Beach Club by Haadtien

I have travelled extensively in my life—everything from cheap hostels to huts on the beach to the best hotels and resorts. I have travelled to Thailand and Southeast Asia close to 80 times, so just know that I am not some picky or sensitive traveler. Here is an honest review. THE GOOD... The staff were very pleasant, kind, friendly, and the service was good. The food in the restaurant was good... but highly overpriced. The beach and surrounding location are nice... but you will need to rent a motorcycle or pay for taxis all the time if you want to do anything outside the resort. They have a shuttle, but it only runs at three fixed times a day. Good to have in a pinch, I guess. THE BAD... First off, this resort is "nice," but it is really, really far away from anything luxury. Trust me. The prices do not match the expectations. This is a fact. It is way overpriced. My room was okay, but very subpar at best. I have stayed at so many much nicer places in my life that were under *** a night—many in Thailand and many in other countries. In reality, I would not pay above *** a night for this hotel. The maintenance level is more like a mediocre 1- or 2-star property. Nothing remotely like a high-end resort. Sorry. Overall, it's a good place, but it looks a whole lot better in the pictures... especially the rooms. I was very disappointed as soon as I checked into my room and saw it. THE WORST PART... I booked through Agoda. I booked two nights at the (cheaper) Haadtien Beach Club, and for the last night I decided to stay at the supposedly higher-end "resort." This is listed on Agoda as two different places. It is not. It is all the same place—the same restaurant and the same facilities. I have to say I felt a little scammed by this. It felt like a premium "upsell" that is dishonest and disingenuous. They should just be one property, not two listings that mislead people into thinking one is a higher-tier resort. Basically, one is the main Beach Club building, and the other is the villas next to it. It's all the same! Anyways, I digress. THE HORROR... On my last day, my wife and I were diving and got back late. Our bags had been moved for us to our "premium resort" room. We arrived back around 9:00 p.m., got our keys from the front desk, and were walked to our villa. It was very underwhelming, to say the least. Not to mention, nothing seemed prepared for our arrival. The room was incredibly hot because the air conditioning hadn't been turned on—which is not a huge deal—but again, this is supposed to be "luxury." Lol. But whatever. My wife was exhausted, so she decided to take a shower and get ready for bed. But there was NO WATER. So I called reception, but the phone didn't work or even have power. I had to walk all the way back to reception to tell them. They gladly sent a technician right away to fix it. He came, fixed it, and left. We turned on the water, and immediately a sewage smell filled the entire villa. I'm not talking about a minor smell—I mean pure shit. So once again, I ran all the way back to the front desk to tell them. They said they would send someone, but I finally insisted that we be moved to another room, and thankfully they agreed. A staff member took us to a different room, and when we arrived, the lights were on, the air conditioning was already running, and the room actually looked ready and prepared for guests... exactly how the original room should have been. Anyways, the room was fine, the shower worked, we slept, and we left the next day. Moral of the story: If you stay here, just stay at the Beach Club. Even that is overpriced, but the "resort" rooms are absolutely not worth the premium. If the prices were 50% lower, I would say it's actually pretty good value. But at the current prices... look elsewhere.

There is no bidet, and the sound insulation in the rooms is very poor—you can hear almost everything happening outside. Housekeeping also forgot to provide fresh towels on two separate occasions. In addition, I tried calling the front desk twice using the room phone, but no one answered. Overall, these issues made the stay less comfortable than expected.

One of the best beachside hotels

Upon checkout, the service was terrible. Provided driver service but only at their own timing. wanted us to stay in the hotel but did not allow us to do late checkout