The Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort was probably the most disappointing resort I’ve stayed in either in Thailand or anywhere in Asia. I’ve lived in Thailand for 10 years previously and have stayed in many Thai hotels and both my myself and my parents have stayed at over 10 different hotels in Koh Samui over the last 10 years and this was the worst experience we’ve encountered. We booked two adjoining Plunge Pool Rooms, half the room size is taken up with the bathroom, which is basically an outside bathroom so the actual room is quite small. The plunge pool is good for little ones. Issues we faced at Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort below:
1. Room size is small (as mentioned)
2. Mosquitoes – this is the most mosquitoes we’ve encountered at any Asian resort, when we get a pool villa or plunge pool room, we expect a few, but I just spent the whole time applying mosquito spray and itching and the Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort is definitely not the place to have an outdoor bathroom.
3. On the 2nd night I saw a cockroach in the bathroom
4. On the 2nd night we were woken up by the guests staying in the upstairs room, stomping around and doing God knows what else, sounded like they were dragging a 44 gallon along the floor. My Mum and Dad faced the same problem
5. The wifi, which is supposed to be throughout the hotel, was basically non-existent, working about a quarter of the time we were in the room.
6. The shower pressure was pathetic, basically not enough to get soap off you, and it was difficult to get the temperature right. This is the type of shower I’d expect staying in a hostel or cheap hotel.
7. The beach at Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort is not really suitable for swimming, it’s dirty, rocky and basically we didn’t swim in it at all. It is however quite nice for taking photographs as there’s some boats there and the rocks make for some nice scenes.
8. The outdoor furniture was just a few seat pads on the floor. To be fair, if you’re just a couple, this would have been fine, but as a family, (3 adults and 1 child), we couldn’t really sit down and have a comfortable relaxing drink/talk etc
After the first night we approached the staff to see if there were any bigger rooms/suites we could move to but were told there were none that were available right through our required stay. After the 2nd night I emailed the GM at Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort, and to his credit, were given a few options. Unfortunately the options meant my Mum and Dad would have had to have moved twice, which they weren’t interested in. My son and I were upgraded to a Pool Villa, which was much more spacious but couldn’t move until 2p.m At around 1:30p.m I had a cockroach land on me, and not being one for any type of creepy crawlies, I called the reception and said we wanted out of the room immediately. We moved in at 1p.m. Had we known what the Plunge pool room was like and the Pool Villa, we would have booked those, but when we originally asked the hotel if the Pool Villa could accommodate 3 adults and 1 child, they said they could only provide one rollaway bed.
Plunge Pool
Anyway, for a family the Pool Villa at Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort is a much better option. There were still mosquito’s and I saw a dead cricket/grasshopper and a dirty Q-Tip by the bed, which really tells me the housekeeping isn’t doing their job, which their are plenty of comments about in other reviews. Some of the staff were great, one of the girls at breakfast was particularly good, remembering if you want tea/coffee, small things like that, but I must say the service was not very Anantara-like (I’ve stayed at Anantara’s throughout Thailand and in the Maldives and their service is always outstanding), and by that I mean the service and staff were disappointing. Again, some of the staff were great, but many of them walked around with sour faces and this is something you don’t expect at any 5 star in Thailand. You could tell many of the staff didn’t really enjoy what they were doing.
On the plus side the food was good at Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort, particularly the TreeTops Restaurant, which was one of the best dishes I’ve ever had. I’d highly recommend eating here whether saying at the resort or not. Other small things ruined the stay, like having to call twice to get the room service plates picked up, someone calling me at 9:30p.m at night to tell me I had a message, then when asking what the message was the next morning, nobody knew. This wouldn’t be so bad but when you’ve got a child sleeping/trying to sleep it’s just annoying. All these things are very small thing, but they all combined to make a very disappointing stay, and I’m sorry, outside bathroom or not, I draw the line at having cockroaches in the room – it’s totally unacceptable for a 5-star hotel. I can put up with a few mosquitoes and bugs and understand that’s part of most Asian resorts, especially those on the beach, but again, all these things just added up to a big disappointment.
Again, to the GM’s credit, we were upgraded, but my Mum and Dad are over 70 years old and can’t be bothered complaining and asking for more outdoor furniture (loungers) to sit on and still not having any, they also have basically no wifi and are being annoyed by the people upstairs from their room, the option we were given after I complained didn’t really add up ie. they said if we paid a bit extra (at a discounted rated) for the 2 bedroom pool villa for all of us to stay until the 8th, my Mum and Dad would be upgraded to the 1 bedroom Pool Villa after that, but if we only went to the 1 Bedroom Pool Villa (for no charge), they would need to move back to their room. It just didn’t make sense and while I appreciate the upgrade we got, I think more could have been done considering the complaints we had and I know my Mum and Dad are not pleased with their experience, especially considering they travelled from New Zealand to get there. They’ve stayed in Koh Samui more than I have and know what to expect at 5 star hotel and are definitely not as picky as me when it comes to staying in hotels.
Anantara Lawana Koh Samui – Pool Villa
Neither myself or my Mum and Dad will come back to Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort. I understand from talking to a local that this hotel is notorious for mosquitoes because of the vegetation (the grounds are nice and I guess this is a trade-off), and they also said there were a few staff that they know were unhappy, which explains a lot of things. It just wasn’t the excellent Thai service all around that you expect when staying at a 5 star hotel in Thailand. The hotel is apparently 9 years old but it’s showing signs of age and something needs to happen before I’d consider going back here. I wouldn’t say this was a terrible experience, my son had a great time playing in the plunge pool and bigger pool in the Pool Villa, but really I expect more from a 5-star hotel.
If you’re a first time traveler to Koh Samui and traveling as a couple, this hotel might be alright, but if you’re an experienced traveler who is used to staying in 5-star properties then I think you’ll be underwhelmed.
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Visit our Koh Samui Travel Guide for Kids and Families here.
