Samai Lodge Holistic Living

We traveled as three generations: parents, couple in 40s and two teens. The parents live in Ecuador and we visited and opted for a little family trip all together. This review is written by the 40somethings and is, admittedly, very long; we have personally relied on trip advisor reviews for years and have never written a review, yet our experience compels us to do so. We live on a lake and are very familiar how nature and wildlife can affect things. We happily swim in the lake with fish, turtles, water bugs and all other nature Lake things. We have a lot of wildlife around us and regularly see within our own property: foxes, beavers, groundhogs, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, rabbits, birds, and so on. We enjoy family hikes and bike rides through different locations within our region. We also prefer smaller boutique hotels when possible because of their unique qualities and charm. Please look at previous reviews and see — there is a common theme, bad reviews are similar; in particular, we also had a late night departure— please continue to read & I will explain why. The good things I say in my review are also similar to other positive remarks. We are familiar with Eco-hotels. The proprietor of this property consistently uses nature and natural occurrences as reason/excuse — nature is not a reason for outright dirtiness and failing to maintain a property. The hotel property offers stunning views, the trails and fauna throughout are truly wonderful. Understandably, these are trails, not a paved surface and I actually love these natural parts of the property. However, nature has nothing to do with the shabbiness of few chairs & seats around the pool. Nature also has nothing to do with the safety issues of the gaping holes within the concrete surrounding the pool. We looked past these obvious shortcomings, as we were so taken with the natural beauty of the property itself. The parents room accommodation was nice & acceptable, there are very large cracks in the walls in the interior, questionable sealant on the air conditioner — all these are easily forgiven. However, upon entering, the door would not fully close. Upon bringing this to the attention of the proprietors, we were immediately provided with a very dismissive excuse, “oh, ever since the earthquake, that door has been a problem… ~he then chuckles~”. Um. Okay. Remember, the parents live in Ecuador- and we are aware when the earthquake he references had occurred - it was 2016!! I think it is important to note here, there had been an earthquake earlier in 2023, however it was not felt within nor impact/ affect this region at all. So, my point here is that an issue that is clearly known and has existed for this many years should surely be addressed and there should be a permanent fix. Again, we overlook this issue, we were patiently waiting in their open air reception area and enjoying the vista it offers. As we persist on the request for door repair, the 40 somethin

Samai Lodge is a lovely little place run mostly by Tanya, the Ecuadorian half of an international couple. The accommodations were comfortable and the site was lovely. It is about 1 km from the beach and several hundred meters up a hill. So it overlooks the ocean and affords welcome breezes and gorgeous sunsets. There lots of small areas to sit around the place so it is easy to find a solitary space. The main building houses the dining room and a space that can be used for retreats. (I was the main speaker at a yoga retreat here.) The dining room offers attentive service and good quality preparation. Vegetarian and vegan diets are easily accommodated. I suspect other special diets can be arranged. As an example, whenever red onion appears in a salad, it has been rinsed in cold water to remove the biting sulphuric compounds. Not many places take that precaution. Spa services are available, both the usual sort and also practices and treatments from indigenous traditions. Before opening this place Tanya was a journalist who worked mostly with indigenous people and her knowledge of the traditions is considerable. We discovered that she lived 10 years in my city and we planned to meet up when they are visiting.