Kimpton Kitalay Samui — Hotel in Ko Samui

This is the best resort we’ve stayed in all of Thailand. Upon arrival the staff took our passports for check in while we sat and enjoyed a beverage along with the beautiful view of the property. We were taken to our room within 10 minutes (mind you we arrived before noon so that was already a great start) and wow what a room.

They have a bathtub that is a size that adults can actually sit in, and the amenities are from Haarn which is a high end Thai brand. The bed was comfortable as was the living area, but my favorite part was definitely the balcony which gave us pool access! They had these huge pillows you could just lay on and read a book or sunbathe.

We were celebrating my husband’s birthday so Chef Jacobo and his team prepared a delicious chocolate cake along with the variety of sweet treats everyone gets in their room.

While talking about the food I must say that everything was tasty. The breakfast variety at Boho was some of the best we have ever had. For drinks a couple favs were the mint pineapple juice, lychee kombucha, cold brew and Thai iced tea. There were western dishes such as avocado toast, salmon and scrambled eggs on brioche, sausages, bacon etc. Thai options were out of this world - moo ping (grilled pork skewers) and sticky rice were among my favs along with the drunken noodles. For top choice of fusion dishes - eggs Benedict with southern Thai crab. Pastries were excellent, my fav was the chocolate croissant and pathongko. French toast and pancakes were also a winner! Boho is also the restaurant for all day dining and we had lunch there one day. I devoured the duck curry and my husband enjoyed his steamed fish.

Next let’s talk about Fish House. We had a variety of items from this menu including salmon gravlax, ceviche, gambas, lobster paella, grilled carrots and baby corn, octopus, and the grilled seafood platter. It was all extremely flavorful and well prepared. The team here was so kind they even gave us a complimentary dessert platter after one of our meals.

We also went to Lanai for drinks (btw everyday from 5-6pm is Social Hour where they offer complimentary wine and cocktails as well as snacks) one evening and I ate Khao Soi Sliders (super creative idea and delicious) and my husband had the Burmese Crispy Duck Salad.

Now that you can imagine the amount of food and drink we indulged in over the course of 4 days you will understand why I am happy they have many fitness/wellness activities and classes. Ranging from yoga and Pilates to running and kickboxing, the property offers 4 activities of these kind a day! I joined 1 a day and thoroughly enjoyed them - thank you to the teachers!

After one of these classes I always made my way to the pool - either the main one with a super chill vibe (bean bags with Thai style pillows and on Saturday live music) or the one connected to our room. The main pool had a bar called Shades where at 4pm the drinks were buy 1 get 1! The mojito was great and the beers were ice cold. The beach on the property was filled with white sand and clear waters. It was long enough to take a 20-30 minute walk one way so that was great as well.

For those with children there is a kids club with lots of activities such as face painting and cooking classes. The Kimpton brand is also pet friendly so there were some furry friends hanging by the pool too.

There is no doubt that we give this place 5 stars. After our 1st experience at Kimpton I can confidently say that it is the perfect luxury and fun lifestyle brand. The service was impeccable - from the team at reception to the porters to the waiters. Special thank you to K Nancy, K Poraween and the F&B team including K Thitichakorn for their attention to detail throughout our stay, and of course K Nid who I purchased the promotion from at the travel fair. Highly recommend to couples, groups of friends and families. We...

We stayed a total of six nights so we really got to see this hotel. Upon arrival, all was impressive but slowly we noticed multiple things that fell below the calibre of a five-star resort. I’d give this 3.5/5, but to succeed the hotel must improve its service.

Compared to the new Hyatt, this hotel has slightly better facilities but falls short of the CONSISTENTLY good service at the Hyatt.

Let me start with the good points. Excellent hardware and sumptuous breakfast. A small number of staff members are exceptional (contrasted to the overall mediocre service).

“New” working at the breakfast canteen: we ended up choosing our seat based on where New was working because she is so kind and wonderful. She treats us professionally and sincerely. She is so much better than some of the staff members working at the restaurant. E.g. “can we have some corns for our baby?” Another staff member: head shake; “no”. New: let me check, and she’s back with some corns. Another example: “what’s that green drink? Can we have one?” One waitress: you get your drink in the buffet. New: explained everything to us. We stayed a total of six nights and it did not take long for us to figure out we could order drinks on the menu…

(There’s another lady working at the restaurant who was very kind to us. Unfortunately we did not get her name. Other than that, the service was disappointing for a five-star resort.)

Briley (bellman): super kind; he always greeted us with a genuine smile. Always willing to help. By contrast, there is another bellman who sometimes also sits at the front desk. He helped us with our bags but seemed to be annoyed by our request to move rooms. I felt I had to thank him profusely in return for his lackluster service. I don’t know his name but he isn’t Thai because he speaks English with other Thai staff members. I thanked him because of politeness and appreciation but I don’t think I deserve some “attitude.” He seems to have some position at the hotel, ordering Briley once to carry bags, but honestly both my wife and I believe he should be dismissed for his attitude. The WORST at Kimpton.

One lady working at the front desk (she told me she worked at the Intercontinental in BKK) was excellent. She came to our room with bandaid and medication after I suffered a light fall on the stairs. It was very kind of her.

kids club teacher: wonderful lady. She remembers kids’ names and seems genuinely interested in taking care of the little ones.

Egg station chef: when he found out I could not eat meat, he made me a seafood pad see ew. And when he saw me the next day, he did it again! Very kind of him.

Security guard: terrific guy and very courteous.

Now the Problems: I had to call 3 times to get water (and I waited patiently for 30 minutes) Child was crazy about a strawberry dessert received in the welcome box. We called to ask to buy one and was told arrangement would be made. And it was conveniently forgotten and not mentioned again. I asked to change from our villa to a one bedroom to attend meeting at 3am online. Was first told no one-bedroom was available and then i found it on the IHG app. So my wish was granted. Oh, well… Saturday is terrible: every one from the outside is welcome upon payment! So expect the five-star resort to turn into a bazaar with 30-50 people floating in its pool. We avoided the Saturday when we...

This is the first time I ever make a review while still staying in a hotel. But my god, this is so catastrophic that I can’t refrain… After almost one month in Thailand in 5 stars hotels, this Kimpton is by far the worst (while also being amongst the most expensive).

The facilities and the hotel location are excellent and deserves a 5 stars. The breakfast is nice too (despite some important delays when ordering the hot drinks or eggs).

The beach is beautiful but rocky (a short walk 100m on the right will solve the rocks problem).

The main pool is incredibly beautiful and also incredibly filthy ! Beer bottles, empty glasses, wasted plastics, skewer sticks, candy papers, sand… you can find incredible things inside, but nothing supposed to be in a 5 stars pool. I do agree that part of that dirt is due to the some group of guests that are lacking courtesy, but nevertheless, the pool staff doesn’t proceed to any cleaning of the tables and beds unless asked… They don’t proactively clear the empty bottles, glasses and empty food platters. We recommend to take a swim in the side pools instead, they are clean.

In fact, the real problem of this Kimpton is the service quality. The staff (or at least to be fair, a large part of it), is incredibly inefficient, doesn’t understand English properly and is unworthy of a 5 stars hotel. « No » is a very commun answer to quite basic requests. A few examples: The pools close at 7pm (I asked why so early on our first night, I’ve been answered « for cleaning purposes »). At 6:50pm, after showering and wearing casual clothes for dinner, we have been ousted from one bed by the main pool because « pools are closed » according to one employee… the least I can say is that we were surprised. We asked if we would stay on the bed to enjoy the view, but the answer was « no, it is closed, come back tomorrow ». We wanted to have fun with our kids and do some canoe kayak and standup paddle at the hotel beach. We presented ourselves at 11am, and a very kind employee told us that it would be preferable to come back at 4pm because it was low tide in the morning, and told us we will find everything ready at that time. However, at 4pm, the 2 employees present on the beach informed us that it was not possible to do standup paddle due to low tide. Fair enough, we asked then for a second canoe. They refused, saying that only one canoe was available. The problem is that we could see several canoes in the racks a few meters behind us. We asked them to give us one, and they said “no, only one available” and they pointed to the sole canoe present on the sand (being underlined that this seems to be the only words in English they knew). After 10 minutes of this unbelievable interaction, we had to call a manager from the pool and explain him the situation. Miraculously, the 2 employees reluctantly brought one additional canoe… We have been here for 5 days with 3 accommodations with 4 persons in each accommodation. Every day, the house keeping has been providing only 3 towels for each accommodation. I called them every day to inform that we are 4 and therefore need at least 4 big towels and 4 small. And yet, everyday, we keep getting only 3 towels per accommodation.

I’m stopping here, this Kimpton is a disappointment and I’m giving only 2 stars for the location and the...