Sanom Beach Lipe Resort — Hotel in Ko Lipe

Don't go there! Incredibly arrogant and unfriendly owners.

We went to Sanom Beach Resort for lunch. Although we read the reviews here about the arrogance of the owners, we still went to the place. Couldn't be that bad right? Well,... it is! Read all the 1 star reviews here! They tell the truth: horrible, arrogant, customers unfriendly owners who think they own the island.

The lunch was OK good, more expensive than elsewhere for small portions, but OK.

After lunch we asked for 2 iced coffees and asked if we could have coffee on the beach in the chairs just in front of the restaurant. The waitress said "yes, but pay 400 bath".

We were perplex. We didn't understand. We explained that we found it a little weird to have to pay 400 bath for the chairs while we were consuming and just had lunch at the resort.

The waitress was embarrased and asked the owner to come. The lady owner "confirmed" it was effectively "the rule" that - even if we were consuming at the restaurant - we had to rent the sofa's if we wanted to sit on her sofa's to have coffee.

We explained to her in a very calm and kind way that it was commercialy at least a bit weird and not very "customer-friendly", certainly taken into account she dropped her beach sofa's on a public beach. We kindly responded that if that was "the rule", it was OK but we would pass and skip the coffee. We would drink coffee elsewhere. No worry.

At that moment she became very arrogant, repeating it was "the rule", that she was paying taxes, so she could do what she wanted with the beach and that she "even cleaned the beach". We could either accept and pay for the sofa's or leave and go away. Period.

We were surprised, but hé OK, no stress. If they don't want us to stay and spend more at their resort, their problem.

We kindly asked for the bill and wanted to go for a nap on the beach (at a safe distance from her beach sofa's of course...)

Then suddenly -  out of the blue - her thai husband joined the discussion. Immediately very aggressive, verbaly and physicaly, shouting we were silly tourists and we had to leave his property immediately. He kept on and on screaming and being very menacing, bending himself over our table, puting his hand on my shoulder and screaming and insulting us at 5 cm of our faces.

What an aggressivity. What an arrogance. What a lack of education.

Can you imagine? This spanish lady and her local husband are basicaly privatising a part of the public space to make money out of it. They claim a part of this public beach, to drop their beach sofa's and rent them for 400 bath. Even if you just were spending money in their resort.

Oh yes, and about the "efforts to clean the beach": I add some pictures of the state of the beach that day... Don't laugh. Basically the bay at the foot of Sanom Bay Beach Lipe Resort is a dump! They just clean the small part in front of their business and don't give a shit about the rest of the (very small) bay. Why? See the pictures, they speak for themselves. Hope the lady doesn't apply the same definition of "cleaning" in her kitchen...

We wish this couple less greediness, a good course in "customer satisfaction management", a good "self control and anger" therapy, some introspection and most of all a lot of peace and love.

And for you dear "tourist": in order to keep your chill holiday vibe and positive mindset about the legendary thai friendliness: AVOID THIS PLACE !

Go to Sanom bay, it's worth to see it (although the rubbish) and to spend a couple of hours there. Rent a kayak (so the owners can't reproach you that you walked over their property to reach the beach), put your towel right in front of the resort and enjoy. If the owners scream to you you are not allowed, just ignore them. There is no private "guest area" or any "rule" to respect, Sanom beach isn't from them. It's public. But make sure to go elsewhere for lunch or for a drink, plenty lovely family runned restaurants just around the corner.

This "resort" is a shame for Thai culture and for Lipe island community. Nothing more,...

We spent there 7 nights and it was great. This place is one of the very few owned and operated by indigenous people, Urak Lawoi, which were mostly evicted from their own land by foreign developers on the rest of the island. So by staying there you can enjoy beautiful beach and support local businesses at the same time. The beach is small and cosy, and there’s a coral reef in a good shape just few meters from the shore! we were snorkeling there every day. Contrary to other beaches, there are no taxi boats parked and coming&going throughout the day, which makes this place more quiet and snorkeling safer. The bungalows offer excellent view on the sea and in the mornings and evenings you can just go out from your room and have the beach and fishes to yourself, as the beach becomes more crowded only during the day. The location is excellent too, 10 mins walk to the „city” - walking street with all the stores and restaurants. The bungalows are made in a traditional Thai style which I prefer, mostly from teak wood, with modern style bathroom with tiles and water heaters. The only thing I’d change was the fan over the bed, which was louder then the sound of the sea waves and birds, but i’m super sensitive to noise. I appreciate the simple esthetic of the resort, its blue hues (beach sofas, garden tables, interior walls, bathroom tiles), it’s all nicely designed and coherent. The owner - Jaeng, and the manager, Mariana, are friendly, helpful and a great source of information about the island, its history and community. Overall great value for money, for me the best place to stay on this island and if I was ever coming back to Koh Lipe I’d chose Sanom beach...

Today we wanted to spend the morning on the beach in front of the SANOM BEACH RESORT (more like a beach bar than a resort) We didn't even have the chance to set foot there. A sad and grumpy lady came to receive us and wanted to get us out of the shade of the beach. Saying it was too close to his place. And that their customers would be upset. Customers that weren't there. The embittered lady and her "thug" told us that it wasn't their problem that we had a baby and that if we had to get into the ground it didn't matter to them. The reality is that the shadow was on the public beach and had no right to kick us out. Really deplorable treatment. The worst reception in Thailand and much of the world. The manager of the beach bar is very ill-mannered, and from what we've seen in the comments, she spends all day kicking people out of the Public Beach where she has some shabby bungalows. She occupies the shade of the trees on the Beach with the hammocks at the beach bar. We have a 1 year old baby and we can't leave the baby in the sun, anyone with two thumbs can see it. The ill-mannered woman told us that it wasn't her problem... And she threatened us that if we didn't leave, the police would come and get us into trouble for leaving the island. Too bad it was our last day, it would have been interesting to have the police come and explain to them what this energumena is doing with this public beach. When we left the Thai man accompanied us shouting at his orders, it seemed he...