Hotel Hell in Koh Samui

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Chaweng Beach Resort, Koh Samui.....

In its day we think that Chaweng Beach Resort would have been very nice but it is in need of a lot of maintenance, just basic stuff too but most of all it came down to cleanliness, or lack of it!. Whilst we know it wasn’t 5-6 star it doesn’t matter what it is, there is no excuse for lack of cleanliness……. The first unit Dave and I got put in did not have a balcony and when we complained they said they could move us to one after 2 nights, fair enough. We were there for 2 weeks so wanted a balcony, our friends Paul and Annie had one, we felt we should have had the same. Well, the first unit had twin basins in the bathroom, one could not be used because the tap was literally hanging off. We couldn’t find a plug in the main area to plug in the jug, we found a plug in the bathroom but the wiring in the wall was the old wiring, the plug on the jug and the hair dryer was the new plug so they didn’t fit! The only plug we found which worked was on the computer power supply so had to use that. The computer didn’t work, the safe didn’t work, the toilet was about 2 foot out from the wall and you had to lean back like a contortionist to reach the loo paper! Anyway, after 2 nights we moved into the unit next to Paul and Annie which had a balcony. At least the plugs worked! But the lighting in the bathroom was 3 tiny halogen lights which were hardly adequate, I couldn’t even see if I was using shampoo or conditioner in the shower!! The shower was a slate walk in shower, don’t know when it had last been cleaned!!! The basins were not cleaned every day or even every other day!! They did change the bed every day though, although in our mind this was totally unnecessary…the towels were like rags, sooo old and hard, I wouldn’t even use them for my dogs!!!…. There was only 2 very small mirrors over the basins in the bathroom, no full length mirror and you would not off been able to see to put any makeup on, not that that bothered me as I don’t wear makeup…. I suffered really badly with allergy eyes (something that hasn’t bothered me too much in the past) so I had a look at the filters in the air conditioner, they were black!! So effectively were just blowing dust everywhere!!! So I went to reception and asked them to get someone to come and clean them which they did. I asked them what their maintenance programme was on the conditioners for cleaning the filter and was told “maybe twice a year”…. Not good enough when they are going 24/7 if people are in them……. anyway, later that night the air conditioner packed up blowing cold air and we spent the night sweltering on top of the bed! Again, next morning down to reception and told them, they got the maintenance man back and he gassed it up and away it went OK……. By later that night it wasn’t blowing cold again so another night was spent hot and on top of the bed. Back down to reception the next day, maintenance man back again, this time replaced bits and pieces, there had been a leak in the gas, so we were up and running again. Yeah! Hopefully a good nights sleep….. No! got woken up at 5.15am by boom, boom, boom, the breakfast staff were setting up for 6am breakfast and had their music going very loudly!!! So I had to go ask them to turn it down…….. I had the unfortunate knowledge, one morning of watching the breakfast waiter squeezing the spots on his face and then go to serve breakfast, I just about threw up!!! We did not see them clean the dining room floor once while we were there in the 2 weeks, the same spill stains were there when we arrived and when we left. Annie and I made the mistake of not wearing anything on our feet to walk into the dining room one morning and came out with black feet and sticking to the floor! Dave was very lucky to have not been killed after he got a hell of a shock from the toaster one morning which left him with tingling arms and hands all day. He was very very lucky!! Not one member of staff or management came to see if he was OK. The toaster machine was stuffed and you had to put your bread thru about 6 times before it even started to go brown. Breakfast was ho hum, not great at all, I could off done better……… I made the mistake of looking behind the servery and it was absolutely disgusting and filthy!!! The staff were not friendly (something we found quite unusual as we have travelled to Thailand many times and just love the Thai people), the uniforms they had on had well seen better days, very old fashioned, faded and grubby……. I watched the pool maintenance man one day checking the pool but he didn’t seem to notice the big scum mark around the white tiles by the spa pool bit. When I pointed it out to him he gave it a quick scrub with the pool brush but it didn’t get the mark off completely but he just left it……… Paul and Annies floor was wooden and the foundations were all but collapsed, if there had been anyone walking on certain parts of the floor who was a lot heavier then they would of gone thru it, it was very dodgy indeed…….Some of the coving around their ceilings was hanging off, a couple of nails would of fixed it no problem….. None of the phones in any of the units were working either….. We ordered a 4WD jeep from reception one day to go off around the island for the day, a car arrived!!! So we had to wait for them to return it and bring us a jeep………. Funnily enough I spoke very briefly to another guest there who said they had been going there for 15 years and nothing had changed, it was like it all the time………….. In our opinion they really need to give each unit a thorough clean and instruct their staff on what is expected for their daily cleaning routine. We are by no means demanding people and will go with the flow but when it comes to hygiene and cleanliness then we do put our foot down. We shall definitely not be staying there again and would definitely not recommend it to others. The majority of people that were staying there were all complaining.

The only one good thing it has is its location on the beach……… fantastic ……………. You can swim at all tides, whereas down the other end of the beach you can’t…..the 711 was across the road for any supplies and Lotus supermarket only a 300 BHT taxi ride for cheap booze, beer, etc...

We checked out a couple of other places and had a look thru their rooms. The Cabana was right next door and the beach front unit there was really lovely and cheaper than where we were staying, they had a lovely pool area too and the units were nice and clean, good towels, etc….. then the other way, 2 resorts up, Tradewinds was nice (didn’t have a pool but you were only 10 metres to the sea water) they had 21 units and 8 motel units, price about the same as what we paid.

We still had a great time, weather great, food, beer and cocktails cheap and very good…….had some tailoring done at a great price too………watch out for rip off merchants though and barter hard!!!

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