Vana Belle, a Luxury Collection Resort, Koh Samui

We were staying at Vana Belle as our last stay after a month of traveling in Thailand with our child (10 months old) as our only maternity leave together - so it was planned to be something very special. We chose Vana Belle as we thought it would be a great last stay and would turn up the luxury (which we in deed also paid for). Unfortunately, it turned out is was the worst hotel stay of the whole month of traveling (where we stayed at 3, 4 and 5 star hotels). Firstly, it is not at all baby “friendly” as the rooms (we stayed in a jungle pool suite) are very far from the beach and other facilities. A lot of stairs leads to the different facilities, which is not at all suited for children or strollers - and are not convenient for adults either. Secondly, the hotel itself appears old and “messy” with a “brown and purple” theme and it is a massive concrete building. Not charming at all, and the pictures on the webpage, hotels etc. have been very much retouched. The room we had (jungle pool suite) has nothing to do with a “jungle” as you look out on a road with only a small strip of threes, hearing cars (buggies) driving outside very often and noise from people running to/from the breakfast. Thirdly, the pool area and the pool bar have seen better days and could very much need a brush up. The lower apartments further has a very “parking basement”-like entree (see picture). All in all very very disappointing and not at all what we expected!

Service was 15/10. The staff was so attentive. They had a way of anticipating our needs without being intrusive. Great for couples and families. We stayed in Villa 1003, beachfront. Special thanks to Pumm our butler and On our very sweet house keeper. Incredible stay!

A great vacation, amazing stuff need to have more activities for children though.