I found out about this hotel through Lonely Planet, but unfortunately, the descriptions are quite short and don't include everything you need to know.
First of all, Cha-am is not as nice of a beach as I expected, but this is not the hotel's fault. The hotel is located directly across the street from a moderately used section of beach, which is something I liked. The restaurant has a nice environment and the food I've ordered has been good, though it's a little more expensive than I think it should be. On the second floor, there is a nice balcony area with a couch and a few chairs and small tables -- this area allows you to be outside, but out of the sun, and it's quite a pleasant area. There's also a computer (with internet) available for free guest use on this floor. Upstairs (it's important to note that the stairs are not enclosed in any way) is the first floor of rooms.
The first thing I noticed when I came into my room is that the floors are concrete (and not pretty concrete, just concrete). There's a mat in the floor, which helps, but really, the concrete is not so bad. The beds are quite close to the floor and aren't very comfortable -- all I can feel are the springs (this is the worst thing about this hotel). The pillows are also quite hard. There's a TV, a small fridge with free daily drinking water, a phone, a small sort of window seat and small air conditioning unit. There is free wifi in the rooms and it is much faster than the free wifi I get at my apartment in Bangkok.
The weird thing about this hotel is the "open" bathrooms -- what I mean by this is that where a wall might be (between my bathroom and the open stairwell), there are slatted wooden panels. There are glass "doors" that cover these panels, but 1) this means that I can hear what's going on downstairs when I am using the restroom, and 2) using the restroom doesn't feel as private as it should. When the TV is on downstairs or there is music playing, I have to close the bathroom door in order to help eliminate the noise (this doesn't completely block it out though and you may struggle a bit to get to sleep). I'm not sure if all of the rooms' bathrooms are like this -- it may be just half of them -- but this is quite strange to me. I should also mention that the hotel doesn't have any kind of door downstairs, so in some sense, I am outside when I am in the bathroom.
The bathroom is quite basic -- the hotel provides small packets of shampoo and conditioner and small bars of soap. There is no hand towel or washcloth, though I'm sure they would provide some if asked. The shower curtain is plastic and there is no electric water heater in the shower, but the water is not cold -- it's between hot and cold, not warm but not too cold -- a perfect temperature, really.
The free breakfast includes toast, croissants, tea, coffee and juice.
The staff is quite nice -- their English isn't perfect, but we all get by.
All in all, I enjoyed this hotel. It's somewhat new -- which is important to me in Thailand -- and the restaurant and balcony are nice places to pass the time.