We showed up as walk-ins as we were in Lanta, and wanted a nice place for boyfriend's 40th birthday. Whole resort is quite stylish, in a wallpaper magazine (concrete, wood, water) kind of way. Public areas were all very well done. Pool is beautiful, and big lawn next to ocean was great. Rooms were also very beautiful and simple bungalows - wood and white linens. There were some critters as the rooms are in the jungle (no sea views, unfortunately) - but overall was a very peaceful zen room. Breakfast was great, and abundant. Beach was clean and nice, but snorkeling is not great right in front of hotel (best to book a boat tour for amazing snorkeling). Then again, don't know anywhere else as nice in Lanta. Staff had trouble with English, which was unusual - as most other places we stayed (for less money) were better at that. Overall loved the place, and loved being there, but IS overpriced for Thailand. Can't help but recommend it!

Second visit, still love the public areas, old spa area has been converted to very trendy bar with daybeds etc. But rooms still very dark (everyone complains about this, why can’t they sort that out?). Service levels are hopeless, especially at breakfast; no one is in charge or seems to care, hotel was very quiet but that shouldn’t mean it’s OK for staff to lie around in the new bar chatting and smoking.

And be aware a new bar was just setting up – and testing their sound system - right next to Sri Lantas restaurant which is not going to do much for the ambiance

I fear it will be all downhill from here largely due to poor management.

When we first went to Sri Lanta in December 2004, we were absolutely delighted by the service, the zen-atmosphere, the beautiful flowers and the always-smiling staff. We met and spoke with the German owner who was really proud of this place. Everything looked so perfect there.

Logically we then decided to go back there last January, and what a disappointment...! The staff had changed and did not even speak english enough to understand a simple query.
We always had to ask 3 times for a service (room service, we waited an hour to get 2 beers); the room was noisy (becaus eof the road and although we were in the villa up the hill - star path). We were harrassed (every day!) to indicate when we wanted the massage included in the package. I used the hotel laundry for a pair of Juicy Couture pyjamas on which I attached a note mentioning that they should not iron and dry it; guess what: they ruined it! And when I spoke to the girl at reception she did not even apologize as she did not understand what I was taliking about. The room was dirty, they did not change the sheets once (during 10 days!) although we requested it. I met a cobra in front of my room and had a giant gecko in my bathroom (I know, it is supposed to be a nature lovers place, but when I asked the staff to help me with the gecko, they never came).
Also at breakfast (which was gorgeous 2 years ago) we ALWAYS had to ask 3 times for a spoon or something missing on the table...
I think that because of its success (it was full), the hotel is not as good as it was before. There's not enough staff.
Now that the travel agencies work with the hotel, they are always full and therefore they think they don't need to be as good as before... And the prices are not even less high...
There are lots of new places there (unfortunately, the Island is not as wild as it used to be, you don't meet monkeys on the road anymore and the jungle looks like a forest now) so my advice would be that you book your first night somewhere and then you rent a motorbike to find a better place to stay. Do not book for the whole holidays at one place.

We have been to Thailand more than 30 times, we therefore know very well what to except from different price levels. In this case, we clearly feel misled by Sri Lanta’s marketing. In our point of view, the bungalows of the island resort should not cost more than 2000 bath per night, maybe even less.

When we contacted the resort with our feedback after our stay, one of the managers promised to come back to us: “we will get back to you for out finalize solution for all of this trouble”, he wrote in a E-mail. After several reminders, he still haven't done so.

Here are our experiences from our stay in February 2007:

The resort:
- The check-in procedure took 20 minutes. This is rather bad taken into consideration that the whole stay was prepaid and they should have had all the information they need. In addition, there seemed to be a lack of staff since we had to wait for a while before hour luggage could be brought to our rooms.
- The resort is promoted as a getaway zen-inspired place at which one can find peace. Our experience suggests they shouldn’t underline to much your marketing. Some examples: a) No matter which bungalow you stayed at, you could here the noisy cars on the road (located between the bungalows and the beach) b) The yoga training platform was located beside the noisy breakfast buffet
- The first day, we did not have freshwater in the bungalow due to problems in the resort’s water supply. We ended up not showering the whole day. And when the water eventually returned it was brown and full of dirt. And the second day, there was almost no pressure in the shower water (much less then normal Thai island bad).
- When we came home to the resort in the evening, the reception was un-manned, and even worse – the key shelf was wide open. Any thieves could have helped himself. By the way, in general, the young staff seemed to lack the proper education and experience to run Sri Lanta resort properly at the level expected and paid for.

The restaurant:
- It is definitively overpriced! The prices do not match the standard of service and selection of courses. Some examples: a) A glass of wine of average quality at Sri Lanta costs 250 ++ bath. This is three times more expensive than the other restaurants on the islands who also served wine of same quality b) the very inexperienced staff played not very zen-like music by Britney Spears! c) Many of the courses offered in the meny were not available d) when we ordered rum raisin ice cream, the waiter asked us what kind of ice cream I wanted.