Stayed at Pimalai for 8 nights in November 2006 with husband and son (3 years old).

ROOM
Had a cliff villa with private pool. Two buildings with pool and bale (outside double daybed) in the middle. One building with living room, small kitchen and small bathroom, other building with bedroom and main bathroom.
Compared to similar accommodation, we were quite disappointed. It was beautiful, and yes I am spoiled, but this was really nothing special compared to other hotels we have stayed in in same category. The biggest disappointment was the bathroom which was really the style and interiour design of the past. Rest of room was OK, but no wow factor.

SERVICE
Not 5 star!! Very disappointing.
- in order to save the environment we were asked to switch off aircondion when not in room. Probably OK to ask this, but not at all acceptable that housekeeping switch off for us, when we have decied to have it on! We had to put a note on it in order to leave it on.
- Though it is very steep to walk from villas to villa reception we were told in writing in a pretty rude way that the little golf cars were not meant for transporting guests except "in extreme emergencies". They did, however, always transport us when we called, but still...
- They managed to spoil the beginning of my husbands birthday by delivering the pre ordered birthday cake more than half an hour late, and only after having to call twice for it. They did make up for this by offering loads of apologies and by paying our dinner same night, but this kind of thing should just not happen in such a resorts. Me and my son were intending to surprise my husband and were waiting outside the villa for the cake while my husband was still asleep. I guess I do not have to tell that the cake, when it finally arrived, was not a surprise anymore. The taste was, however, excellent.
- Some of the people working at the resort was not at all fluent in english. More than once I had to ask to speak to someone else. Lots of writing mistakes and typing mistakes in written information/flight confirmations etc.

FOOD
Breakfast OK, but not more, though I still dream of the home made banana jam!
Very good lunch options, especially salads at main pool restaurant and thai soup at beach restaurant.
Very good dinner options. Excellent thai and excellent restaurant by villas. Great service, wine and choice.

POOLS
Both huge beautiful pool at villa area and main pool very good. Limited sun for sunbathing at villa pool, lots of shade intead. Good for some, but not for all.

BEACH
Beautiful beach.
Plastic beds with just normal towels on (no soft cover) a huge turnoff.
Very friendly beach attendants who took great care of our son. Many of the beach "toys" needs to be replaced. Looked old!

Having thoroughly researched The Pimalai it seemed a good option and we booked for 14 nts after staying at The Chedi in Chang Mai. After knowing that anything after The Chedi would be a let down as it is truly an exeptional experience we arrived at The Pimalai and were both, for reasons we cannot quite fathom, rather depressed. The setting is beautiful, the staff were great and the welcome very good.......we had a beachfront deluxe room which was very large with a great view though a liitle jaded and old fashioned. It became one of those situations where we kept saying 'this looks good' or 'thats great' without both admitting we really didn't want to be there....finally after 2 nights we gave in and admitted we wanted out. The hotel were very understanding and in the end we stayed for 6 nights, paid for 7, and jumped on the ferry for Phuket and The Chedi where we have stayed many times and the relief was huge. Of course this was purely a personal feeling and obviously many people on this board love the place but for us its isolation was its draw back and there really is nothing outside the hotel......when we did venture to 'Same Same but Different' we were told we had to book....now thats a first for a Thai beach place for me!! We did for the next night and it was worth it but please! Also the hotel seemed to want you to book their restaurants too and even if they were empty the constant 'did you book' jarred the nerves. The beach I thought was average for Thailand, good walking, not so good water and yes there are a few rocks to watch out for. The Pimalai is expensive though on the whole the food was good and the staff were all very polite and helpful.................so not for us and a 'feeling' we cannot put into words!! It needs money spending on it and soon. For those of you who love it I apologise and for those of you planning a trip there please do research thoroughly as the web site hypes it over and above what it delivers.

Sorry to interfere these compliments but this is my experience:

We rent the 3 bedroom villa 1 week which is absolutely beautiful and the view is superb...Overall the service is not as expected, the staff is clearly not capable.
But the worst was when we leave the hotel, they spent 1 hour to make totals and the bill was over 300,000THB,once we went to the boat for return a staff ran behind us to request for 200 THB for beers in the minibar that we forgot to pay...
After a lot of red wine bottles ordered, they do not offer anything to us. The other persons on the boat were angry because of us, because of the delay, but also we felt guilty and the staff was quite arrogant and look at us like bandits.

Only for that story, I just want to recommend you to spent your money anywhere else...

We stayed for 7 nights following a very busy time in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Having visited Ko Samui 14 years ago we wanted a beautiful resort on an unspoilt island but with all the conveniences of a modern hotel. We got exactly that. The hotel setting is beautiful set in rainforest up a steep hillside. There are 2 pools and the tropical gardens are well tended. Choice of restaurants with good food and the staff could not do enough for you. The beach is virgin white sand with free watersports and the snorkelling trip run by the hotel was excellent.

One problem we did have is travelling with a 13 year old daughter. We had booked a one-bedroomed suite and were given a noisy room by the beach bar directly on the beach. The suites are not suitable for a child to sleep in the lounge area as there are no curtains or blinds. We were initially very disappointed but after explaining our predicament to the hotel manager Mr Franck Lev we were upgraded (for free) to a pool villa with apologies that he would speak to our agent and explain that the one bed suites were not suitable for an arrangement with parents sleeping in the bedroom and a child/teenager in the lounge. This was particularly good bearing in mind how busy the hotel was at peak time. Views from the pool villas are fantastic and for the size and facilities they are worth the upgrade cost in the future.

The only down sides are the hillsides are steep for walking down (but we regarded this as a positive for excercise) and the restaurants are expensive but good quality (there is a cheaper, spicier beach bar next door). For an authentic tropical unspoilt paradise Ko Lanta and the coastline around here are unbeatable. Tours to Ko Phi Phi & Krabi were not as easy as we thought but the hundreds of islands around here meant that we saw the same formations but without the crowds that accompany the James Bond island and area featured in The Beach. Transfers though quite long (1hour minibus 1 hour boat) were comforable, easy and part of the holiday. Although our agent said refreshments only drinks are available so take food if you are arriving from connecting flights. Finally the hotel is a quiet paradise with a little entertainment - no niosy groups here!