Clear View Resort in Koh Tao Island

Clear View Resort, Koh Tao – Dramatic view but style over substance We stayed one night in one of the larger “feature” rooms at Clear View. On first impression it certainly makes an impact. One wall is floor to ceiling glass, with part of the adjoining wall glazed as well, giving a superb uninterrupted view over the bay. At sunset it is genuinely beautiful. In fact, the following morning produced one of those real “wow” moments. When Ros drew back the enormous curtains it looked almost unreal, like staring at a 360° cinema screen at the foot of the bed. The early morning sun was sparkling on the rippling waters of the Gulf of Thailand and reflecting off the small fishing boats lying at anchor. It was magical. Unfortunately, once the initial visual impact fades, the room begins to reveal its shortcomings. The décor is extremely over the top. Gold, black and velour dominate, with ornate mirrors, swan necked taps and even a thick faux fur cloth on the dressing table. It is theatrical and eye catching, but it feels more like decoration than quality. On closer inspection much of it looks ornamental rather than genuinely well made. More importantly, as a practical hotel room it simply does not work very well. There are no bedside tables, no proper seating area to enjoy the view, nowhere convenient to put luggage and nowhere to hang clothes or washing. It is essentially two large beds in a very large empty space. The balcony also looks inviting but has no shade at all, which means it is far too hot to sit on during the day, rather defeating the point of having one. There were also several maintenance and design issues in the room: • The toilet roll holder was broken. • The toilet seat was loose. • The ornamental sink tap was loose. • One of the curtain poles was broken and simply left in the corner of the room. • There is no hot water at the wash basin, only an electric shower in the separate shower area. • There is no bath. • Removing the key card when leaving the room cuts power to the external security light, which means guests have to walk down quite steep steps in the dark. For the price this is difficult to overlook. We paid 11,000 Thai Baht for the night, roughly £260 and breakfast was not included. To put that into perspective, that is comparable to a room rate at the Peninsula in Bangkok, where breakfast is included and the overall standard is in a completely different league. In summary, the room delivers a spectacular view and for a single night it can feel like an experience. However, it prioritises appearance over comfort and practicality. For longer stays the design flaws and maintenance issues become increasingly frustrating, and at this price point we expected far better.

We liked the laid back atmosphere of this hotel - it felt like the quietest spot in Sai Ri, which is great - and the Infinity pool overlooking the sea and sunset. The room was nice and spacious with a nice balcony and indeed had a “clear view”! And it’s a great launchpad for activities as the pier, diving centres, long tail boats and restaurants are just 10 min away. So we enjoyed our stay very much. That said a few improvements are needed. Most important is that, while the room was well cleaned and made up daily, the common areas and in particular the walkways were cleaned very sloppily - it is not nice to see beer caps and bottles left around. Second, the rooms don’t have any hooks or bars to hang stuff (ironically they provided hangers but nowhere to hang) so after 2 days it’s a big mess… would suggest at a minimum to install hanger poles in the wardrobes and provide some form of dry rack on the balcony to hang used snorkelling equipment/ swimsuits etc. Finally there is no bar or food service; for breakfast that’s not a big deal as there are plenty of shops around, but with such a nice view getting a juice or a beer by the pool would be great. Overall we recommend the place and would come back, but would really like to see it more professionally run.