Haad Tien Beach Resort — Hotel in Ko Tao

We stayed 3 weeks in January 2025. The resort is listed as 4-star. In most other countries this would have been ratedd a 3-star - not 4-star. By listing a few ammenities upgrade to 4-star is accepted here, however the room standard is still maksimum 3-star. Haad Tien Bech Resort and Haad Tien Baach club is the same ! The difference is that the Beach club has hotel rooms and the Beach resort has bungaloves.|The first inpression is that the beach and location is very good. However soon you will start to notice differences from the standard you probably expect from reading the web site and look at pictures. The web-site is a Masterpiece of manupulation of images. |1. Steps and stairs|From the reception to the room I counted 127 steps. There are no elevators anywhere . The steps in the stairs are also 30% higher than western standars. The hotgel is built in a very STEEP hillside. Outdoors steps are VERY steep from the reception and there are no support to hold on to if you loose balance, a fall would be quite dangerous. This is NOT a place for supesized McDonald og BurgerKing americans , old citizens or other big and overweight people. They would just not be able to get around.|The location is at the end of a VERY VERY steep road. There is nothing else in the area than the resort. No where to go.|2. The restaurant|There are 2 restaurants. They have the same menu every day and it is quite simple in content and standard below what you expect from a 4-star. This goes for cocktails and drink as well. No draught beer . Cans only. The breakfast restaurant is OK, however very limited variety and the same every day. Amuzing is the coffie regime !.|One person ask you what kind of coffe you want and what your room numer is, then she presses the button for you. Then there is another person writing down the room number and what kind of coffi you ordered. To make the coffi in the machine it takes about 2 minutes. However, on a large hotel and resort like this to have 2 people operating 1-one coffi machine, the line gets longer and longer. At times 10 people waiting and I waited in average 12 minutes in the coffi line line every day. Totally insane !|3. Constructing works goind on at all times|You may be unlucky ! Especially if your room is next to any of the many ongoing|construction works of new blocks. This seems to be an permanent situaton and expenasion of the resort gets more attantion from the owners tha maintenance. There were several worn down outdoor wooden poles and electricity cables and light bulbs hanging loose and exposed un-insulated. Very dangerous.|4.The dive shop|This is seems to be an partly manned office of a anothger dive shop. The receptionist has no diving experience and speaks very limited english. The resort is manned 99% by guest woirkers from Myanmar. If you book diving you pay a high extra premium almost 100% more than others. Also there is NO diving at the resort !|The web site does not goive you the real picture of diving. You are picked up by a truck by the reception, then drive to Sairee Beach which is on the other side of the island. Then you enter into a small transfer boat to a bigger dive bout with up 50 other divers. Then you go to the dive site where you most like meet 20 other boats . So it is not unusual that there are 500 divers on a dive site. More divers than fish it seems at times.|5.The drinks and cocktails|We noticed the some of the original bootles in the bar looked quite old. In particular Sambucca from Luxardo in Italy. The botle was still of the shape and labels that the factory changed more than 15 months ago. Sambucca is very sweet and when opened once it will be damaged if not kept in a fridge. We ordered Sambucca and it was definately damaged and not drinkable at all. Clearly completely damaged by by stocked in the bar shelf day and night at 30 degrees for months if not years. We told the bar manager. He went to management and they said they would not replace the old bottle because there were so few people ordering it :):):||Well - as the reader will understand you see there is a fundamental difference in how to run a resort here then other resorts I have visitied around the world.||Overall we had a good 3 weeks, after accepting that things are different in the far east then in Europe. Then we changed to another resort and stayed in total 4 months on Koh Tao. We are very happy with the island, but its not for tourists expecting high standard. We will also spend next winter on the island.|All others however, Yes, Koh Tao is a...

PLEASE BEWARE READ THIS BEFORE YOU STAY!!!

THE BAD (there was a lot) Massive construction (upgrades) were taking place that aren't disclosed prior to checking in apart from fine print on Booking.com. This is scheduled to last until December 20th. These run from 8am-6pm everyday and regularly went as late as 9pm. This included heavy machinery, circular saws, drilling and obnoxious banging. It could be heard from our room, the main restaurant where breakfast buffet is served, the main pool and along most of the beachfront.

When we asked for a refund upon arrival due to this they said under no circumstances was this possible due to 'policy'. All the beachfront villas were also occupied so they were unable to upgrade us to a quieter area away from the construction (we think this is because they had already upgraded all the other guests who no doubt had also complained).

The pool next to the beach villas seems as though it hasn't been cleaned in months (dead skin and long hairs everywhere)

Our electronic door key locked us out on the third day of our stay. We first noticed this at 1pm when we returned for a nap. The staff spent 2 hours troubleshooting the issue before using power drills to completely replace the lock. After that the lock still did not work properly for the rest of the night, we had no choice but to spend up to 5 minutes each time trying to open the door as the lock was so faulty. During this time the construction work also tripped the power and we (along with the rest of the building) were left without electricity in the room for over 5 hours and offered no compensation.

Rooms are old and dated and to name a few things; constantly smelly bathroom lights coming out of fixtures and water dripping out through them onto the floor animal poo all over personal balcony and outdoor couch like it had not once been cleaned air conditioning positioned right over the bed so either freezing at night or too hot with the air conditioning off the air con also made a loud and constant noise when turned on which made it really difficult to fall asleep the only English speaking channel on TV is the news (no movie channels at all or streaming apps). they do not provide a hand towel for the bathroom. This is a 4 star rated resort for goodness sake....

On the fifth day of our stay my fiance felt sick at breakfast and we decided we would take the food to our room to eat there. However when we were leaving the buffet area we were stopped by the staff and they refused to let us upstairs. Confused, we asked why and they said you have to eat down here for breakfast. My fiance was very feeling sick and eventually after managerial approval they allowed her to go upstairs with her breakfast but still they refused to allow me to join her with my food. This ultimately led to her going upstairs by herself and I had to eat my food in the breakfast area very quickly so I could go upstairs to make sure she was ok. This seems completely inappropriate particularly when the hotel offers room service so there is clearly no issue with plates and food being in the rooms.

Watch out for stinging jellyfish in the ocean!!

THE GOOD Free shuttle at regular intervals to the town (you cannot walk from the hotel into town as the road is far too steep). However note that the only return shuttle is scheduled for 7:30pm.

The beach and general grounds are very beautiful and if not for the construction would be incredible.

The hotel offered 1 free cocktail between 4-6pm and 1 hour of free kayak/paddle board hire per day as an apology, no free snorkel hire though...

FINAL COMMENTS Tried to be as honest with this review as possible but it really was a hugely disappointing stay overall.

Thanks to the cleaning staff, reception and drivers particularly K. Ann who were incredible and kind amongst all the chaos. No doubt when there is not construction this place would be amazing. Don't bother booking until 2025 would be my advice otherwise you'll be severely...

The Bad (Unfortunately, there was a lot) Major construction and renovations were happening throughout the resort, which wasn’t properly disclosed prior to booking, aside from some fine print on Booking.com. This construction is scheduled to last until December 20th, running daily from 8 am to 6 pm and often continuing until 9 pm. The noise—from heavy machinery, circular saws, drilling, and constant banging—was unavoidable. We could hear it from our room, the main restaurant (where breakfast is served), the main pool, and along most of the beachfront. We booked this resort for a peaceful, relaxing holiday. -When we asked for a refund upon arrival due to the construction, the staff told me a refund wasn’t an option. In reality, the hotel could have approved a refund through Booking.com but seemed unwilling to risk losing business. The only upgrade they offered us was to a beachfront villa, which would cost an extra $10,000 TBH ($450AUD) a night, on top of what we already paid. Or a tiny mosquito filled villa 800m from the restaurant for an extra $1000 TBH ($44AUD) per night. The two pools looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in ages. There were noticeable amounts of dead skin and long hairs floating around. On the third day, our door key stopped working, and we found ourselves locked out. This happened around 1 pm, and it took staff two hours to troubleshoot the issue before they ultimately had to replace the entire lock with power drills. Even then, the new lock was faulty, and we had to spend up to 5 minutes trying to get the door open throughout the night. Adding to this, the construction work caused a power outage, leaving us and other guests without electricity in our rooms for over five hours, with no communication from the staff about the situation. Our room was old and dated, with multiple maintenance issues: The bathroom had a constant unpleasant odor. Light fixtures were loose, and water dripped from them onto the floor. -Animal droppings were all over the balcony and outdoor couch, as if they hadn’t been cleaned at all. -The air conditioning unit was positioned directly over the bed, making the room either too cold at night or too hot if turned off. It was also very loud, and had a mould smell coming from it. The TV only had one English-speaking channel (the news) and no movie channels or streaming options. The bathroom didn’t even have a hand towel. For a 4-star resort where we paid AUD 750 for a six-night stay, this level of detail felt lacking. On the fifth day, I started feeling ill during breakfast, so I tried to take my food up to our room. However, when I was leaving the buffet area, the staff stopped me, saying breakfast had to be eaten in the dining area. After explaining that I wasn’t feeling well, they eventually allowed me to take my plate upstairs—but then refused to let my fiancé join me with his food. He ended up eating quickly in the buffet area before coming up to check on me. This policy felt inappropriate, especially since room service is offered, so it’s not as though they mind food in the rooms. Lastly, beware of stinging jellyfish in the ocean! While the sting only lasts about 10-20 minutes, it’s still a bit of a shock if you’re not prepared.

The Good.... The resort offers a free shuttle to town at regular intervals (the road is too steep to walk). However, note that the only return shuttle is scheduled for 7:30 pm. You'll have to pay $400TBH to get a taxi back. The beach and surrounding grounds are beautiful, and without the construction, I’m sure they’d be even more amazing. As an apology for the construction, the hotel provided one free cocktail per person from 4-6 pm and one hour of free kayak or paddleboard rental each day. However, snorkeling still had a fee, which was disappointing. The breakfast buffet had a decent selection. However, the potatoes and grilled tomatoes were lukewarm at best, even if you arrived right when the buffet opened.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend...