Reuan Phaolai — Hotel in Ko Samui

This was a difficult review to write as I have never stayed in a property quite like it. Truth be told I was ready to leave on day 2!||The location - is a goodly walk from Fisherman's Village; 300mts from the beach(?) - accessed across a busy main road and through one of many resorts, beachside; it is situated up a side road off the main road - limited road noise heard; there is small cluster of villas in a lovely lush tropical garden.||Facilities - pleasant pool with a variety of seating; parking; outside lighting.||Owners - live on site, friendly and very knowledgeable.||Standard villa (45a) - semi detached; (other villas are available and I cannot comment on their quality). |Front deck with patio table and 2 chairs.|Inside - lounge/diner/kitchen; double bedroom; shower room. Wifi. TV - screen only - HDMI cable supplied for you to play your own media(?); usual selection of kitchen equipment - all old, nothing much matched; toaster and microwave very old and stained - but worked.. ||Cleanliness - questionable. I don't consider the villa to be clean. Whilst the flat surfaces were clean, the overall fabric of the villa was very dirty. Pictures tell the story of a dirty, very shabby, outdated bungalow. The bathroom tiles are quite confronting as they have some kind of damp staining coming through from the back. This is something noted by a previous reviewer from the spring of 2022. An known issue, yet to be resolved by the owners. The shower curtain was badly stained at the bottom and clearly had not been changed in a long time. The extractor fan was shocking.||To be clear - the villa is not serviced in any way. There are no cleaning materials, be prepared to supply your own washing up liquid, cloths etc. Two plastic bags were supplied for waste. Waste had to be bagged up and taken off site for disposal - as often as necessary. No welcome pack of coffee/tea/sugar. One bottle of water supplied - the rest is up to you. Electricity is charged separately - you will get a bill on your penultimate day, rate is reasonable.||The owners are happy to give advice on where to go on the island and where to eat. Cafe 69 is worth a visit. Ying was a tour guide and is full of useful information.||Car hire can be arranged very locally - but there is no discount given (although this was alluded to by the owners).|Neo Travel at the end of the side road, can provide a taxi service to and from the airport and anywhere else you wish to go to on the island. Do arrange this directly with Neo rather than through the owners, for better rates.||The owners ask that you do tell them of any issues arising, so that they may be addressed. The owners responded quickly to a leak in the bathroom, soon after we arrived. They also responded to a bedding issue on day 2 and cleaning the bird poo off the wardrobe door. But there was no point in raising the other issues with this villa as it is not possible for them to be fixed unless they take it off line and refurbish it. (I believe there is a plan to do this.) Although a deep clean would go a long way to bring it up to a reasonable standard.||Do hire a car and explore the island, there are many lovely places to visit. Tan Rua waterfall and zip line. Overlap stone for a vertiginous climb and magnificent view. Lamai beach was a favourite of ours. Throng Krut - lovely quiet place to watch the boats or travel to some of the other islands. Nathon for bigger ferries and the fresh fish market. A must is a trip to Ang Thong Marine Park. We travelled with In Sea and had a great day out. Be prepared for some strenuous walks up and down to catch some...

We travelled all the way from London with 2 kids was expecting great place to stay ,unfortunately, it started day-1 ,we are told electric bill will be separately charged at the end of our stay which was 9 days total we booked .! I said OK. There was a tv but not working, we are told children can use Internet to watch something..:) kitchen equipment, table ,chairs, the wooden shed house was for a couple not a family ,unfortunately I paid in advance and did not want to create problem while I am on holiday .||Day -2 shower problem started, very hot or cold ,dangerous for children to set the temperature, then no electric at all ,frequently different problems they had to sort it out .||Day-3 , no daily cleaning ,they don't supply anything for general cleaning ,even rubbish bag, you have to carry your rubbish bag to the main road by yourself ..||Day-4 , breakfast time again electric gone ,my wife in the middle of shower ,we have to go out for breakfast .and same day decided early check out ,found much better place to stay in Lamai Beach .||By the way , the area where this property you have Manem beach ,bophut beach and fisherman village is not pleasant to sit on or swim ,dirty sand beaches and very rough see ,not good for children .||Best areas are Lepa noe beach ,lamai beach and bong pa is very good for families. ||Don't book a taxi over travel agent or hotel ,they charge a lot then original , this property charged me 500 baht for 10km ,10 minutes drive ,while I was charged by a yellow taxi for 35 minutes drive ,25km only 320baht..||Yellow-red taxi are reliable, ||In general ,due to 2-3 years short of tourist affected the businesses and most of the island attractions are in poor condition, and better to book a place in or around Lamai Beach and get around by taxi instead of renting a car or moto bike (they don't supply proper insurance and it would not be stress free journey)||I hope this text is help you where to stay...

Owners David and Ying are fantastic and make you feel at home from the minute you arrive and are very hands on. They are there to greet you personally when you arrive and nothing is too much trouble for them or their lovely lady Eed. They engage with their guests and you get a friendly good morning every day and a little chit chat. Because they seem to love what they are doing this is reflected in everything. We very soon slid into the “home from home” mode and found it very difficult to leave. The villa itself is large and set in a lovely well kept peaceful garden. They have a fabulous, spotless and large pool a few villas away. The villas also have a lovely private balcony surrounded by lots of flowering shrubs and bushes. David and Ying are also so helpful with everything such as scooter hire, places to go and you never feel guilty asking them anything. Loved it so much we are booking to go back for an extended period. Family mart and restaurants within walking distance are a real bonus. Thanks so much David and Ying ...can’t wait to...