Resort Santhiya Koh Phangan Resort & Spa in Baan Tai

Pros:
- Nice location
- Good views from rooms
- Hardworking staff with pleasant service when speaking face to face
- Reasonable selection of food at breakfast
- Spa was pleasant
- Gym had a decent range of equipment, albeit the AC didn’t function very well so the temperature gets very hot.
Cons:
- The wooden effect of the rooms and the hotel generally creates quite a gloomy effect. The rooms generally just felt a bit dated
- The beach is not ideal for swimming in. Short beach and rocky. Much nicer beach is adjacent to the hotel where the village is. You can easily access the other beach and village by traversing over some rocks. It’s not as tricky as it sounds but wouldn’t be appropriate for elderly or young kids. The neighbouring village is generally very nice with a lovely selection of restaurants, cafes and bars.
- We had a very disappointing lunch at by the sea - two mediocre club sandwiches. Generally the food selection pretty poor. We otherwise ate at the nearby village which is a lot more reasonably priced with authentic food.
- The hotel offers a WhatsApp service to communicate with them. It’s a bit of a waste of time because they take ages to respond (at least 20-30 mins was standard) and they would also read messages and not respond? The phone in our room didn’t work so we were forced to communicate with them this way. We ended up always walking from our rooms for this reason even though the hotel offers a buggy transport service.
- The direct boat transfer from the hotel to and from Samui appears to be a lie. It was not particularly windy when we were staying yet adverse winds was stated as the reason as to why no boat transfer occurred during the time of our stay (Jan 2026). Instead you need to cross the island on a van and take a boat to and from Samui from the south coast of Ko Phangan. This is of course fine but the transfer is not advertised in this way. We did however see a boat transfer happen at one of the neighbouring hotels in the village, so the wind didn’t seem to be a problem for other neighbouring hotels. The pier at the hotel seems to be in bad repair.
- The hotel advise you allow 30-60 minutes to check out which seems a bizarrely long length of time (they want to check your room before leaving). Thankfully this process was smooth for us - we went and had breakfast while they checked the room.
- We frequently finished the complimentary drinking water (2.5l between 2 per day). If you want to buy more from the hotel, the price was over 60 THB for 0.5l and 105 THB for 1.5l, which is a rip off for an essential given you can’t drink the tap water in Thailand. We ended up stocking up from the shops in the nearby village.
Overall, the hotel quite simply did not feel 5 star, and certainly is not comparable to other 5 star hotels we have stayed in the past. Outside of the WhatsApp service, the staff seem like they are trying their best but the hotel just seems to suffer from poor management. The saving grace is proximity to the village, if we had our time again we would have stayed in one of the hotels in that village and been much more proximate to the nicer beach and authentic local restaurants.

Unacceptable experience – far below the advertised standard
1️⃣ Extremely long check-in (nearly 2 hours). From arrival at the parking area, luggage is taken away, leaving guests with no freedom to relax or even access the pool while waiting.
2️⃣ Total dependency on the hotel for any movement (pool, restaurant, beach). Leaving on foot requires long walks on steep slopes, heavily exposed to aggressive mosquitoes.
3️⃣ Severe mosquito infestation, making it impossible to open doors or windows.
4️⃣ Private sea-view villa with private pool at 18,000 THB per night: unstable electricity, impossible to charge phones or use air conditioning. As a result, the villa was practically unusable.
5️⃣ After reporting the issue, two very young and clearly unqualified technicians were sent, unable to diagnose or resolve the problem.
6️⃣ From a management standpoint: lack of accountability and poor customer handling. The only gesture offered was breakfast and minibar access, which we refused. After lengthy disputes via Trip.com, a compensation of 5,000 THB was eventually proposed.
👉 Overall experience: a real nightmare
Mosquitoes everywhere, faulty electricity, no air conditioning, and a breakfast more comparable to a budget hostel than a luxury resort.
⚠️ Additionally, we felt discomfort regarding staff management practices. Several young Burmese and Laotian employees privately expressed exhaustion and concerns about their working conditions, raising serious questions about the hotel’s social responsibility.
Conclusion: an establishment that is very well marketed, but whose actual service level is far below its luxury positioning. The value for money is unjustifiable.

Unacceptable experience – far below the advertised standard
1️⃣ Extremely long check-in (nearly 2 hours). From arrival at the parking area, luggage is taken away, leaving guests with no freedom to relax or even access the pool while waiting.
2️⃣ Total dependency on the hotel for any movement (pool, restaurant, beach). Leaving on foot requires long walks on steep slopes, heavily exposed to aggressive mosquitoes.
3️⃣ Severe mosquito infestation, making it impossible to open doors or windows.
4️⃣ Private sea-view villa with private pool at 18,000 THB per night: unstable electricity, impossible to charge phones or use air conditioning. As a result, the villa was practically unusable.
5️⃣ After reporting the issue, two very young and clearly unqualified technicians were sent, unable to diagnose or resolve the problem.
6️⃣ From a management standpoint: lack of accountability and poor customer handling. The only gesture offered was breakfast and minibar access, which we refused. After lengthy disputes via Trip.com, a compensation of 5,000 THB was eventually proposed.
👉 Overall experience: a real nightmare
Mosquitoes everywhere, faulty electricity, no air conditioning, and a breakfast more comparable to a budget hostel than a luxury resort.
⚠️ Additionally, we felt discomfort regarding staff management practices. Several young Burmese and Laotian employees privately expressed exhaustion and concerns about their working conditions, raising serious questions about the hotel’s social responsibility.
Conclusion: an establishment that is very well marketed, but whose actual service level is far below its luxury positioning. The value for money is unjustifiable.

I would rate this resort two stars, primarily for the stunning surroundings, the natural environment, and the overall design of the property. The location itself is beautiful and clearly has a lot of potential.
However, the service and communication did not consistently meet the expectations that come with this price category. At this level, I would expect clearer coordination and more timely communication. The resort promotes a WhatsApp channel for guest contact, but we used it on three occasions and either received no response or replies only after several hours.
One example was our departure day. We were initially informed that a boat would take us directly from the resort’s pier to the mainland at 09:00. Without prior notice, this plan was changed. While we were having breakfast at 08:15, we were told that a taxi was already waiting to take us to another pickup point. This last-minute change created unnecessary stress and confusion.
The restaurants are okay-ish, and the spa is fine, but neither stands out given the overall positioning of the resort. I recommend going to the nearby village which has much better food, service and for less money.
While the setting is truly fabulous, the service and facilities feel underdeveloped compared to what one would reasonably expect at this price point.
With more focus on staff training and clear, proactive communication, this resort could significantly improve the guest experience. For us personally, it did not meet expectations enough to consider returning, despite the beautiful location.
Also, wouldn't recommend it to others.

They charge THB300 when asked to pick us up from down the hill, the road to resort is really hilly. Room is dark though the wood may look nice but also looks dated
Service so so
Beach is quite private but short, and quite a walk to the public beach

They charge THB300 when asked to pick us up from down the hill, the road to resort is really hilly. Room is dark though the wood may look nice but also looks dated
Service so so
Beach is quite private but short, and quite a walk to the public beach