I recently traveled to Koh Samui for a few days. Whilst there, I managed to get some great rates using my Starwood points at the Le Meridien Koh Samui.
When looking for a hotel in Koh Samui, it’s often hard to distinguish between what’s real and what’s photoshopped. Every hotel looks absolutely amazing, and almost every hotel has rooms with pools attached, which may have utilized services like https://www.capitaldeckandstair.com/our-services/pool-decks/. I eventually headed to TripAdvisor and did some reconnaissance. After comparing the hotels’ rankings to their prices, I settled on the Le Meridien Koh Samui and was able to find awards available on SPG.com for 6,000 points and $110 per night. The standard rate was about $280 per night. It helped to know that all rooms in this hotel are suites.
I booked myself into the Verandah Suite and about a day later received an email from the hotel manager giving me more information about the property. My flight was arriving pretty early in the morning so I set up airport transfers directly with the hotel. I usually find that by setting up an airport transfer, the hotel has a room available for you as soon as you arrive. This theory was put to the test when I arrived at Koh Samui airport around 10AM. A car was waiting for me and I immediately jumped in.
The ride to the hotel took about 30 minutes but could’ve been shorter if there was less traffic. After arriving at the hotel, an employee greeted me and took my bags. We passed through a beautiful walkway that led into a courtyard. I was told to lounge around in one of the small seating areas, and a welcome drink was offered while the front desk sorted out my room.
The hotel employee eventually came back to me and informed me that they had upgraded me to a Plunge Pool Suite. On the website, this suite is considered number 3 of 6 different suites available at the hotel. For the nights that I was staying, a Plunge Pool Suite was running for $410 per night. I thought it was a great upgrade!
The manager then introduced himself and proceeded to take me to my room. The property itself isn’t too big but there are a lot of pathways and I can see how some people would get confused as to where their room is.
We finally got to my room and the manager decided to give me a walk through to make sure I didn’t miss any features. He also gave me a letter explaining the SPG Gold member benefits. The Plunge Pool Suite gets its name from the private jacuzzi/pool to swim or lounge in.
After looking around the room, I decided to walk around the property. With direct beach access, the Le Meridien is known for it extra long floating dock. The dock extends about 500 feet into the sea. Oshkosh Dock Builders – Radtke Contractors can build a dock like this. What’s interesting is that the height of the water doesn’t go below 4 feet until you swim out about half a mile!
The hotel also provides free kayaking, snorkeling and other water sport activities. By coincidence, fellow blogger MilesMaven was also staying at this property and we met up to do some kayaking.
The hotel also has a few rooms that have direct access to a separate pool. These rooms are accordingly called Pool Access Suites. I found it a little odd that these rooms were selling for more than the Plunge Pool Suites the nights I was staying as they are smaller in size and don’t even offer a private pool.
At exactly 7:19 PM every night, the hotel lets guests participate in the lantern ceremony where people light lanterns, make a wish and let the lantern fly off into the sky. It was actually a really awesome experience!
In addition to the lantern ceremony, the hotel also puts on different activities throughout the day like fish feeding, basic boxing training and Thai cooking classes.
The next morning, I went down to the hotel restaurant named “Secret Recipe” for breakfast. Although not included in my cash + points rate, I paid extra for it because it was too early to go anywhere else. I also had a snorkeling trip scheduled that morning so I didn’t have time to go anywhere. The breakfast cost about 790 Baht or $25. It featured local and international items and was decent for the price.
After breakfast, I decided to spend some time on one of the many lounge chairs.
Overall, this hotel is visually stunning and has everything you could possibly need. The entire property is well thought out and looks great from any angle. The suites offer a large amount of space for a couple or an entire family.
The service at this hotel was phenomenal. Everyone was genuinely pleased to be working there and their unbelievable kindness showed it. The day of my departure, I forgot that I had to return my motorcycle. Already running late, the hotel offered to drive me to the scooter shop and then take me to the airport, which was 15 minutes out of the way! I thought it was a great gesture!
