Amari Koh Samui

Our recent stay was great, especially enjoyable due to very warm,attentive and cheerful members of their Italian restaurant,Prego, namely Mhao, Chang,Pear and Ake! All very sweet staff members at Amari.

We booked this hotel based on the glowing online reviews and pictures. Upon arrival, we had to change rooms due to the stifling smell of mold. Our new room, which was on the first floor in the garden section was less smelly, but there was still a slightly moldy smell. My first impression of the hotel was not great and here is why: Rooms: besides the moldy smell, occasioanlly in the bathroom mild stench of sewage would come and go, which was quite odd. The rooms and decor could use an upgrade or modernization. 2 lights were not working, there was only 1 plug to charge our cell phones, and there was splatter of brown liquid in the bathroom under the mirror, which the maid never cleaned up. The plastic cups in the bathroom were so old that the plactic had clouded over. I would highly suggest replacing them. The room itself is not what I would call a 4- star hotel room. Hotel grounds and pool: lovely greenery along the stone pathways, neat-looking villas on the outside, pool was ok and never too crowded. Food: we had the breakfast included option which had a good selection of Asian and Western food. Drinks at the bar were at Western prices, and therefore expensive. Hotel staff: very attentive and friendly. There were always security guards to help us cross the busy Chaweng Road as we made our way from the garden section to the lobby/pool/beach area and back. Beach: biggest letdown after the room. The sand was white and fine, but occasioanly I would find cigarette butts and other litter in the sand. The water itself was extremely calm, free of waves, and very shallow. I jokingly called it the swamp. The water was also full of stationary seaweed. This is not seaweed that can be easily removed. It would have to be uprooted, which would upset the ecosystem. Thus, removing it is not an option. I got an abrasion on my leg resembling a bad rasor burn from the seaweed. We went into the water with beach shoes only, and only to wade. Swimming is impossible with water this shallow and with this much seaweed around you. There were on occasion litter ie bottle caps, plastic wrappers that could be seen on the seafloor. There was also the occasinal stray dog that would wander onto the beach, in which case the security guard would gently shoo him or her away. There is a free shuttle that can be taken from the Amari to the Ozo Chaweng, the sister resort. There, the beach was much better! No litter that I saw and no seaweed at all. The only downside is that the beach chairs they have there are horrible. They are curved and cannot be adjusted, so after a while my back started to get sore. Overwall we had a good stay as we got used to the room and the beach. We are not high maintenance people and we do not expect perfection. I would love to go back to Koh Samui but I would prefer a property with a better, seaweed free stretch of beach.