Long Beach Chalet — Hotel in Ko Lanta Yai

I stayed here for 12 days in a Lagoon room, with my husband, paying a decent amount of money for bed and breakfast. Our stay, on the whole, was relaxing and enjoyable, however there are some parts to this hotel (Some out of their control) that do need raising, as I feel the potential in this hotel Is huge but it misses the mark.

I’ll try and give a detailed review so others can come with a true understanding of what’s really on offer here.

The room:

The good:

•The lagoon room is spacious and nicely decorated with an indoor/outdoor bathroom and a large whirlpool type bath on the balcony.

•The AC was good and needed.

•The cleaning team, Apple and Ma, were truly excellent leaving us different characters made from towels every day, which brought A smile to our faces daily. Their cleaning standards were also impeccable.

•The complimentary water, snacks and soft drinks plus tea and coffee was replenished daily and a welcomed addition.

•Comfy and large beds.

The not so good:

•the bed deck design made it really difficult to get in and out of the bed close to the window, especially at night

•the water pressure in the bathroom was so bad I couldn’t even wash my hair properly.

•the noise from the local mosque, park and bar was a lot. Thankfully I travel with realllllly good earplugs. But having to wear them every night else you can hear everything isn’t ideal, albeit totally out of the hotels control

•small cleaning team means sometimes rooms aren’t cleaned until 2-3pm

The resort:

The good:

•lovely and clean and safe resort

•on a stunning section of Long beach. Clear Crystal waters and amazing swimming.

•tall trees line the beach offering the most perfect shade for most of the day

•good breakfast buffet

•wonderful, helpful staff at breakfast

•good coffee shop on site that has a good selection of drinks and alternative milks for anyone who is dairy free.

•you can walk up the beach in either direction to other places for food and drink And the same up to the road. There’s an array of restaurants in the local area to choose from.

•good massages at the massage hut for good prices

•breathwork sessions and yoga available too for an extra fee

•hard working grounds staff keep the beach clean and the gardens too

The not so good:

•there are no where near enough sun loungers for the size of the resort. This is especially problematic because non hotel patrons can come and use the services too. Either have double the amount of sun loungers or only allow hotel guests to Use them and ensure staff are checking this. We had to make sure we were done at breakfast and at a lounger by 8.30am to get one!

•the sun loungers are tied down so you cannot move them. This was an absolute pain in the arse when you’re as pale as me and want to chase the shade all day. You just couldn’t! It’s makes no sense. The bean bag chairs at Lym’s bar can be moved but they’re not good for sunbathing on all day. Too hot and sweaty and not supportive.

The food and restaurants.:

The good:

•the breakfast buffet was good and the staff Were so friendly and helpful, even making me something on request.

•the food at Lym’s bar was really tasty and varied.

The not so good:

•the soya milk at breakfast contains dairy milk. Thankfully I checked the carton with a translate app before I drank it. If offering soya milk it would be worth having a dairy free one. Oat milk is available but you have to ask for it.

•I understand Lym’s is not owned by the hotel. But it would be wise for the hotel owners to have a say in this as it does reflect badly on the hotel. The service in Lyms is pretty dire!!! Lack lustre, often without a smile (except the supervisor), so disorganised and sometimes damn right rude. Which is a huge shame, as there’s a lot of potential to make it a great bar/restaurant.

Would we stay again? Probably yes! As once we had found our routine and how the place works, we had a lovely time . But I would Be reluctant to stay again if the price increases much more as I think the hotel misses the mark on...

One of the most pleasant experiences I've had in a hotel. They can go from good to great with some small changes. Rooms were great (stayed at the front villa), staff very helpful. Breakfast hands down the best. Would come back again, especially if their lunch/dinners get better.

The only problem was the food at their restaurant (other than breakfast) was bad. So we had to go eat outside for every meal, which was painful in the high heat. To the hotel staff: please revamp Lym's kitchen and serve better and more authentic food. As a guest I'm more than happy to spend money on food for the comfort of staying at the hotel, but I expect high quality. Try to match the quality of places nearby like Anny's, May's kitchen, Mama Dang. Lym's kitchen is the grade of microwave food compared to those places. Improvement on food would go a long way. More authentic and spicy food, better variety and less American options. It's better to offer a small menu of exceptional choices, than to offer 100 things that are done poorly.

On top of improving food quality, you'd also want to add some more fruit options. Please sell me individual choices of various cold cut up fruits - green/yellow mango, dragon fruit, papaya, coconut etc. - and choices of various peeled seafoods - shrimp, crab, squid etc. Fruit and seafood is one of the reasons we all come to Thailand - and we're happy to pay for the options and quality. The terrible food and lack of fruit and seafood options (other than breakfast) is one of the reasons I don't want to come back.

As far as the pool goes, I'd love it if the pool was a few degrees colder. We spent the majority of our time by the pool (which was great) but it was a 7/10 experience that they can make a 10/10 with better filtering and cooler water. We felt like the pool was not properly cared for at times.

Lastly, at the cafe please add decaf as an option, and add low calorie options. Start accepting credit card payment or offer an ATM inside the hotel. As a guest, I don't want to have to carry cash to pay for coffee or to have to walk outside the hotel in the heat...

Amazing beach, with wonderful chaise seating tucked under lovely shade trees. Plenty of room for everyone even in peak season. Water is heavenly, perfect temperature and aqua / clear. Music at the restaurant wasn’t great-American easy listening circa 2010, or redundant club / party sound gave the dining experience a bit of a cheesy cruise ship vibe. Would have been lovely and elegant with either classic Thai music or more of a 20s/30s retro approach-are some great old-time jazz, etc.. Obviously people aren’t coming here for music, but it’s amazing how much that can impact the feeling of a place and the schmaltzy music was a detractor for us-—With that said, I have a feeling wherever you go that is what you will likely experience these days in any larger resort environment. Overall, it was a beautiful place to stay. Coffee shop was fun for the kids. Rooms were very nice and clean though for families I think ideally you would book 2 rooms – our single room while spacious for two people felt overcrowded for four despite the fact that they do allow you to add beds to accommodate a family of four. Definitely would not recommend this for families with teens if you can possibly get an adjoining room (one right next-door/same floor ) go that route! Only other note is that we ended up eating at the restaurant almost exclusively because it felt a bit arduous to try to get further south where more of the restaurants we were interested in were since we did not have a car and weren’t up for scooters. Not sure if I would stay in this location again or perhaps do something further south next time – we ended up taking a drive farther south for a tour we did, and we also liked the smaller roads and cozier street vibe in that part of the island, but I do think this is one of the best beaches you’ll find on Koh Lanta and for us that made the experience overall...