SAii Phi Phi Island Village Resort — Hotel in Ko Phi Phi Don

This was the second time I'd stayed at this resort (over a 12 month period). It was far better the second time around this year in 2025. I would recommend it for people who want the quiet and isolated part of Phi Phi which reflects the paradise island that it actually is. If you want the fire shows and loud bars of Tonsai bay, do not stay here, unless you want to pay for a return trip on the long tail boat late at night. It can be done, but it can be expensive too, and it will take around 30 mins to make the trip. |SAii village was better this time. At least this time, the pool bar was open, so you could purchase drinks in the pool, perch and relax. The internet was also much better than it was in 2024. The best thing about this resort is the beach; when the tide is in, it is clear, calm, glistening blue with a soft sandy bottom. Coconut trees and other tropical foliage line it. To swim in there at 8 am was dreamy in the hot sun. Underwater visibility was excellent. BUT it's also important to know that when the tide goes out, swimming becomes impossible and it leaves the sea bed exposed, so make sure you know when the tide is in. When I was there, the tide was always high in the morning and then it started to retreat at around lunch time. If you want to swim on a beach when the tide is out, hop on a small moped taxi sidecar and go to Laem-tong beach (or you can get a long tail boat which would take 5-10 mins). Laemtong beach is gorgeous and is lined with a small number of cute, quiet resorts, bars and eateries. It's still quiet and the sea is clear and blue, but there are places to eat and drink. There is a local village at the back of the SAii resort which boasts a number of lovely bars, eateries, dive and excursion shops, a pharmacy and massage shops. I recommend 'Camel Rock' bar and 'Buffalo Head' bar. I'd recommend Sunset bar for food and also the Pad Thai restaurant. The rooms at SAii are lovely, but they differ greatly. The beachfront huts are by far the most expensive with their outdoor waterfall showers, huge balconies and incredible access to the sea. There are less expensive huts behind them, some in the gardens, some by the pools and some closer to the beach. Very picturesque resort which has numerous nice places to eat (although a few guests told me not to bother with the on-site Thai restaurant as its overpriced with poor quality food). The pools are lovely and clean and almost on the beach front. Staff seem generally friendly and housekeeping is very very good indeed. I loved cocktails at dusk at Olive Oyls restaurant (right at the end of the beach). It is beautiful at dusk and the bats fly around in large numbers, dipping in and out to say hello to people. They are very cute. One last note: The beach at SAii resort is not private as many claim; there are no private beaches in Thailand apparently, but it is so isolated that you just don't get day visitors coming in groups. You may get the odd visitor by long tail boat, but that's all, so no need to worry about being flooded with tourists. It's 99.5% resort guests and if people do wander onto the beach, they are merely people looking for seclusion and peace. This end of Phi Phi is for people who want to be secluded and cocooned on quiet beaches. Its a great resort, although too expensive over the Christmas and New period for me. Rates are low in the European summer months, high in the winter months and very very high over Christmas and New Year. If you can't afford it over the winter, you will be able to stay in the summer low season months (May, June, July, Aug,...

We visited SAii hotel on April-28 2024, two families, total of 4 adults and 4 kids. We stayed 5 nights. Our overall experience was... disappointment. When you visit a 5 star resort in Thailand with such a high price tag, you come with expectations. That was also a case with our journey, as it was not the first time we visited Thailand and our expectations from service, rooms, facilities and the most important - guest relation was high. It is started with more then 1h check-in process. We came at 15:00, there were not many families besides us, but somehow the overall process took a lot of time. We were just sitting in the lobby waiting for the stuff to find the available rooms for us. We finally got our keys and went to our rooms. During the night we were awaked from the sound of dripping water from the air conditioners, the issue was fixed next day, but stuff, shouldn't you periodically check the air conditioning system, without relying on guests asking you to fix? It is not very convenient to have a working stuff in your room trying to fix the issue during the day for hours (we came to relax, not to deal with facilities issues). Drinking water - each room has one small bottle of water per person, which is of course not enough in Thailand. We asked for refill a couple of times during our stay, but got the refill only ones. Not a big issue to go and buy some water in the village, but stuff - you are 5 stars hotel... There's no drinking water in tennis courts as well, in contrary to other resorts we visited. Breakfast - village style, no air-conditioning also in food area, which is challenging, but overall OK (make sure to come before 9:00 - too crowded after that). Rooms - overall OK, but no ceiling fan on the yard, which makes it challenging to enjoy the sitting in the evening, when there's no wind at all. Kayaking - extra price, in contrary to all other 5 star resorts we visited. Beach is beautiful, you need to walk a lot to see some reefs, very good for small kids, not so interesting for adults.

General feeling - my general feeling from the resort is mostly influenced by the atmosphere the hotel's stuff creates. In SAii the stuff is so unfriendly! It is actually the only place in Thailand where we faced such an unfriendly stuff. Every question, request or issue were addressed with antipathy, making you feel unwanted in that place. For example on the forth day of our stay we (me and my wife) were poisoned by seafood pizza in the pool restaurant of the hotel. In the evening we let the hotel know about the situation. The reply was: "we will let the restaurant know". There was no sympathy and the will to somehow to smooth out the situation. Only next day when we asked for 1h check-out delay due to our health issue the stuff asked whether we wanted to see the nurse. Needless to say that we paid for that pizza and nobody from the restaurant contacted us to better understand the case. The above if not the only example of stuff's carelessness of the guests. In one of the days there was no cleaning performed in our rooms. When we called in the evening to understand the reason for that, the stuff just mentioned that the cleaning stuff was overloaded with check-outs. Dear stuff - such situations may happen, but there's a way to communicate issues to create a feeling of caring of the guests. I don't expect any compliment because of all these failures, but at least you can make guests feel it was not your intention and you are sorry about such issues. Unfortunately even this basic principal is not part of SAii hotel's...

Wonderful Stay

Getting There The only downside of the trip, and this is no fault of the hotel, was the transport from Krabi to the resort. The Krabi port is under renovation, and the booking service felt disorganized to the point where we briefly wondered if something suspicious was going on. That said, the speedboat transfer was fun and a little adrenaline fuelled, but if you are prone to seasickness the ferry might be the better option.

Location The resort is set on a stunning private beach with some of the clearest water I have ever seen, dotted with longtail boats across the sand. Villas are spread out across the grounds, and the place even has a few friendly cat residents. Just a short walk away is a local village offering fantastic food and markets. If you would like to visit the main island, it is a 30 minute longtail journey.

Arrival Experience Arrival was magical. We were greeted on the beach by a live band playing local music and offered a cocktail while waiting in a cool lounge for our keys. From there a caddy transported us to our villa, with luggage already taken inside. A seamless and memorable welcome.

Villas The villas are spacious and equipped with much needed air conditioning. Rooms are cleaned daily, but you can opt out and the resort will plant two trees instead. This was a thoughtful touch that we appreciated since we only needed cleaning every other day.

The bathrooms have grated windows, which means you will hear some outside sounds such as birds, cats, and the occasional caddy, but nothing disruptive. The TVs offer a few international channels, but they are not smart TVs. Bringing a Chromecast is recommended. The TV may also briefly cut out during heavy rain. On the plus side, each villa includes an espresso machine, which is a welcome luxury after a long journey.

Staff From check-in staff to cleaning teams, transport drivers, “gurus,” waiters, and bartenders, every staff member we met was gracious, warm, and went out of their way to make our stay special.

Amenities The resort app is excellent for booking activities, dining, spa treatments, and transport. The on-site “gurus” are also very helpful, assisting with everything from arranging private boat tours to planning trips to the mainland.

Dining options are varied, from themed buffet nights to Thai specialties and Mediterranean meals by the water. We especially enjoyed our spa treatments with Honey and Aek. They were attentive therapists who set the tone with tea on arrival and a private hut setting. Do not be put off by the oversized disposable spa clothing. It seems to be one size fits all. Post-treatment snacks and drinks were a lovely finish.

The resort has two pools, a quiet lazy pool and a lively fun pool. We mostly used the fun pool, which was very clean and had plenty of seating. The bar service was great, with everything from mocktails to cocktails. If the pool feels too cool, I recommend swimming in the ocean instead. It is warmer, shallow for a long stretch, and just as inviting.

Check-Out Check-out was smooth and relaxed. A caddy picked us up and brought us to reception, and we were welcome to stay at the resort until our boat transfer back to the mainland arrived.

Summary Overall this was a wonderful stay, made truly special by the attentiveness and warmth of the staff. If I could suggest improvements, it would be to install smart TVs in the villas and perhaps review the plumbing, as the toilets seemed prone to blockage. Small points aside, I would highly recommend this resort and would...