Novotel Samui Resort Chaweng Beach Kandaburi, Koh Samui

Initially we were very disappointed for the 1st night as hillside rooms are old & in need of updating & refurbishment . Also lot of mosquitoes and my daughter's legs were full of mosquito bites . Next day we spoke to reception and Kanda & their entire helpful ever - smiling staff more than made up for it by offering us a very nice beachside room & we loved the rest of the stay ! The breakfast could stay open till 10.30 or 11 - as we are on vacation & thus , at leisure would be nice !

The gentleman at the front desk immediately requested our passports (not unusual) but also took our personal 3 week itinerary to copy -- I did not want to provide this as it included our personal information but the gentleman insisted -- and promised to return immediately. They left us waiting 15 minutes while assisting other guests. They proceeded to bring us to the luggage shuttle, my wife tripped and fell when climbing the 2' step and I was on the other side, the 2 men in the front laughed and did not offer assistance. When at our room we discovered our personal itinerary had not been returned and had to call to have it delivered. We stayed on the mountain side and the walk was quite an obstacle course. You needed to go down several flights of stairs go through the breakfast restaurant; then down a path, more stairs and down the hill and across the busy road. The breakfast buffet was good if not a little boring after 6 days, but the staff was friendly and attentive. The cleaning staff were also friendly and cleaned well, but the towels left for guests were old, frayed and ripped and you never knew if you would be left washcloths or enough towels. A hotel of this quality should have better linens. We enjoyed the island tours, but after renting motor scooters for 2 days, decided the roads were a little crazy to navigate safely. I would not suggest this hotel as there are several of higher quality and location on the island. We will not be staying here again.

liked it

Check in was poor - discovered we had to pay for wifi and that there were no rooms with a pool view (even though that was our booking). Hotel is on a hill - a lot of the rooms are the other-side of a busy main road (not children friendly). Rooms were clean and tidy. The hotel is a long way from the main town area.

We were really disapointed with the hotel. It has the potential to be a nice hotel (location, beach, pool are nice), but it was definitely worth the price we paid (130€ per night) avcording to Thailand standards. Room was not clean. All is in extra charge: wifi, espresso at breakfast (they do have the espresso machine, but it is an extra charge to have one...) The hotel is just outside Chaweng, so it is a 20/30 mn walk to get in the center. The hotel say they have a car to take you there, but it is only at 11am, 3pm, and 9pm. Whichbis really ot enough, and it looks like this schedule has been setup on purpose not to be usefull...