until 2007-09-18 |
Santhiya Resort and Spa, Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi
Excellent! The best place to stay at tong nan Pan beach! Not cheap
but the price is worth it! We ve had a seaview villa with an extra
bathtub on the veranda. All roooms and villas are very beautiful,
some have their own pool. the staff is extremly friendly, food excellent.
they have a private beach but it takes just minutes to walk to the
bars and restaurants on the main beach |
FEDERICO ESTEBAN LUNA
2007-07-09 until 2007-07-16 |
Santhiya Resort and Spa, Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi
Nice Resort. You have to call a golf car each time you want to move
around. Prices are very high compare to the places on the next beach
but service is not comparable. Quite dificult to escape from the
resort to the next beach, you have to climb some rocks and you need
a torch at night. |
Peter J. Collins
2007-01-02 until 2007-01-05 |
Santhiya Resort and Spa, Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi
We stayed for three nights at peak-peak-peak season, and experienced
extremes - both good and bad. Good: the room was great, the views
lovely, the staff friendly, the food excellent (50 - 100% more expensive
than the food down the beach, but worth it), the pool very nice,
the facilities well-maintained. No problem with our bill. Bad: Extremely
poor management. Gossip is that they have to keep replacing their
managers. Only one waiter seemed to be able to understand English,
and had to explain things to the other waiters like where the napkins
and ashtrays were kept. Getting to the place was no problem and
check-in was fine, but then we waited (and called three different
people) for over 2 hours to get our luggage! Check-out was fine,
but trying to get back to Koh Samui was dreadful: the boat was to
leave at 1:30, but a group of tourists paid them to do an extra
run just for them - leaving at 12:50! It s 40+ minutes either way,
and we didn t leave until 2:50, some tourists trying to catch a
4:00 plane! That whole 90-minute period was fraught; each staff
person we asked had a different story: The boat s coming in 10 minutes,
30 minutes, has to refuel, coming in 15 minutes. The problems seem
to be that the owner (in competition with his brother who owns the
20-year-old resort down the beach) is just too greedy; they continue
to build and build, and some guests had really questionable charges
to their rooms. The other problem is that the staff are all stuck
in a dorm and work long hours, so they quit and have to constantly
be replaced. Having said all this, we did enjoy our time, and like
the idea of an independently run resort. But they need to do some
research into how chains run their hotels and develop a staff training
program which includes basic English, promptness, and honesty. |
Oliver Goggi
2006-12-24 until 2006-12-28 |
Santhiya Resort and Spa, Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi
Really lovely place. Beautiful hotel rooms with lovely view, loads
of amazing woodwork in every building, There is a private beach
which is okay, and an amazing, though inexplicably cold swimming
pool. Food was great at breakfast, but the lunch and evening restaurant
food fell a little short for me. Like everywhere it seems in Thailand,
there is building work going on in the background, but it didn t
really affect our time there. Staff are great, and golf buggies
a nice touch. |
Brian Smith
2006-09-11 until 2006-09-12 |
Santhiya Resort and Spa, Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi
The Santhiya is under construction and will be a lovely hotel in
a year or so, but avoid if possible for the time being. Bad start
to the trip, but we went with the flow and went to the ferry dock
got the local backpacker's boat over, were greeted by a lovely truck
at Kho Pangan after our speed boat was "not available due to mechanical
failure". Then hellishly jostled shaken and stirred for the next
50 minutes on dilapidated roads with giant fissures from heavy rains.
After complaining about the trip, the manager upgraded our room
to ocean view and it was quite nice, elegant and cozy. The pool
is new and doesn't have enough mature foliage yet, but it is quite
massive and fun to be in. Be careful of all the rough boulders around
the edges! Not a kid friendly pool. The beach is terrible on your
feet, but could be OK for swimming once in, but you'll need to bring
water shoes. Many couples seemed to be enjoying the kayaks. On the
return, they rustled up a boat for hire and we were taken back to
Kho Samui directly. What a difference it made! You're looking at
just shy an hour vs. two the other way. Wouldn't recommend or stay
at this hotel again. Could be fun if you want isolation, a rugged
beach, and privacy. The TV was huge, by the way. The pool villas
looked especially gorgeous. Oh, don't bother with the front desk
at night. We called at 3:30 to get mosquito repellent or coils or
something and no one ever answered. |
Laura Dowsing
2006-07-28 until 2006-08-02 |
Santhiya Resort and Spa, Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi
The hotel is beautiful with stunning views over one of the nicest
beaches on the island. However I can not reccomend the hotel because
it has lots of problems that really do need addressing and quick.
We checked in at the end of July taking advantage of the soft opening
promotion- pay for 3 nights and get 2 free. We arrived to find that
the hotel was nowhere near finished with building work going on
everywhere (including in the room under ours) and not sceduled to
be finished til December 2006!However we didn t let this bother
us too much as we were there to enjoy Koh Phangnan and not sit around
the hotel all day. The main problem at the hotel was the service
(or distinct lack of it!). The staff didn t seem to have a clue
what they were doing at all. There seemed to be no decent management
and nobody around who knew how to run a hotel. Breakfast was cold
5 days in a row, you were left waiting for ages at reception even
though there were about 4 staff working and trying to get a golf
buggy up to the room was near impossible! It was a joke and if the
hotel wants to charge ?300 per night for their best villa (which
may I add is on the side of the road) they need to sort it out.
The icing on the cake came on check out when the receptionist insisted
that we pay for a snickers bar out of the mini bar even though we
hadn t had it. We explained that we hadn t had it and even though
we had spent alot of money at the hotel the receptionist could not
let this one snickers bar go. It took her half an hour of ringing
various chamber maids before rather rudely she knocked it off the
bill. What a joke!The hotel is at the end of the same beach as the
Panviman and if you are looking for a decent hotel in the area I
would definatelly opt for the Panviman over the Santhiya! If only
I can be a fly on the wall when this hotel gets a few more guests.
They are not going to know what hits them. |
Ron Sculatti
2006-07-07 until 2006-07-09 |
Santhiya Resort and Spa, Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi
after resort was only open 8 days, we had it to ourselves. our bungalow
was 104 and we were in heaven. the teak structure was impeccible,
very romantic, esp. the outdoor bathtub on the deck. the staff,
GM Arfan, Sao, and the spa staff all were very courteous and to
be cherished. Massages were perfect, esp. the Thai massages. the
meal service was slow, considering the occupancy rate being so low.
also the bar service at the pool was virtually non-existent. loved
the pools tho,and the beach needs some sand brought in. overall
experience was fabulous, can t wait to return, and I m a travel
agent... thank you for a very romantic holiday, should be considered
for the ideal honeymoon. |
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