The Villager Fisherman's Village — Hotel in Ko Samui

I was attracted to The Villager by all the positive reviews and great photos and booked on their website. A few days later I realized friends were staying at another resort and thought it would be nice to stay with them. I emailed asking if I was able to cancel because the confirmation email didn’t state cancelation terms…in fact there was a place for it on the template I got but literally says “Please update.” In the box. After 3 days, I received no response and sent a follow up. After 6 days and no response I realized the other resort was booked and I didn’t know if they canceled my reservation or did anything at all. I emailed a third time and received a response that my booking was still confirmed. Terrible email customer service.

When I arrived the lovely girl was kind and showed me to my room. I quickly realized that there were no outside windows. There were windows…but they just led to a dark box with an AC compressor in it. There was no natural light. Further, I noticed the bathroom ceiling was only partially painted, not around the edges, there was also paint missing from other parts of the wall. I checked the website and reviews, all pictures of my room type and others showed natural light.

I emailed saying I was disappointed and was actually promptly promised a new room the next day. When I got to my next room I was surprised by a bath tub and lack of standing shower, only a hand held shower in the tub with nowhere to hang it. Ok, I thought, make the best of it. Only there was no hot water. I told the girl at the front desk and she said someone would come by ‘tomorrow’. I realized that the breaker was off and turned it on. I had hot water…for a minute and it went off. Each shower took me running to the breaker at least 4 times to get clean. I also did not have access to the WiFi, when I mentioned it the girl said the WiFi people just left. I mentioned there was an ‘Amethyst’ WiFi I saw that for some reason I had noticed a password for in my first room, but was not in my second room. I was able to get the password to that one from another staff. Having a tech background, I’m wondering why there is just this phantom WiFi around from a previous resort (I’m guessing).

The website also says ‘newly renovated’ suites. I’ll attach the pictures but I’m pretty confident this was not recently renovated. The tile work looks like they ran out of tiles and spread them out in the grout. The tub is falling away from the grout. The dimmer didn’t work in the second room, neither did the bedside lamp.

There is a cool rooftop patio area. Only the electric is broken, so there is no lights up there. There is a TV and a bar area that could be really amazing if it had electric and was staffed, but it has neither.

The other resort my friends stayed at had ocean view for less money.

I can’t honestly say I can think of any circumstance where I would recommend this guesthouse to anyone. Perhaps I was just given the two worst rooms there, but I was not impressed by the whole experience.

The girl running the front was very kind. She did help me get a motorbike to rent which was kept on site which was very convenient. But could not arrange a ferry for me and told me to go to the pier. All other hotels on Samui and Phangan that I’ve stayed at had people at the front desk that could arrange transfer and ferry. So while I don’t necessarily expect it, it is a disappointment they weren’t able to.

I think there is a lot of potential with this space but they are in desperate need of the renovations that their website boasts...

I don’t enjoy leaving negative reviews, but I feel it’s important to share my experience so others can make an informed decision.

When I first arrived at the hotel, I noticed a strong musty and moldy smell in the common lounge area, which concerned me right away. Upon entering my room, I was hit with an overwhelming chemical and air freshener scent that immediately triggered a migraine and nausea. I emailed the staff and kindly asked if it was possible to switch to a different room without the strong scent. They responded that I could move the following day.

However, when I returned from dinner that same day, I discovered that someone had entered the room without my knowledge and sprayed a large amount of additional air freshener throughout, making the smell much worse. I felt quite sick and went down to the reception to ask if there was any other option for sleeping that night. They offered me a room between two large groups who had already received noise complaints, and I agreed, simply needing a break from the chemical exposure. That temporary room was more comfortable in terms of the bed, but unfortunately, it had no hot water, and the guests on both sides were loud through the night as I was warned. Their reception desk closes at 10pm every night, so there was no one to enforce a noise complaint.

The next morning, I returned to reception to ask what to do with my bags, as I was supposed to move into another room. The woman I spoke with this time was unexpectedly cold and visibly frustrated with me. This was really disheartening, as I had been polite and understanding throughout, and was simply following their directions. I had barely slept and felt unwell from the chemical exposure. Her unkindness was the breaking point that really stuck with me after an already difficult experience.

Additionally, there was visible mold throughout the bathroom of the final room I was placed in— especially on the ceiling which was actually collapsing in, and in the shower — and the floors of the room clearly hadn’t been cleaned, with hair and footprints everywhere.

To be fair, I appreciated that the staff did make some effort to accommodate me by letting me sleep in a different room for the night and allowing me to keep my bags in the original room temporarily since they were on the highest floor. The first woman I spoke with was kind and sympathetic, she genuinely tried to help. But unfortunately, the overall experience left me feeling disappointed, sick, and emotionally drained.

I wouldn’t stay here again, and I don’t feel comfortable recommending it — especially to anyone with sensitivities to chemicals,...

Upon arrival, we were greeted by an unpleasant odor at the reception, reminiscent of a cat litter box. Initially, we were offered a room on the lower floor, but I quickly realized that the large windows facing the hallway would have compromised our privacy. Therefore, I requested a room on an upper floor with a view. However, we were subsequently informed that we would be placed on the 2nd floor, which was actually the 1st floor and offered no view at all.

While the room itself was pleasant, with a properly sized and modern air conditioning unit, several other aspects were disappointing. The bathroom design was flawed, as the shower lacked sufficient drainage capacity, resulting in flooding each time it was used. Additionally, the bathroom was inadequately lit, making it difficult to see one's face in the mirror, which posed significant challenges for my girlfriend when applying makeup. I had to provide additional lighting using my smartphone to assist her.

The breakfast offerings were extremely basic, consisting only of toast with artificial jam, which was unacceptable. Disgusting Coffee was provided, eben though they have a proper Professional Italian Coffee Maschine on the Counter. For Gods sake: USE IT PLEASE! The "juice" provided tasted like the cheapest syrup.

Overall, the experience was marred by these significant shortcomings. There was also construction going on just next door from...