Siam Beach Resort in Chang Island

We've stayed at this hotel many times before, but this time, for a special occasion, we decided to splurge on a luxury experience and booked a private villa with its own pool. That turned out to be a huge mistake. While we've always liked it in the past, there was so much we didn't like this time.

All the furniture is old, and I mean *old*. There's a bathtub with a jacuzzi, but no hot water. There's a pool, but it's dirty and nobody cleans it properly; the bottom is absolutely disgusting. The pool area sometimes wasn't cleaned at all, and other times it was cleaned very poorly. On our last day, some filter in the pool turned on, which kept us awake almost all night. Not to mention the non-working lights and mood lighting around the pool area and in the hotel itself. There used to be a proper air conditioning system, but that's also broken; now there's just a weak, regular AC unit. The villa roof is broken and caved in in some places. You can get much better rooms at this hotel for less money, so think twice before choosing what's supposed to be the 'best' accommodation.

The beach, as always, is excellent, with its own music and a DJ. Breakfast gets a solid four out of five.

Stunning beach. However, the hotel is quite dated and definitely needs a renovation, and the grounds are not well-maintained.