Islanda Hideaway Resort — Hotel in Krabi Province

The location was very difficult to get to. It is set up in a manner that you have to use their service to get there from the airport (900 baht one way, not included in your stay). In all my looking, I really couldn't find any other way to get to/from the ajrlort(unlike the rest of Thailand),and while they offer free bicycles to use to get to town (that is, not the airport but central Krabi, which takes about 20-25 minutes to cycle there), they don't advertise this at all and want you to also pay them to take you there (anywhere from 400-600 baht).

Additionally, they will tell you that this cost to go to the airport doesn't just go to getting the taxi driver (which should only be around 300-400 baht by my research), but also to the boat driver and Tuk-Tuk driver; what's funny is that the driver for both of our boats and Tuk-Tuks was wearing an Islanda uniform, and driving Islanda vehicles. If these are resort vehicles, shouldn't this be included in the price considering you have to take this in order to get to the resort (trust me, you're not walking there, and you'd be hard pressed to find another option considering that they drop you off at the entrance to a lagoon once you're at the island).

They offer trips (I.e. Just getting to one beach or location, not an actual tour in this case) that are at least twice what it would cost you to have someone else take you (that is, someone you find on your own in town). For example, they wanted to charge 2 of us 2500 baht (for 2 way) to go to Railay Beach, and we were able to get our own long boat driver who did it for 1200 (2 way) in Krabi. Their price only included the drive. All it took was for us to ride our bikes to the western pier (a nice ride honestly, and a great way to see the island, but they don't really give you this info. We had to ask for maps and use Google Maps, but we liked the adventure and sights, truly).

Lastly, they also offered a "tour" of the island that cost 800 baht per person. This was done by a very nice guy who didn't speak English at all. We were hoping to get more history or how some of these things were made, but all we got was him taking us to all of the locations that (without any explanation or history) were essentially just gift shops where you feel pressured to buy something because... Well what else would you be doing there? At least they fed us at the end...

All in all would not recommended unless you exclusively plan to stay on the resort property (and either stay at your room or at the pool) and pay 2-3x the price for food (compared to the rest of Krabi/Thailand). A meal for 2 will be at least 600 baht (cheapest meal items were a veggie stir fry - ~170 baht - and/or chicken stir fry - 250 baht), and others could be well over 1000-2000 depending what you get, plus 7% tax and a 10% service charge (these last two are charged to everything, so be weary.

Additionally, drinks will cost you a lot. A glass of beer was 125 or 150 baht (just go into town and buy your own 4 pack of beer for 145 baht). Islanda is a beautiful location, but they just want to charge you for everything and do nothing to make it easy for you to see the rest of what Krabi has to offer. If you are like us and wanted to see more of Krabi, dont be decieved by how "close" Islanda looks; there are far better places to stay that are much more centrally located that will still only put you at a maximum of a 20 minute long boat ride to all of the beautiful locations...

I haven't seen the resort yet.||Our story is as follows: It is now October 9, 2024. On September 5th of this year, I decided to surprise my wife with a 10-day trip to Thailand for our 25th wedding anniversary. I was looking for a place that is directly on the beach, because my wife is a sea lover, she loves to swim in the crystal clear transparent salt water. Then I was very happy that I found this accommodation at a favorable price and booked it. Unfortunately, I decided too quickly. When I started researching the location where this hotel is located, I found out that swimming in the sea is not recommended there. I then (2 days after the reservation) immediately wrote to the accommodation provider that if they returned our money, I would prefer to cancel the reservation if possible and wrote an explanation as to why. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW THAT I DID NOT CLICK ON THE ''CANCELLATION'' BUTTON, I just wrote them a letter, in which I also wrote exactly that if they don't want to return the money, then I don't want to care about the reservation. In the 5th minute after sending my letter, I already saw that my reservation was canceled. After a while, they sent me an email saying that they canceled my reservation, but unfortunately they wouldn't refund my money. I booked the room through booking.com and paid €660 for it. I think it's a simple theft. It is best for the accommodation provider if as many people as possible cancel the accommodation, when they have read that it is true that the hotel is on the beach, but you cannot swim in the water there. I emailed Bookong.com's customer service several times, they were not willing to help me and always just told me to communicate with the host directly. In the meantime, I also watched some YouTube videos about the hotel, in which I saw that chickens, ducks, and turkeys were running around the yard, cavorting and kicking the poultry pup behind them, then I completely lost my interest in this place. This is not indicated on one of the accommodation agency sites, although I think there are many of us who do not want to spend our not-so-cheap vacations in the middle of a poultry farm. As I wrote at the beginning of my post, it is now October 9, 2024, I wonder what will be the end of all this, but I will continue to post negative comments on the World Wide Web until we get...

Having stayed in Thailand for over 18 years, I have visited many hotels and resorts. Some were more pleasant than others. However, with Islanda Hideaway Resort, I was pretty disappointed.

1: Despite confirming with the resort to have transportation arranged to the resort, they managed to have forgotten. Mind you, they confirmed twice via email about transportation. My initial emails had all the flight details, which they also confirmed. On the day of arriving at the airport, no one was there. I had to call several times because no one bothered to pick up the phone. On my 3rd try, someone eventually picked up. I asked about the transportation. They claimed that the driver was at the airport until 12.40 pm. My plane landed at this time; however, the driver left at 12.40 pm, expecting me to show up at the arrival exit at precisely 12.40 pm.

2: The beachfront was dirty, with washed-up bottles, etc. I saw five bottles of Duck Bathroom cleaner washed up.

3: Happy hour seems not to be happy hour. By my understanding, happy hour is buy one, get one free. At Islanda Hideaway Resort, you must purchase two and get one free.

The restaurant was the worst food I have eaten in Thailand. I know Thai food well, but the taste of the food served at Islanda Hideaway Resort was not good. It had a lot of MSG, hence the dry mouth afterward. Everything tasted sweet, and sadly, it was very overpriced. They have the advantage because there aren't any 7-11 stores or local grocery stores on this island. We managed to get one of the bicycles and find some locally-made food. The price I paid for two huge boxes of food, two drinks, and one Thai dessert was equivalent to one dish at the Islanda Hideaway Resort.

Restaurant rules. It seems the staff at this restaurant can't be bothered to enforce specific ethical rules, like not allowing guests to smoke, especially in the restaurant area. A tourist couple sat several tables down, smoking after every bite. The staff did not seem bothered.

I won't return to this place again. Sad. The setting is lovely. The sunsets are magical. It is very peaceful. However, staff and management managed to ruin everything because they couldn't be bothered to take proper care. If someone at Islanda Hideaway Resort reads this, they will take it to their hearts and start working on some...