The Royal Sands Koh Rong — Hotel in Koh Rong

Hotel's value for money was not justified ·Extremely overpriced at €1,060 per night incl. half board for an Ocean View Pool Villa. This was the "best" available offer at the time of booking across platforms, travel agencies, and direct booking. Ocean View Pool Villa: Spacious rooms with a large terrace and private pool at a comfortable temperature. Two lanterns were provided, which was a nice touch in the evenings. However, no sunbeds on the terrace—though they were delivered upon request. The terrace wood was severely damaged (!), making it unsafe to walk barefoot. The glass walls in the toilet and indoor shower were covered with fingerprints from previous guests or staff, which was unhygienic. The room itself was lovely, featuring a fantastic outdoor shower (!) with perfect water pressure and great view, overlooking your pool. The bathroom was large and well-designed, but without air conditioning, it became uncomfortably hot. The room could not be fully darkened (which affects sleep quality). The wine glasses were removed but not replaced twice. Room service was efficient with friendly service, but housekeeping should check toiletries refills more consistently—our conditioner was empty. Hotel area: Beautiful, gardener and cleaning staff are doing a great job. Restaurants: We had fantastic meals at both restaurants—every dish was exceptionally delicious, high quality, beautifully presented, and well-portioned! We absolutely loved the food—kudos to the chef team! Restaurants have a nice design, one more fancy, the other one more casual. Service: Restaurant service was excellent—staff were friendly and attentive! Beach: A stunning private beach with fine white sand and crystal-clear water, complete with a hammock and swing. However, there was no drink service during the day—you have to go to the bar to order (not 5-star standard). No towel service either—you must pick up your own towels from a station, where staff in the hut were mostly on their phones instead of assisting guests. Very few sunbed tables across the beach, so you need to collect them by yourself or have to place your bag and clothes in the sand. The sunbeds were terrible—those kind of plastic sun beds without cushions (!!), making them uncomfortable and unstylish (lying on your front for tanning was painful). WiFi in the sunbed area was mostly weak or non-functional. There were enough sunbeds available, which was a plus. A great happy hour on the beach from 5-7 PM. Birthday: We received a birthday message on the bed and a nice cake, but my partner’s name was completely wrong (while mine was correct), for us not a big deal, but others might not like this. Before arrival, we informed the hotel that we were celebrating a very special birthday, and they requested copies of our passports (which felt a bit strange, to be honest). Unfortunately, we were not offered a room upgrade which would have been nice due to special occasion. Management & Check-out: We saw the General Manager only once (we recognized him from a photo), but he was not present or engaged with us during our stay. Guest connection is crucial in hospitality, and it was disappointing that no one asked for feedback at check-out. However, the staff waved goodbye at the jetty, which was a nice touch. Mosquitoes: There were many, many mosquitoes, though the hotel provided insect repellent. We were bitten a lot, but the bites did not swell—so it seems like they have good sandfly prevention measures in place, which was important to us. Boat Transfer: The hotel's boat transfer costs $40 per person, per way and is offered only twice a day, while public speedboat ferries charge $14 per person, per way. Hotel was not so into it recommending one of the public boat providers. For this high price you need to deliver 100% 5* quality. No drink- and towel service during day on the beach, broken terrace wood, quality of sunbeds and some missing items/inattentiveness are areas of improvement. AC in bathroom would be great. Keep the...

It honestly pains me to write a negative review for such a nice hotel, on a beautiful and spectacular beach, with genuinely friendly and welcoming staff.

But my girlfriend and I checked out of the Royal Sands last Friday (5 days ago), and we are STILL covered head to toe in itchy, painful, and unsightly sand fly bites covering our entire bodies. Unfortunately, the beach is absolutely infested with these tiny demons.

While the hotel does warn you about them and provides unlimited bug spray around the property (we probably went through five bottles, constantly reapplying), it seems as if it was largely ineffective if you spend most of your time on the beach.

I do get that this is part of “mother nature,” but I really don’t think the hotel is doing enough to actively mitigate the problem. I’ve stayed at other properties with insect issues where they spray multiple times a week and take clear, visible steps to reduce the problem. Here, we didn’t see anything like that over our 5-day stay… just a heads-up and some bug spray. And honestly, I don’t care if it’s a hostel or a five-star hotel—if you can’t sit on the beach without getting eaten alive, it needs to be addressed for guest comfort and safety.

That said, the hotel itself is very nice. We had a beach villa with a huge comfortable bed and a lovely outdoor shower. The food was generally good—especially the custom-order whole fish (even if it was a jaw-dropping $70usd, which is wild for Cambodia). The cold beef salad was excellent, Khmer style ceviche was delicious, and the soups—particularly the corn velouté and the seafood bisque—were fantastic. There were some misses however, notably the pork tenderloin which was basically inedible.

I will also echo what some other reviewers have said about the loungers by the beach and pool—they’re not very comfortable. And we were a bit disappointed by the lack of proactive beach service. Yes, you can WhatsApp the team, but the Wi-Fi at the beach was spotty. I suspect it wasn’t more actively monitored because we were usually the only ones on the beach, likely because of the sand flies.

There’s huge potential here, but until the sand fly situation is taken seriously and dealt with more aggressively, I wouldn’t recommend staying.

UPDATE AFTER MANAGER REPLY::

Thanks for the response. Just a few clarifications: we never said this was our honeymoon, in fact no one reached out to us before the stay—I had to email the hotel myself a couple days prior just to confirm boat timing. But thank you for the free bottle of Prosecco.. even if the messaging was awkward/confusing!

And on further reflection—even if it had been our honeymoon (which again, it wasn’t)—the hotel really should show more discretion when posting that kind of personal detail publicly on Google. That’s my information to share, not yours.

We also never saw or declined any cream for the sand fly bites; maybe it was mentioned at checkout when I was visibly scratching nonstop. But for other guests who are suffering post stay, note that Fucicort Cream (Prescription Antibioitc Corticosteroid) helped when nothing else did.

I appreciated many things about the stay, but was surprised by the defensive tone of the response—listing basics like providing 4 beach towels instead of 2 or turning down the room while we were at dinner instead of when we were watching the sunset (and before we got ready for dinner). Those are standard for a resort at this level. And oddly, the one time we requested a sheet change, it didn’t happen.

Also, thank you for moving the boat time so we didn’t miss our flight. We were the only paying guests onboard, and it was suggested by your staff, but still appreciated.

Overall, I recognize a lot of effort is being made, and we were thankful for the warmth of the staff. But the sand fly situation and a few details around communication left us feeling more frustrated than we expected to be after what should have been a relaxing...

Koh Rong is wonderful! It's a shame that the beaches are being privatized. And before the manager answers based on contradictions like in the previous post, I would like to clarify a few things:

Manager: “While the beach and sea in Cambodia are public, the land adjacent to the beach, including access points, facilities, and areas within the resort's boundaries, is private property. The resort is responsible for maintaining the cleanliness and safety of the beachfront within these boundaries. Signs and guards are in place to ensure that only paying guests access the resort's facilities and services, which include loungers, recreational equipment, and exclusive areas.”

A: If the manager claims to be AWARE of the Cambodian law on the fact that the beaches are PUBLIC, why do they restrict FREE TRANSIT on the sandy beach, which people use for morning jogging, walking, etc., contradicting the law? NO ONE is trying to use their facilities, accesses, or comfort elements (private) that have been unscrupulously placed within the PUBLIC area as shown in the hotel's own photos. I attach the first photo:

M.- However, it seems there continues to be resistance to respecting private property boundaries. Our policies are in place to maintain the exclusivity and premium experience.

A: No. The hotel is once again showing RESINTENSE to continue denying free transit on the coastline! Your privacy ends at the coastline! Your property does NOT include the coastline! This is guaranteed by the Cambodian government!

As we can see in the public photo of the hotel, it can be seen that the chairs are almost in the sea, disregarding the above-mentioned law. We also see how they have ILLEGALLY built artificial gardens in the middle of the coastline, claiming that it is part of their property and not allowing tourists to walk freely.

Clearly, it shows a bad intention of the resort, which only seeks to benefit its guests, overriding the rights of locals and tourists who want to freely walk along the beaches, not to mention the serious breach of local laws!

Finally, it is important to remember that Cambodia is a developing country with significant tourism potential that would help develop the local economy and improve the quality of life of its inhabitants, not just the luxury sector.

There are several types of tourists, clearly differentiated by the UNWTO, all of whom should feel welcomed by the country. This type of action by some private groups leaves a negative image.

Free...