Ban's Diving Resort — Hotel in Ko Tao

Here's what to know about the resort.

I booked using the WhatsApp link on their site. The person chatting wasn't particularly detail oriented outside of their cut and paste canned responses so we had to learn a few things by experience.

There is a free shuttle that picks you up at the pier and drops you off at the resort. No need to make arrangements. Just get off the ferry, make the first left. Look for someone with signage that says Ban's Dive Resort.

Ban's Diving resort is a short drive away (5 minutes). Walking there from the ferry is possible although there are no sidewalks.

Once you arrive at Ban's Dive resort, you're let off the road and into the first structure where you can leave your bag and head to reception which is a few minute walk into the resort. If you had booked any of the more premium rooms (we had the deluxe pool view room), then you are across the main road and up the hill which is why you can leave your bags in this room. They could had made an announcement so we were clear. It's quite an incline to head back up with a rolling luggage and two backpacks.

If you don't care about the premium rooms, they have rooms at the lower part of the resort (the south side of the main road and where the reception is) that faces the pool where Open Water divers are training at. The walk to the deluxe pool view rooms is not long but long enough that I would had preferred being near this pool when training. There is also a larger pool where we can see divers training in so maybe this is up to your instructor. If convenience is a factor, considering choosing the room based on which pool it is at or request your instructor to train you at your desired pool location.

They have golf carts that can shuttle you around but you have to ask for them.

They have a convenience store at the north side of the road side the resort. There is also a scooter rental company here although their reviews were terrible and I would not bother with them (or any vendor that charges for scratches). Check out RPG rental which is very close to the resort's reception area.

Ban's also have their own restaurant. We didn't to eat here and only had their complimentary breakfasts. I hear the Thai food is good and the western food is alright.

Location was pretty awesome. When at the reception or the Ban's restaurant, you are on the road parallel to the beach. Just walk along that and it will take you past some of the nice restaurants or walk all the way to 995 Duck place which is wildly popular (13 minute walk). mmmm. This road also has no cars and very few scooters.

Dive was good. I tagged along my girl who was getting certified so my fun dive was more about her class and not about my experience so no real feedback here.

Equipment was not bad. If I had any critiques about the dive equipment, it would be for their wet suit. Front zippers make it annoyingly difficult to take off.

I also developed a rash at the back of my neck and was told by my instructor that the plankton got me there. It stung on my subsequent dives; like a burning sensation.

A little spiff about the room. The cleaning crew threw away a pair of silicone, reusable ear plugs. Not sure why they thought it was disposable. It had a carrying case and all and the box was right next to it.

When it is time to head to the ferry, make sure you are at the first structure by the road by 2:30pm. We missed it by 3 minutes and they had to come back to grab us.

Also, book your bus/transportation ahead of time while in Koh Tao so when you land in Chumphon, you have a spot/seat. We were never instructed to do so and Lomprayah Ferry company told us that we did not need to as there were plenty of buses/vans to get us to the CJM airport. When we arrived, everything was sold out. We made our flight by taking a taxi at 1050 baht. Grab app had shown no drivers available. This was at no fault to Ban's Dive Resort and am writing here to give someone a heads up. Get pills for seasick if...

Never have I ever experienced such rude behavior and horrible service. Stay away!!!

We booked 11 nights at Bans Diving Resort in a hilltop bungalow. When we arrived, the front desk was very busy and the staff seemed stressed. They told us that we had been assigned room 203, but upon seeing the room, it was clear that it was not the one we had booked.

I called the reception, and they assured me that it was indeed a hilltop bungalow. However, it looked nothing like the pictures. Upon calling them again, they admitted that they had lied to us. It was not the room we booked but an "upgrade" to a deluxe hilltop room, which they had not informed us about.

At this point, I was extremely confused. This did not seem like an upgrade at all and was nothing like a deluxe room. The room was tiny, and we were going to be there for 11 nights. On the website, we saw that the deluxe room had two rooms, but this only had one. When we called the reception again to ask what could be done, they now told us that they were fully booked. The people staying in the room we had booked wouldn't leave until the 13th (we had booked from the 11th to the 22nd).

They did not apologize once, simply stating the fact that they had put us in this room and that we should be grateful for the “upgrade”.

We expressed our surprise and uncertainty about what to do. We needed time to decide whether we wanted our money back and find another hotel or stay. After 3 minutes, the front desk called us again, saying, "Pack your stuff; a staff member is coming to get you since we have other customers waiting for the room." I explained that we couldn't because we didn't know if we had anywhere else to stay. This is where things took a turn.

The receptionist was very aggressive, telling me that we had ten minutes and that they already had someone waiting for the room (by this point, we had been there for half an hour). I told them that this was not our problem but theirs since they had given our room away, and that we would need an hour. Anyway, a person came to pick us up within a couple of minutes, and we went to the front desk.

When we arrived, we discussed with the receptionist and concluded that we could have an hour to decide. We sat down at a café and tried to find something else. It was 7 pm, so it was impossible to find anything. My girlfriend had some questions and went to the reception again. After 10 minutes, this time the receptionist was again very rude, yelling at her in front of all the people in the reception and saying that we could just get our money and leave. My girlfriend told her that it was not possible for us, and again she said, "You have ten minutes."

In the end, we decided to stay one night and find something else for the other days, which ended up costing us 16,000 baht more than what we had paid for Bans. We couldn't stand being there with that staff.

Additionally, the room was dirty, with stains on the walls, the towels and the pillows. The lights were flickering. The fridge wasn’t working. The windows were open at check-in, so we woke up in the middle of the night with bugs crawling on us. There were also stains in the toilet. The only positive aspect was the view from the room.

Summary: We had the worst experience at Bans Diving Resort. The receptionist was incredibly rude and provided horrible service. She lied to us about our room being the one we had booked and gave us another room - since they had given our room away. When we tried to address the issue, they were unapologetic and aggressive. The room was dirty, with bugs and stains everywhere. We ended up having to pay more to stay somewhere else for the rest of our trip. I would never recommend this hotel to...

Bans is good but it could be great. Things are more than enough to get you by with some good diving but they’re missing out of some real easy points to make the whole experience great.

The grounds are quite nice, and expansive going up the hill and the incline can be intense everyday without scooter. The pools are nice but two are usually always out of action for courses.

We got a deluxe hilltop room and whilst the view over the ocean was beautiful the room didn’t give a deluxe feel, it was comfortable and clean enough but the room needed multiple touch ups and bits cleaned throughout, not expecting 5 star but thought it was a bit below what they could easily offer. The bathrooms are designed poor with the shower taps and head cramped into a corner, the shower doors feel so flimsy they could break at any time. There was a foul smell coming from our aircon and when we looked inside it was very dirty and mouldy, thankfully we got to change rooms.

The gym has two weird opening windows of 0700-1100 and 1700-2100 with a one day pass at 150 baht or 1 month at 2000. The equipment and setup is ok and enough to keep you out of trouble. The fact that paying guests don’t have free access to the resort gym couple with annoying opening hours is beyond stupid and I think terrible treatment of guests paying for premium accommodation.

The breakfast is ok at best but probably not really worth it both in terms of quality and quantity. The staff for the most part are pleasant, however the staff at breakfast are very inattentive, most being on their phones so much you can stand in front them for a few moments hoping for them to look at you but most likely you’ll need to grab their attention, definitely below the standard.

The staff in the reception really should have better comprehension and communication in English, they don’t inspire much assurance or confidence in their ability to communicate critical information appropriately and clearly.

The boat staff are pleasant the and whole diving infrastructure, operation and setup is quite good, the equipment is in good enough condition and the boats are spacious.

The biggest highlight is the diving staff, all who we came into contact with were a pleasure to deal with and very professional, special shoutout to Diw who we did our advanced course with, his energy, effort, knowledge and teachings...