There are two Akas in Hua Hin by now, the 'old' one (which looks brand new) and the Guti. We stayed at the 'old' one. (Apparently the concepts differ a little and the Guti is a little less private, with several villas sharing a pool).
Everyone has their own villa with a sleeping room, a living room, a bathroom with outside shower and bathtub, a terrace with a large eternity pool, a deck terrace and a spa house with a 2nd bathroom (which can also be used as a second sleeping room). Villa and pool are surrounded by huge fences, so noone can look inside. So this is entirely private, and you can be naked all day if you like. The design is very 'Asian', very clear cut, simple, only natural earthen colours, no pictures at the walls, not cluttering or kitsch. The villa is surrounded by plants and water. So one day we had a frog in the bathroom, another day a very large spider, geckos and the like. If you have issues with insects and reptiles, this might be worrysome to you. We thought it was quite funny! There is no price difference in eating at the (excellent) restaurant or having food delivered to your house, so many guests take eat at their villa. It is a very quiet place and at first we thought we were the only guests, because the public areas were so empty. We enjoyed out stay very much. The spa treatments were very relaxing, everything was very beautiful, the food was excellent, giving you a choice between Thai and mediterranian food.

The only draw back is, that when you drive from the station to the resort you pass by terribly dirty areas, which basically look like huge rubbish disposals, everything looks very poor. When you drive through the entrance suddenly you are in another world. It feels unreal and not very pleasant. You feel like in a gated community with starving people at your doorstep. Nowhere else in Thailand (and we have been to one of the poorest areas), have we seen such dirty land with so much rubbish lying around.

We spent 2 nights on our second honeymoon, sort of, at AKA resort. I was a bit curious with the mountain getaway concept as it was my first time in Hua Hin not being by the sea. As soon as we arrived, we thought we were in a totally different place from the rest of Hua Hin!

The resort was extremely extremely quiet - felt like we were the only guests there. We were impressed with the resort ground which was kept in an immaculate condition - the footpath was spotless, the bushes were trimmed many times a day, the lake was cleaned regularly - all that was done discreetly and we never felt they disturb us in any way. We love the fact that we were surrounded by REAL vegetations which was so mind-refreshing.

Ok the actual highlight of this trip was THE VILLA! We stayed in the deluxe one bedroom pool villa and it was the most spacious room type we have ever stayed. There was a bedroom, outdoor shower, outdoor tub, dressing area, large living room, pantry area with sink, a separate treatment room which is as big as our own bedroom, another outdoor shower, sala thai and 10 metre pool - all that in one unit. I couldnt get over the fact that we had all that space to ourselves and obviously didnt make the most of it during our short stay. We had amazing rest for both nights in total privacy.

Another thing to rave about is the Food at Coustiero. We had 2 pasta dishes for lunch - top quality ingredients and perfect flavour .. although it seemed to take 30 mins waiting time. We almost gave up our in-house dinner ( becos of the cooking speed and mosquitoes) but in the end, opted for a scrumptuous seabass dish - which was the best choice. The food presentation was creative and interesting and I would give it 10/10.

We did not use other services or facilities - as usual we just read and watched dvds and visited Hua Hin town for local culinary delights on the first day.

Two points to make regarding further improvement are;

- We feel that AKA is a true modern-sleek resort and could certainly do with a change of old living room TV to a Flat Screen one.
- Breakfast was kind of limited ,, may be now its low season so its probably not worth preparing so much. I was expecting some slices of smoked salmon - but didnt see any. We could only order one a la cart breakfast each which I feel was a let down because other five star properties we have been offered greater variety all included in their buffet such as pancakes, waffles, congee, omelette etc.

Otherwise, it was truly a fantastic stay and we would recommend AKA for a good change of atmosphere!

We have just arrived back in Belgium from a wonderful trip to Hua Hin (Thailand). We stayed at the AKA resort from 12-03 till 25-03 (we choose it after reading the reviews). What can I say... this place is heaven on earth if you are looking for a quiet retreat and especially for a private villa with a large swimming pool (10 m x 3 m) all for yourself. And all of this...at very affordable prices.
This is THE PLACE if you are looking for a real romantic holiday and don't want a big hotel which is most of the time very expensive if you want a suite which can be more high-tech but hasn't got the space and privacy that AKA can offer. And we have stayed in a lot of the best hotels of the world.
The Coustiero restaurant is truly a fantastic experience if you like top-class eating (in my opinion well worth a Michelin star). We are vegatarians and it was no problem at all for the french chefs to prepare for us a superb dinner each night (we cannot agree with the negative remarks concerning vegatarian food mentioned in a previous review). We didn't even bother to look for another restaurant as the food was really fantastic.
The only downside is that the wines on their wine-list are sold out very fast so the choice can be limited. Hopefully this will be solved quite soon. The hotel has a new manager who is really doing his best to make this hotel the best of Hua Hin (Small Luxury hotel).
We stayed at villa nr. 143 which is really private and quiet. The staff at the hotel is doing its best to make each visit a wonderful experience (cold towels with lemon-grass, cool drinks when you arrive and leave as well as a bag of free home-made cookies when you leave, etc...) and of course their big smiles and friendliness. To make a long story short: would I return to this hotel? Yes, as soon as possible when the stock-market is on the rise again.
Oh, I almost forget. They have also a brand new 'sister' hotel which is nearby and has only been openend for 1 month. The new manager kindly invited us for a tour of this new hotel and the rooms are even nicer than the one whe had. Only negative point of this new hotel is that the swimming pools have no wall around them so you lose a big part of the privacy we so much enjoyed.

Reyniers,
Belgium.

Even though we very rarely ventured out of our villa the 14 nights we spent there were not enough.

After a few days of hustle & bustle in Bangkok it was great to relax by the pool or in the sala on the roof. We were fortunate to have a villa on the perimeter of the property overlooking fields from the sala, and as the place was virtually empty the only sound was from the occasional hotel buggy passing by for those who required transport to the restaurant/reception area (max 5min walk)

We only used the restaurant for breakfast as included in the price. Unusually there was no buffet, and despite it being very quiet the service was very hit and miss.

The focal point of the resort is the swimming pool but we never saw anybody using it

Outside the resort gates -just a small community of Thais who were very friendly as you walk by.

There is a regular minibus to Hua Hin approx 15 mins which must be booked in advance at a small charge

The villa was top quality with comfortable bed and separate living area with bar, television (too small/poor reception) and DVD. It was an experience to share the outside bath and shower with various creatures in the greenery surrounding.

Housekeeping was generally good but occasionally we had to ring as they had forgot to replenish items, for example towels
Tip - If you are not going out request housekeeping to call at a specific time to do the room so you are not disturbed -we tried and usually succeeded in having the room done whilst we were at breakfast

We thought the place was a bargain for the price paid although no doubt prices will rise as the name gets known and more widely marketed.

Having said that given a choice and money not an issue we would return to the Evason Hideaway rather than AKA.