Ko Lipe: hotel popolari con vista mare, trova i prezzi più bassi

We booked to stay in a fan cottage for 3 nights via the hotel’s own website which had a rate of 900THB per night which seemed better than that on booking engines. First impressions were that it’s a large ‘resort’ right on the beach next to where the speedboat ferries dock and adjacent to Walking Street which is 5 minutes walk away (though we heard no noise from it). There are a range of rooms- cottages with a/c and a block of rooms which also had a/c. There are about a dozen fan only cottages at the rear of the complex. Ours was rustic but clean with intact insect screens and a large bed. The bathroom was half open which was good for drying towels etc. All cottages have a balcony, ours was shaded by trees which kept the room cool though the fan worked well too and we actually slept better than we had in a/c rooms. Only downside to the room was no fridge. It had an old fashioned TV but who watches TV anyway on a Thai island?! Breakfast was included in the price- buffet style with Thai and western dishes. It was nothing special but eatable and enough to put you on until lunch. We liked Ko Lipe and were happy with the room so decided to stay for an extra 2 nights and that’s where we had problems. Again we booked on the hotel website and received a confirmation. We then received an email in broken English which we interpreted as saying the fan bungalows were all full and we would be ‘upgraded’ to an a/c room. We replied that we were already in the room so it would make more sense to upgrade someone else. After getting no response we attempted to clarify the situation with reception. I don’t speak Thai so can’t criticise people for not speaking a foreign language but when dealing with mostly European guests you would expect at least one member of staff to have the basics of English. Unfortunately not. We ended up in a confusion of Google translate messages with a teenage girl who was clearly sick (coughing, sneezing, red eyes and nose) and shouldn’t have been at work. I ended up speaking to ‘a manager’ on the mainland by phone but still couldn’t get any sense from them. Eventually we resorted to replying by email and were eventually told we could stay in the same room. You can go into any tour operator on Walking Street and find staff who speak excellent English. Why the hotel are unable to find staff with foreign language skills is beyond me. My guess is they are employing cheap intern labour from mainland tourism schools which is fine for basic check in and out but they should have at least one person who can communicate with guests if there’s a problem. The majority of rooms seemed empty when we stayed, the exception being the fan rooms which were very good value and always seemed booked out. Maybe the hotel could look at a way of turning off the a/c in some of the bungalows and selling them at a fan room rate? In summary, we were happy with the location of the hotel, the facilities and the room. The stay was spoilt somewhat by a disorgan

L'hotel dispone di una posizione eccellente con accesso rapido a tutte le spiagge disponibili sull'isola. All'interno, l'hotel offre tutte le attrezzature che potresti avere bisogno per un soggiorno confortevole: una piscina raffreddata, un ottimo colazione con diverse opzioni, anche libero trasferimento da/al porto. La nostra camera era sempre pulita e tesa, e i letti erano comodi, l’iscrizione era molto liscia, e le ragazze sul desk sono molto dure con sorrisi sui loro volti, e sono felici di aiutare con tutto. Ci sono stati tutti i minuti di soggiorno e ci sono stati molti consigli per questo hotel.