Arrival on island and was taken to rooms to find not the rooms had booked. After discussion and waiting 24hrs were moved to the correct rooms. Three of the four of our group were all over 65yrs old and the location where we were placed hotel 3 was was not totally suitable as when we left our rooms would need to walk up 50 stairs & walk down 50 stairs when coming down. This would occur some 3 - 4 times a day. One of the rooms @ 2am in the morning had a rat and the occupants had to be moved out back to their original room when first checked in where they stayed for the remainder of our stay. Only two restaurant's open for lunch & dinner & one open up near infinity pool for breakfast. All activities day & night were cancelled & kids club & gym & pool room closed too. The limited staff did their best to make our stay a pleasant one. Covid obviously has impacted the experience and hope when things get back to normal the place will be again be the one to remember from past visits.…
What a view, sunset from the private seawater pool in our own villa. Creaky floors and insects but that's island life Breakfast was OK, nothing to shout about, go to Isaan Fine which is a few mins walk out of Santhiya for yummies Main pool is open, waterfall from 1-4pm Kids playground is open 1-4pm Gym and library cafe is usually empty maybe due to low traffic One really fun thing we had spent alot of time... Go to the beach, and look for crabs! They are small, but plentiful and scurrying all about the sand...
The best Spa in Phuket Province. Noi - Best Therapist - Hard Working, Dedicated, Best techniques. (The very best and most experienced) Yell Ma’am - Very helpful in managing schedules and very down to earth and best at hospitality. Very respectful towards all clients. Zinya - The best person to greet and meet with the clients when you reach the spa. She works along with Yell Ma’am and is equally good and helpful. Parn Mam - Managing the spa beautifully. Helping all clients personally. One day I had a normal experience compared to all other days - as all other spa treatments were excellent. She personally came to meet me and gave me time to explain myself and helped the next day to make up for the normal experience that i had just once. Me and my wife stayed here for 10 nights and got 10 to 11 spa treatments.. The guys are highly professional and great at their job with best prices and offers. Must visit only for spa, the spa is so goood!!! We miss their spa and their therapies. God bless them to do more good work.…
NamPan Madam at Saitara Restaurant is the best. She was fasting due to Ramadan during our stay but she gave us marvelous food service at the saitaara restaurant and in the room for food ordered in the room. She gives such good service and feeling of hospitality. She managed our food requirements very nicely and us being vegetarians, we were choosy with our dietary requirements.. But NamPan Madam is the best. She coordinates beautifully with the chef team and gives the best food with customization. We love santhiya - more because of NamPan Madam.
Very nice stay with family along the best beach on the Positives: beautiful setting, villas beautiful, breakfast view and PJ’s help and advice. Also get a long tail boat to the islands close by as a half day trip. To improve: ability to have more personal service at dinner. You have to use an app! The experience made us want to eat outside at other restaurants. The system also makes it harder to leave tips for the people serving you. There should be an option to give tips that go directly to the staff. They work hard.
Like others I was concerned when I read the recent negative reviews - COVID is still have lasting effects on quality and service in reopened London, would we finally get to Thailand (2 years after initial booking) and it would be a disaster? Happily not. My main caveat for this review is that we went in late March when the hotel was only fairly busy - it was noticeably significantly more so by the end of our week and so perhaps some of the issues raised by others with the hotel buggies, ordering app, sunloungers at the beach/pool etc were caused by the ramp up in guest numbers? Quite a lot of the hotel was still closed (games room, kids club, most of the restaurants and clearly a lot of the rooms) and I could see the beach/pool getting crowded at full capacity. All I can say is everything worked perfectly when we were there. The hotel itself remains just as stunning as when we first stayed 8 years ago - the villas are incredible, we’ll appointed either amazing views. A bit tired? Would be surprising if there were no effects at all from the pandemic, but really not at all to a problematic degree. I don’t understand the complaints on food - only one restaurant was open but with consolidated menus from those that are still closed. I love Thai food, and this was great Thai food, there are a good range of seafood and western options too, and a buffet (kids liked it more than me). For variety and a more authentic Thai experience the nearby village is 5 mins walk along the beach, and Isaan Fine (recommended) 5 mins outside the hotel. Excursions, car hire etc are far cheaper in the village too. Finally, the staff - again, I don’t understand the complaints as we found everyone to be friendly, helpful and courteous with a generally very good level of English. Overall, in the context of a horrible last couple of years of incredible pressure on the hospitality industry our experience at Santhiya was fantastic.…
The very first impression is very nice when you come to this resort. When you live there for a few days, you don't want to come back. Let's start with the rooms and buildings. This resort has many rooms in different, very big buildings and some villas. The rooms are basically made of wood which can be very nice. But when you don't make the right maintenance to the wood, it looks scruffy and smells bad.And that is what happens here. The cleanliness all over the resort is not the very best, but it's not a disaster. There beach area is very small for that amount of tourists, and therefore it's very hard to find a sunbed with shade. It's always a pain getting to your room, because the rooms are uphill and they drive you with vans up there to an assembly point and from there you should get a buggy to your room. The point is, that during our stay, there was never a buggy waiting or coming in a reasonable time of waiting. So we had always to walk uphill. And the same procedure for the other way. People who are not so good by walking to much, should avoid this hotel. As the buildings are surrounded by trees, which is very nice, our room was full of insects, some big bugs and many small mosquitoes. The very best is the view for breakfast, if you can take the breakfast at the uphill building. It is a spectacular view. But what I didn't like is that you have to leave your shoes at the entrance and walk barefoot where hundreds of people walk from food to food to take the breakfast during the morning, and some time you walk into what they loose on their way. Really not hygienic the barefoot thing. Wonder how much food fungus will be found there. And finally and what is making me seriously pissed is this. We left this hotel by hotel boat from their pier to another pier in Phuket. Our luggage was picked up in our room and we didn't see it back till our arrival in Phuket. On the Pier we were brought to an assembly point where the people was dispatched with taxis or other transportions. On our way to this point we saw from far how rude and brutal the stuff carried out luggages from the passengers and my wife said: I hope my laptop will survive this. Well, the laptop survived but one of our luggage war damaged in a way that we can't use it again. I reported it of course immediately by mail, but this mail has been ignored as much as all my following mails. Not the style of a classy hotel. My overall impression of that hotel? Just moneymaking on the first side. Customer care, hmmm... not so much. Will I go back? Surely not. Will I recommend it? Surely not.…
My wife and I are hoteliers ourselves, living and working in Phuket but from time to time, we like to escape to another Island. The Santhiya Koh Yao Yai is one of these escapes, we really enjoy, which is why this time, it was our fourth visit. Arriving at the Ao Por Marina, the manager of the Santhiya office very nicely greeted us, where we were checked in and enjoyed a good coffee while we were waiting for the boat. The boat started on time, and everything was organized well. This time, we stayed only 2 nights, so we wanted to try one of these new “Seawater Pool Villas”. What should I say, the villa was the typical Santhiya style teak wood design, very Thai, exceptionally beautiful, spacey, and comfortable. Best to my taste was the outdoor bathroom with the large, well-functioning outdoor rain shower. Of course, we already knew the villas, but the seawater pool was new. It’s great! First of all, these pools are large enough to really swim and not just hang around, but the salt water, which the resort claims is chemical free and constantly exchanged with fresh seawater, was clearly the best. It is like swimming in the sea but without the jellyfish and in the comfort of your own, private villa. Nice! We ate at the resort only, didn’t leave at all, as this is simply not necessary. The main restaurant, offering original Thai food is very good, feet in the sand, ordering by digital menu! There was also a Thai Dancing show and nice Thai music. Watching the sunset from the Sala at the end of the pier, with a good cocktail was also a nice experience. The huge breakfast buffet was best to enjoy before 8 am or after 9 am as it was a bit crowded in between, but the restaurant is huge, so we walked to the end to find a calm area with an amazing view. Overall, the fourth visit was the best so far, due to the fantastic Seawater Pool Villa, which we really enjoyed. Champagne by the pool, why not? And there are lots of photo opportunities, I’m going to post a few. By the way, I also love Koh Yao Yai. It feels like Phuket 40 years ago, with quite a rural feel, pleasant beach and almost no cars. Another advantage worth mentioning is the fact that the beach is well protected from waves, so it is no problem to swim there all year round, even during the monsoon season. Thanks to all the team for the good service and warm welcome, we will be back for another escape for the fifth time!…
The positives.... Rooms are lovely and well appointed. The main communal areas are also well kept and of a good standard. The speed boat transfer service was also really nice. Good extensive breakfast offer. The annoyances.... This started before our arrival when the response to emails ( i was trying to arrange the free transfer offered) was really painful. I tried on a few occasions to get clarity on transfer times etc and ended up getting the hotel we stayed in prior to our visit to call reception and arrange it for us as we had no response The QR code system for ordering food and drinks at the restaurant / beachside. It worked relatively well in the day, but on our first night there we sat in the restaurant and struggled to get wifi access. 4 of us with smart phones seeing which one could actually get onto the wifi to enable us to order food and drinks. Trying to get a second drink was an equally hard challenge as the wifi was struggling and kept throwing us out of the page. You'd then get back in and have to be careful you didn't double order as it would remember the previous dishes / drinks you had added to the basket before you lost connection. All in all a pretty flawed system for a relatively expensive restaurant. Our answer was to eat outside of the hotel for our other two evenings - seemed a popular choice as a number of other hotel guests did similar. The second day of our stay they also didn't have enough beds available by the pools / beach and totally ran out of beach towels. Also the bizarre condition that if you didn't bring your towel back by 6pm, they threatened to fine you! Another thing to note is that the rooms / villas are set on the hillside above the beach. Therefore you need to get a ride to the rooms in vans. These were always available and the drivers extremely friendly. However, they do now operate a system of picking up at assembly points for rooms higher up the hill. These are not too far from the rooms, but with the heat and the uphill walk, this wouldn't be suited for anyone with any mobility issue In summary the Santhiya is a beautiful resort and we did enjoy our stay there. We just left with the feeling that it could have been better.…
TRANSPORTATION from the Phuket airport was great; 30min car ride to Ao Po Grand Marina, check-in at Santhiya's office (20min) + 30min speed boat to Koh Yao Yai. Having travelled quite a lot, this was probably the smoothest transportation & check-in. The resort view is breathtaking already when arriving to the island with the speedboat. Santhiya has its own pier and you arrive to the main area with the beach, pool, restaurants & lobby. We got refreshments & fruits upon arrival while waiting our room for only 20mins (1,5 hours prior the official check-in). Santhiya's atmosphere is out of this world. Everything is so beautiful and tranquil; all the wooden details and the lush nature is a hypnotizing combo. We stayed at the SEAWATER POOL VILLA (1104; perfect location) which was more than we expected. The villa is very spacious for two people. Our favorite features were 1. THE POOL: Spent hours there just floating and admiring the mesmerizing view, perfect for cooling off every 30mins since April is very hot & humid. I highly recommend to book a room with pool, it is worth every Baht. 2. THE OPEN AIR BATHROOM: This has always been my favorite things when traveling to tropical destinations, getting a shower outside in the warm breeze while listening to nature. 3. THE BEDROOM VIEW: It has access straight to the pool and you have an infinite view to the horizon from your bed. Santhiya has a QR code -system for ordering DRINKS & FOOD; This applies to both room service and orders in restaurants. It has been established due to covid but we thought it was very easy & handy and I hope it remains for room service & beach snacks&drinks at least. Even though there were only half of the restaurants open, the menu had a wide selection of different style food. If you are a VEGETARIAN, the lack of vege options in the menu is not an issues; We are pescatarians and we were told most of the food can be adjusted to vegetarian died which we did. Just be very clear that no meat also means no chicken. ;) Tofu can be added upon request. Overall food was very good and the fresh fruit juices are amazing! Santhiya has an AMAZING SPA; The spa area is almost its own village. There are multiple beautiful spa villas where you really have your own space and privacy. Depending on your treatment, there are massage beds inside and outside, an outside bathtub and an inside bathroom with shower & steam room. We did two different massages and both were the best I've ever had (and I go a local 5 star Asian spa on a regular basis), thank you Ple & Nat!<3 We did not spend much time at the pool(s) because of our own pool but both the Main pool & Infinity pool are beautiful spots. The beach is very beautiful, quiet & clean and only has a few hotels on it. Perfect for a morning & evening walks and and spotting seashells and crabs. All in all we just LOVED Santhiya's tranquility & the amazingly friendly staff. We will definitely come back and hope to visit other Santhiya-resorts too. This was a much needed getaway.…
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