I have stayed at this hotel many times over the last 13 years and have just returned from what will probably be my last trip to this hotel. I read others comments about the building site next door to the hotel and decided to go anyway as it was my most favourite hotel anywhere in the world, I emailed the hotel to request a room away from the building work which I got , but sitting around the boat pool or on the beach there is the sound of hand drills , saws and hammers which was at times deafening and they carry on by floodlight till about 9pm!

The hotel lacked any sort of atmosphere as it was only about one third occupied , hardly anyone around the pools or on the beach during the day or in the evenings - the liveliest place was the TV lounge whilst football was on!!

I was really disappointed as the breakfasts are fantastic and all the staff are doing there best under very difficult situations , but I would not go back till the hotel next door , and the Dusit Hotel further along the beach are fully finished

Well what can i say about my first trip to Thailand, i certainly wasn't disappointed!. The Imperial Boathouse is a gorgeous hotel, beautiful, clean and is in a lovely location the grounds are so green and lush. It looks lovely lit up at night and you can listen to the frog chorus ( they all sit on their lily pads croaking away ), just be careful where you walk though at night as the frogs just sit in the middle of the paths too and we nearly stood on a few.

We flew with BMI to LHR then Thai to BKK and then Bangkok airways to koh samui, flights were great, but we were very tired when we got there, we needed a couple of days to recover.

Our rooms were spotless, we were in a premier room on the second floor overlooking the monkey pool which was lovely, we thought about upgrading before we went to a rice boat but to be honest i am glad we didn't whilst they look lovely ,our room was just right it had everything we needed and i am glad we didn't pay any extra for a boat.

Alot of people seem to comment on the building work going on next door, this never bothered us at all. You see a few cranes swinging about from time to time but that is about it, we never heard any noise from the work going on. Some people might think this a eye sore but we certainly didn't, honestly this did not have any impact on our holiday and please dont let it stop you going to this lovely hotel. The road outside the hotel is a bit messy, no pavements etc and after it has rained it floods sometimes, but again this is not a massive issue at all.

The weather when we was there was hot hot hot!, however, we did have quite a bit of rain and overcast days, even though the temp was always in the late eightes.

The beach where we were is really nice and has some nice eating places, we made the mistake of eating in the hotel for a the first few nights and whilst the food is delicous you pay through the nose for it, so we decided to try some of the restaurants on the beach, gorgeous food and really really cheap!! in the hotel we were spending about 1000 baht ( £16/17 ) each for a meal and drinks, but on the beach your meal and drinks would be about 400 baht ( £6 ). Choengmon bar is a good place to eat and they have live music on some nights, also there is Crystals and Honeys, try them all!!!.

We went into Chaweng a few times too, and i am glad we were stopping away from there really, its a great place to go for a night and all that, but its quite hustle and bustle and its fine if you want that, but we wanted a nice relaxing holiday so it was good to have the option to go whenever we wanted but also have the quiet resort of choeng mon to go back too. Make sure you go to the Star, its a bar down the main road and its a ladyboy show, it was such a good night and fantastic to watch.

Massages, we had a few beleive me. The girls on the beach are good and really cheap about £5, but we also treated ourselves to one in the hotel which was abit more luxurious.

Internet, you can use this in the hotel and its 100 bahts for 15 mins and then 10 bahts every minute after that, however, outside the hotel round the corner there is a place where its 1 baht per min!!!! so go there if you want to send any emails.

Seven Eleven, these are everywhere on the island and they are the cheapest place to buy your food/water/cigs etc, there is one outside the hotel just up the road. We also changed our travel chqs at the westen union which is up the same road outside the hotel.

Dogs, well not sure if anyone who reads this is a soft touch like us, but we made some friends over there, there is one dog who we named Bacon as he used to wait outside the restaurant for us after breakfast so we used to take him some bacon, he is a lovely dog really gentle and nice natured he has a collar on and we beleive he is owned by someone, he is also always down by the beach quite a lot and always came up to say hello with his tail wagging. Then there was Ham, and yes we used to feed her ham after breakfast ( just wrap a bit in a napkin before you leave the buffet ). Now she is a special little dog, she is a tan colour and looks like she has recently had pups, unfortunately we don't think she is owned by anyone as she didn't have a collar on and look quite thin, we got quite attached to this little girl. She is a lovely dog really timid and once she knows you and your voice she bounds over to see you full of beans. Please please if you go to the boathouse, please look out for her and give her a bit of food, i am currently speaking to the scantury in samui to try get her taking in and look ed after properly and get her all her jabs etc, apparently a dogs life on samui isn't what it seems so i really hope people will give this little girl some food if you see her. I am going to put some photos on soon so i will put a couple of her on too.

Thailand is a wonderful country and we had the best time at this hotel and wouldn't hestiate going back, in fact most people we spoke to had been there 5 or 6 times. I may well return myself next year. The Imperial Boathouse is a wonderful hotel and base for your holiday on this beautiful island. I am gutted to be home and i just would love to go back now!!, if any of you are lucky enough to be going you will had a fab time and don't forget to look out for Ham!!!!

myself & my partner stayed at the hotel for 8 nights, the hotel was lovely! could not fault anything about it. buffet breakfast served everything you could think of, rooms were very spacious and clean. staff at hotel could not do enough for you. it is truely a lovely place and would highly reccomend it!!! loved it, loved it, loved it!!

I stayed here for 2 weeks at the beginning of April as part of a wedding party of 22. After 5 days in Bangkok the tranquility of this hotel was very welcome. Although the hotel is quite big it really is quite a peaceful and relaxing place.

The gardens are beautiful and the walk from the main blocks down through the boat suites to the boat pool and the beach is really lovely. Invariably there would always be quite a few of us by the pool so we stuck to the busier and bigger boat pool. The garden pool looks lovely but its a lot smaller and very quiet. Some of our party with children opted to stay by the garden pool. The beach is lovely and also very quiet and although the hawkers are not overly nagging it can get a bit annoying after a while.

With regards to the building work next door, I can honestly say I never heard a thing. We spent a lot of evenings at the beach restaurants and I actually found the lights from the sight a welcome relief as the beach can be quite dark and quiet at night. I believe that the hotel are not allocating rooms on that side of the complex at the moment.

The breakfast is lovely, everything you could ask for and although a bit pricier than the beach cafes the pool snacks are also very nice. Round the back of the main restaurant there is a little shop where you buy water and pop very cheap and there is absolutely no problem bringing it into the hotel. As we were a large group going out together was a problem so we tended to eat on the beach at night (first 2 to the left of the boathouse and honeys which is first on right were our favourites) and even when we all turned up ordering starters, mains and almost drinking the bar dry the service and quality of food was always outstanding.

We had a premier room which is supposed to be newly decorated. Although it was big, comfortable and very well equipped (fridge, mini bar, tv, dvd player etc) we both agreed that it was a little bit rough around the edges however by no means did it affect the enjoyment of our stay.
The hotel itself has brilliant facilities. There is a tour desk in the reception where you can book hire cars and any trip going on the island. Down by the boat pool is a dive shop where you can book boat trips to the marine park (A MUST) and snorkelling/diving trips. The spa looks lovely and there is also a small but well equipped gym.

The hotel is far enough away from chaweng so that it's not in your face but close enough if you want to go shopping or for a night out. I know its not everyones cup of tea but I quite liked the contrast between choeng mon and chaweng and liked that I had the choice of somewhere more lively. There are also some really nice places to eat in bangrak which is 5 mins in the opposite direction to chaweng

Finally the wedding...It was an absolutely wonderful day. The bride and groom were very well looked after and every request they made was honoured. The dressing of the ceremony room was beautiful and the food and cake was lovely. The wedding pictures and DVD were returned within 2 days and the pictures are stunning. Made all the more special by the beautiful surroundings of the hotel. We have never considered a wedding abroad but it was such a lovely day my partner and I have decided to do the same ourselves!!