Saiyok River House — Hotel in Kanchanaburi Province

Great bungalow. Warm and cozy. Properly air conditioned. Comes with a kettle and a fridge that didn't work well. The hospitality itself was wonderful, service lady friendly during our late-afternoon check-in. Located in a walk down the rural path extended from the main road, with wild barking dogs. (We didn't mind, as it's a resort village, these things are to be expected, insofar as we were able to get back to the train station 1.8km away before sunrise at 5:30am.)

However, we hardly made it to the train before sunrise after the receptionist / house sitter of the night assuring us that she'd be able to bench-truck us before sunrise (a simplefive minute transportation). Instead our calls weren't responded to from 500-530am. As situation became tighter we decided to walk on our own in the dark. This resulted in us walking almost two kilometers on a dimlit road with packs wild feral dogs barking and chasing us every two minutes. Had to fend them off with long bamboo sticks. Almost missed the train but luckily caught it two minutes within its arrival time (5:50am at Tham Kraesae station). None of what I wrote is truly considered real problems for backpackers and adventurers alike. However hotel service should provide what they initially agreed to provide in order to avoid complications and inconveniences for other foreigners. (i.e. wild animals aside, missing the train could be a serious problem for some people. Partner also wasn't able to walk well due to a foot injury and us running resulted in further medical problems...

This is, without a doubt - the worst service of anywhere I have ever stayed in south-east Asia.

The location of this place is gorgeous.

Unfortunately everything else is not.

We arrived and checked in and immediately the woman at reception had an odd, unwelcoming demeanour.

We went to get food from the kitchen at 630 and there was no one there or at reception. We tried calling and ringing from the room (which told us to dial 0) - but there was no phone. We then called the manager to ask how we should order food, he told us to go to the kitchen - when we arrived the woman from reception was there, clearly annoyed that we had called.

The next day we went to check out - it was pouring rain - we ordered a taxi from reception, from a different employee - which arrived quickly. The same woman from reception then sent him away, and then told us we would have to pay 1,200 baht to get a taxi from the hotel. (Clearly through someone she knew)

When we asked if we could get a tuk tuk into the nearby village to get a train, she told us it did not work. We then asked her for a number of a different taxi service - the number she gave us did not work. After we said that we would just walk instead (in the pouring rain) suddenly the tuk tuk was operational again. This was clearly her trying to push us into taking the overpriced taxi she had arranged. We decided to walk.

Do not stay here. Do not waste your time and money. The location is pretty, but the place is not well maintained and the staff do not...

Service was borderline terrible. The woman in the front desk was nice, but she could barely speak english. We arrived at around 4pm in the property and upon arrival asked the staff if we can still go to krasae cave since its only 2km away. She said that the tuktuk can take us for about 80 baht. We waited for almost 30 minutes and the tuktuk still can't be found. So, I told her if by 5 minutes the tuktuk haven't arrived yet, then just cancel it. After which I told her that we wanted to catch the first train out of Kanchanaburi and the train in the nearest station Thorn Krasae will depart by 5:45 am. At first she said that we can leave by 5:30 am, but due to our previous experience (or no experience) with the tuktuk, we opted to leave the hotel by 5am. I even told her multiple times to make sure she understood that we wanted to leave by 5 am as we didn't want to miss the train. The next day came and the tuktuk driver was nowhere to be found. I told my sisters to stay calm till about 5:10 then we started walking around the property to look for the tuktuk driver. Finally at about 5:15 we decided to just walk the 2.5 km towards the train station. :( Super bad service and unreliable staff.||||Positive: The view around the property is nice though. It is situated right beside the kwai river and they have a raft down in the river where you can sit and wait...