Melati Beach Resort & Spa Reviews

Reading through some of the reviews before visiting, we were a bit worried about the quality of this hotel. Let me start off by saying there is nothing to worry about and this hotel is a really nice stay. Cant understand why are some reviews so negative here. We stayed for 6 nights in the middle of January. Took a Pool Villa for about 350eur/night, which i'd was good value for a familiy of 4, considering Koh Samui prices. Its bigger than you expect, with a spacious master bedroom, a really big bathroom, outdoors shower, another bedroom for two kids, and a little courtyard/patio affair with the private pool. The hotel area from the entrance side starts with the beautiful lobby building, with a restaurant on the lower floor. Most of the Pool Villas are next to that, arranged around the Sanctuary Pool. The other place where you want to be is the beach end of the hotel, which has the main infinity pool, the breakfast area which doubles as a beach restaurant at night, and the kids club. Distance from the lobby side to the beach side is about 200m, which is a lovely walk through the well kept gardens. Unless you are really old and frail, im not sure how can anyone complain about a 5 min walk through a beautiful Thai garden? The hotel felt it was about half-full, which was a positive thing. It was a quiet, relaxing atmosphere, where you can just about get a free sunbed every day, and enjoy the pool and beach area with about 10-20 other guests. There was some towel-booking, but the staff was happy to remove them if you ask, as per hotel policy. During a typical pool day, i'd say it was a mix of 3-4 families with toddlers, some couples and then mostly older people. Breakfast was great, with all the fresh fruit and pastries and poached eggs and whatever you can think of. We mostly ate Thai food in the hotel restaurants, which was also good and quite affordable, i think pad thai and stir-fry type of stuff was about 200-300THB. Beach was nice, no trash or anything like that. But the water was quite shallow and the main pool was just so nice that we mostly preferred the pool. Its a small beach, the only other occupants being a hippie style bar to the right of the hotel, and what looked like a cluster of villas to the left. Its 500m from the hotel entrance to the main road, where you can find a Tops supermarket. So theres really nothing where you can walk to, which might be a issue for some. You can rent a car from the hotel for 1300RHB/day, or take a taxi to Chaweng for 400thb. Staff was very friendly, with smiles and bows all around, working all day to keep the grounds and rooms clean and guests comfortable. Everyone understands English and there was no problem communicating our wishes, be it a late night drive to pharmacy (for which they asked no money) or room service or booking a tour. Special thanks to Daniel from the reception, who was always there to explain everything in detail and help us with any questions. Thanks Melati! Can only recommend