A wonderful resort on an undiscovered island. This is what Phuket, Phi Phi and Krabi used to be.

You have the best of both worlds with bungalows perched in the 'jungle' and the restaurant and swimming pool hanging over the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The swimming pool is the major attraction of this resort - no better place to spend your days with a cocktail in hand.

Take a scooter tour around the island, the locals are extremely friendly and you'll stumble across a few nice scenic drives and local food.

You won't find any ATMs or 7-elevens, so make sure you have enough cash when you go there. Same with drinks, you won't find any place to buy alcohol apart from the mini bar which may be rather expensive if you like a beer or two every day. We stocked up in Phuket at 7-eleven before we got onto the boat - that was a great tip i read on here and can definitely recommend.

Unfortunately the resort seems to be expanding with new bungalows at the back and we saw a lot of building activity on our drive, so no doubt it will become the next big tourist hub. So go now before it does.

We also did a day trip to Phi Phi islands which was a little bit expensive as we did it through the resort but they sent a dedicated guide with us and it proved to be the perfect balance between the quiet island and seeing the more beautiful islands. However, we were so glad to come back to our resort and quiet island after all that tourist exposure.

I've seen a few comments on here about the staff and their command of English - note that these people are all recruited from the island and their English may not be the best, but we managed to communicate successfully. I wish people would embrace local cultures more when they travel as what is the point in travelling to such exotic places when you can communicated in the same way as you are doing in England (at least that's where i'm from).

We stayed at this resort during christmas 2010 after research looking for something more upscale but yet genuine. First of all the positive about this resort is the fantastic location with beautiful scenery and the ecological touch. We could also have some understanding for the not so good service level since the staff are picked from the local villages around (Yao Island has no experience from tourism). Slow, very poor english skills and sometimes a little bit lazy and rude.

However this bad review is more based upon the facts that happened after we had come home from Thailand and I looked at my Amex bill. This took place the 26th of january and there I could see the resort had debit my card three times with the amount of 37 000 THB = 111 000 THB total. I immediately sent an email to my previous contact at the resort Mr Pornthip and told him about this. The next day I got a reply where they told me they were sorry about this, it was a mistake and they would credit my card with 111 000 - 37 000 = 74 000 THB. The money would come to me in the middle of February. My first thought was I had to wait quite long to get my money back (26/12 -> 15/2) then I looked what happened with the exchange rate Swedish Crowns vs Thai bath during the time. I realized that there had been dramatic difference to my disadvantage and this operation would cost me 1200 SEK or 5000 THB. So I sent an email to Mr Pornthip and told him that i think this is unacceptable. Now the big silence began from the Koh Yao Yai resort. No answer so I sent the same email again the next day and then another time 4 days later with CC to their sales@ adresses they have at their website. Still no answer. Then I tried all their email adresses I could find and sent it again the 8th of february and asked for help from the manager. Still no answer.

Finally I got help from American Express to get compensated for the exchange rate loss but got no more excuse or explanation from the resort. I think this behaviour is strange for a resort which have upscale ambitions and tries to compete with other great resorts in Thailand. My advice for other travelers to this resort is to check your credit card balance to be sure you will not get in trouble. if you do their willingness to help you is not good at all.