Vannee Golden Sands Beachfront Resort — Hotel in Ko Pha Ngan

We just returned from Samui/Phangan trip and had 3 different hotels during our vacation. This was one of them. We spent totally 4 nights at the Vannee hotel.

By whole experience overall i would say OK. The place has very beautiful location and the hotel is also very beautiful and people are nice. When going deeper there are many little cons. These are my opinions but i noticed some are also mentioned on other 1-3 star reviews.

Here is why i wont give more stars;

Breakfast is nothing "wow" effect. Mostly crowded normal buffett. Coffee machine had its own operator. She asked what you want. Then took mug and poured drink for you. She was happy to give me cup of coffee with shattered lip (see my pic). These cups belong to trash.

Hotel restaurant has large variety of dishes. Problem is that section is too wide for the cook. Only thai food was great. Nothing else not. For example phillys cheesesteak sandwich. There was only beef, tomato and salad 🤣 (see my pic again, not wow). And one thing to add. You can expect that your foods will come to table different times. My wife had her meal 10min before i had mine. Also side dish french fries came before main dishes like they were starters (both of these happened two times so i cant say just bad luck).

Misleading information There was happy hour ad at hotel tv commercials. "Every day 17-19". In reality it was not yet available but coming soon. I did not go bankrupty but once again "wtf". You dont put commercials for something you dont have. Or if someone sees the ad and asks, you gotta read the situation and improvise. Best room type is "suite villa seaview". There are two rooms at seaside (end of the left villa's row). One room downstairs and one upstairs. If you look the pictures (vannee site, booking etc) you will see upstairs room with beautiful windows in in the wall opposite of bed. Downstairs room is different - only side windows to pool. There are no windows like you see in picture. See my pic again. Its 50/50 which room you will be yours. We got downstairs. Price is same. Scam in my opinion. Check pics

Other weid stuff Rooms dont really have door to bathroom. Only curtain. If you believe myth that girls dont fart. Your world will change. Okay thats joke, but understand my point - no privacy. Rooms shower gives only cold water. You cant adjust water temperature Rooms are very noisy. You can hear your side and upstairs neigbour doings. Upstairs noise is horrible. Every footstep is like giant walking below you. We had party people as neighbours and sleeping experience was horrible. You can hear JBL boombox beat and footsteps till 02am. Seems that there are staying much party people even if its not full moon party time.

So. I wont say dont go there but notice these things. We have spent our money and nobody gives them back. Do your research before pulling trigger. Price point is near same at every hotel but after 3 hotels i can say experience can vary. I also gave feedback when...

:Vannee Golden Sands Beachfront Resort Review

Here's what's great about it:

Overall, the hotel is charming and offers good value for money. The location is convenient on the quiet western beach of Haad Rin, a 5 to 10-minute walk from the eastern beach where all the activity is. The hotel staff are very kind, helpful, and available to assist with any request or help. A personal note: make sure you are also polite and courteous, greeting them and thanking them for everything. The hotel's infinity pool is truly enormous and itself divided into four separate pools, so even if the hotel is full, it doesn't feel crowded. The hotel has a private beach, and the sunset view from it is perfect! You can rent a kayak, but be aware of the tide times; during low tide (morning-afternoon) the beach is shallow and rocky. The hotel bar's menu is packed with kid-friendly food (hamburgers, pasta, hot dogs, etc.) and Middle Eastern-Israeli food (hummus, falafel) making it very suitable for visits with children. The rooms themselves are large and spacious, and the bathroom is also huge, including a shower and a bathtub.

Now, for the less convenient aspects:

There are no landline phones in the rooms; all communication with the hotel staff is either direct or via WhatsApp. You only receive one key card per room, so when you leave the room, there's always a question of who will have the key, and if you split up, how you'll get back in. Additionally, the key activates the electricity in the room, and as soon as you leave, the electricity and air conditioning turn off. This brings me to the next point. The air conditioning in the rooms is a split unit, not central, and it takes hours to cool the room, which is a drawback, especially in the extreme heat of Koh Phangan. Add to that the inability to leave the AC on when you leave the room (because of the key card) and you have to re-cool the room every time you return, making the room consistently warm. The water pressure in the bathtub is very weak (this was the case in our room), and there's also no continuous supply of hot water, so the hot water will run out in the middle of your shower. The shower itself isn't enclosed, and water spills into the bathroom (there's no squeegee). The entire bathroom is separated from the room only by a curtain, which is quite uncomfortable every time someone uses the toilet. There are no USB or Type-C sockets in the room for charging phones; bring a Thai wall adapter. The small wardrobe only has hanging space but no hangers' most of your clothes will have to stay in the suitcase, it is not comfortable for a long stay.

All of these are, of course, minor issues that, if fixed, would turn this good hotel into...

Hotel with way too many shortcomings

We have spent a part of our honeymoon at Vannee. We informed the hotel prior to our arrival that we would arrive around 2PM and the early checkin was confirmed by the hotel. Shouldn’t have been a problem, they said. Well, when we arrived, we were met by incredibly rude receptionist Pu, who didn’t even look at us, just showed 3 with her hand. I nicely approached her, showing the message where they confirmed early checkin, to which she just responded “checkin is at 3”. We would have been perfectly fine with an explanation of our room not being ready yet, but she didn’t even greet us or said anything politely. This is not how you treat guests if you want to be remembered positively!

We continued with getting a lunch while waiting, which was nice. The restaurant staff is super sweet and polite - they messed up our order a bit but we didn’t mind since they were super nice. After the lunch, back to Pu we go - and she looks just as sour as ever. We were checked in by Ae, who was very sweet and nice.

Our room was fine. Nothing spectacular, but does the job. I’m not sure who thought designing a bathroom with just a curtain between that and the room is a good idea, but we managed. The outside door is like made of paper, so you hear absolutely everything.

Our neighbors was a huge group of young idiots who had absolutely no respect for other hotel guests. For two nights in a row, they were having a party outside, talking loudly and playing music. We contacted the reception who promised to take care of this, but after 30 minutes nothing has happened. Then they finally came and talked to the group, but it didn’t help. This just paints the picture of the typical clientele at the hotel - so if you are young party animal, you might like it - if you want peace, not so much. And mind you, we are in our early 30s, but if we want to party, we go to a place made for it.

Another, quite important issue, is the wifi. In the times we live in, having a reliable internet is a standard. Not here. The wifi didn’t work most of the time.

The beach is also quite crap, but that’s obviously not the hotel’s fault.

The pools are lovely and kinda the only positive thing about this hotel. It also has a great location with a few nice restaurants around and a short walk away from Haad Riin.

Vannee Golden Sands definitely has a potential, but the staff needs to change. It’s a crucial part of the experience and for a 4* hotel, it just needs to be...