Jaiyen Eco Resort — Hotel in Ko Yao Noi

I echo a previous recent reviewer in loving the resort's location, food and some of the facilities. We had a short break here, and it was memorable for good and bad reasons:

The Good The pods are stunning and have some really nice touches from a furniture and amenities perspective. In particular, I loved the yoga mats and blocks, and the separate room to store luggage in. The staff we met were all kind, friendly and service oriented All the cute cats and dogs who live here. Such gentle, cuddly and social creatures, they clearly get a lot of love (and have plenty to share around too) Breakfast choices offered variety and all were delicious

The Not So Good In tiny print at the bottom of our booking confirmation it stated that rates were reduced to reflect 'minor renovation and roof repairs'. It didn't mention that the wellness area in its entirety is not working - the jacuzzi, steam room and sauna are all currently out, and no work seemed to be taking place to remedy that. I was disappointed this is still highlighted on the resort website as a selling point, and the staff just didn't say anything about it when we arrived. More transparency is recommended here to avoid disappointing guests who may have been looking forward to using these facilities. The Gym is still missing a roof, and some of the equipment is not fully functional. Working out in the blinding sun is no fun, and it seems this has been the case for at least the last 2 months. Why isn't that fixed yet? I don't mind sharing the pod with the odd lizard or trail of ants, but I draw the line at cockroaches. We unfortunately found a large one in our shower, and another was found exploring my things in the luggage room. There's easy ways for these critters to get in and out of the pod due to gaps in construction, but this should be prevented as much as possible to reduce the harmful affects cockroaches can have on property and human health. Smaller things like no shaving light above the bathroom mirror, a lack of sunbeds around the pool when at max capacity, and one of the sun bed umbrellas not working feel like easy things that could be fixed if the owners prioritised it. An "Iced Mango Shake" arrived warm and not iced at all. There's three ingredients in this drink, missing one of them felt a bit exploitative of customers as no apology or explanation was offered. Food is already pricey compared to local restaurants, even the one next door, but then they add another 10% service charge and 7% VAT on top. I haven't seen this very often in other hotels in Thailand and it felt unnecessarily shady. Why not just price items to include better pay for staff, and include the VAT?

Overall we had an OK stay as the views and peace of Koh Yao Noi were the main draws for us to the island and this place, but I hope management see this and offer more transparency up front about facilities that are not currently available, in more prominent places on your website and third...

There are so many resorts in Thailand. And for the most part, they are comfortable, clean, with lovely staff and facilities. They are part of the typical Thailand holiday experience - and that's great for the majority of people. However, my friend and I aren't really the typical tourist experience type of people. We wanted something quieter, with less hustle, on an island that is a little more untouched, to see the raw beauty of Thailand. On the stunning island of Koh Yao Noi we stayed at the newly created Jaiyen Eco Resort. We loved that it was so remote and situated on the side of the island away from tourists. The cocoons are aesthetically beautiful, clean and minimalistic, and have that feeling of being 'off the grid' without having to actually be completely cut off from society (just the right amount). Jai Yen means to have a 'calm heart' - and this is what this place did for us. It gave us a space to recharge, refresh and reconnect with ourselves and with nature. We really sensed the ethos of 'Connect. Create. Contribute.' and loved that the place was so environmentally conscious. They are connected to Trash Hero, a global volunteer movement bringing communities together to clean and reduce waste, and we were able to participate in a beach clean up through this organisation with 28 students and their teachers which was an amazing experience. Jaiyen Eco Resort was exactly what we were looking for, and it exceeded our expectations. Our host, Kevin, was extremely friendly and helpful. He gave us ideas about things we could do on the island and helped us organise day trips when we wanted to leave the island. A heads up, to see the rest of Koh Yao Noi you will need transportation. Taxis are available but trips start to add up, so you may want to hire scooters or a side car to get around. The food at Jaiyen was fantastic, all vegetarian and fresh, sourced from the local markets. The sea views are unmatched, as the ocean is just across the road. As it is a tropical island, this does come with bugs, geckos and frogs, as well as the occasional dog/cat that comes to visit. This sort of holiday may not be for everyone, especially if you like crowds and want night life, however if you are after a unique and quieter Thailand experience, we would highly recommend...

We came to this resort to relax and enjoy nature. We got the front room and came in low season. Every time it would rain at night time we would have so many little caterpillar worms inside the washroom floor. I was so scared walking in the middle of the night to go to the washroom thinking I’m gonna step on these worms. When they came to clean the room, they never clean the floors. They never clean the washrooms. They did such a rush job cleaning the room. The menu does not have a big selection of food. We order fresh juice for breakfast and got got warm juice that was not fresh. We order fruit plate with yogurt, and they choose to put rotten ripe bananas in our order. We asked for Motorbike and they gave us a motorbike which was over 15 years old. The Motorbike was all rusted and was falling apart. They asked for 300 per day. I said no, I will not pay 300 for this Motorbike. I need a more newer bike. We went out on the island and made some friends with the locals. I asked one of the locals if they could come and pick us up from the hotel and take us to the ferry. He looked at me and got scared and said no please arrange transportation with the hotel only.. so basically the hotel is trying their best not to get any other taxi services to be involved with the guests so they could over charge you 500 to take you from the hotel to the ferry. And guess what the driver is the maintenance guy of the Hotel. They put us in a situation where we had no choice but to pay 500 for two people one bag to go to the Ferry. Everything is overpriced and really the rooms are very simple. This is supposed to be a high end more expensive hotel, and when you sit in the restaurant to have your meal you get attacked by so many mosquitoes I don’t understand why they don’t put a mosquito electric zapper for the guest. The location on the view of this hotel is beautiful. Would I go back to this hotel with the choices I have in...