my husband and i stayed at centara from the 6th to the 16th may. we had travelled from bangkok and we arrived at the villas in the afternoon. after booking into reception where we were asked to pay a ?100 cash deposit( as we never travel with credit cards). no problem with this, but just wish we had been told beforehand.we were then allocated our villa which was a deluxe garden villa.i can only say that the villa was lovely. very clean , well presented and not overlooked in any way. we walked around and viewed the amenities. not a lot of these but the surroundings are delightful. you feel as if you are in the middle of nowhere( which i guess you are really!!) with lush greenery everywhere. do NOT book here though if you cannot manage steps because every where you go you have to go up and down lots of steps. the swimming pools are very clean and well cared for. the restaurant is very nice although we only ate breakfast in there. not much of a selection on the hot plate some days , but you have your choice of eggs or omellettes also pancakes and waffles. they tend to run out of baked beans quite a lot much to my husbands dissapointment!! there is a vast array of breads and rolls and pastries, cold meats and salads , 4 choices of juice, 3 flavoured milks fresh fruit galore, smoked salmon, cereals, fruit salads and fresh meusli and unlimited tea or coffee, also the thai/chinese breakfast choices too,what more can you ask for!? the beach isnt a lot to write home about , i do like to have a wander along the beach but there isnt really anywhere you can wander to, it seems a bit manufactured but pretty neverthe less. all the staff we came across were very, very nice and helpful and always smiley as the thais are reknowned for. i have read that some people found the staff surly and unhelpful but i must stress that we NEVER came across that attitude. but i think if you portray yourself to be miserable and always moaning you will get that back, my philosophy is always to treat people how you would wish to be treated and smile at everyone and you will always get it back. and it works. there is a inn just to the right of the villas which do massage a lot cheaper than at the resort and also apparently they do nice meals quite reasonably priced. we tried the restaurants down the hill a few times and the food was lovely. the fisherman is very good. the shuttle bus does tend to get crowded and booked up but we always booked the day before to ensure we got a seat. we alternated between chaweng (very busy) and lamai( smaller and quieter . we found we needed longer in chaweng as it was a lot busier and bigger and lots more choice shopping wise. i could go on and on about this holiday and believe me when i say we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and would definitely return again. if you need to know any more about this resort feel free to email me. i will try and answer your questions. it is not a holiday for people who want to be right in the middle of the action but if you want a get away from it all holiday then this is for you.

My husband and I have just returned after a 10 night stay at CSV. In some degrees I will agree to some of the reviews about this resort. Yes in certain areas the resort needs updating ie room slightly dark even during the day, furniture are slightly out dated and we had a major problems with ants in our room( which was sorted out as soon as we contacted reception). Food was slightly overprice and limited in selection. Apart from that we found that the staff were friendly most of the time. I always believe that being polite will almost guarantee a better service from the staff. Did not venture to the beach, but just stayed by the pool. Used the Spa facility twice. But since they are in the process of renovating the services they offer are quite limited and the ambience does not quite cut it compared to the other spas that we have tried from another resort. Did not have any problems with the free shuttle transfer to Chaweng. Most of the time we still managed to get a space even at the last minute. We found the steps to be our daily exercise....burnt off those calories! We have seen a few guest who have difficulty in walking but still manages just fine. All in all I will rate this hotel at least a 3 star....Once fully renovated I am sure it will become a more competitive resort.

Same as everyone else I guess I had been reading all those reviews in the upcoming months to our holidays and as usual, the good reviews were outstanding and the bad ones were really bad so I got worried a bit about perhaps having chosen the wrong hotel. We did not. Yes, the whole resort is on a hill so there are a lot of steps involved but I guess it's mainly down to the humidity in Samui that you might find them difficult to climb every day.You do get used to it eventually and as others have said as well, good exercise to work off the excellent Thai food. I could not see any fault in friendliness any staff membeer as I found them always very happy to help and always with a lovely smile on their face.I felt at times like a ''mystery shopper'' as I was very aware of the negative comments having been made about Centara's staff but as mentioned, could not find any fault whatsoever. The food was good if overpriced but so it is in every hotel worldwide and as soon as you eat elsewhere in the few but very good restaurants outside the hotel, you can get a really cheap meal again.We ate twice in the hotel (for Steak night and for Seafood night) which was very good and you get to choose your steak or fish by weight so it's completely up to you how much you're willing to fork out :o) Do make use of the Shuttle bus to Lamai or Chaweng (we had no problem booking it either) as with your Centara key you can use all the facilities at the Centara Grand in Chaweng and it really makes for a good day out and to see all the hussle and bustle in Chaweng. Having said that, we did also enjoy the private beach at the Villas very much and breakfast overlooking the little bay was sheer peace and bliss. My only minor moan is that upon arriving at the Villas, we were asked to pay upfront for the entire stay without having even seen the room yet. Also, we had planned to pay by T/C upon departure and since we didn't have enough cash on us that night, we had to stick the whole amount on credit card. No big deal as such but certainly not normal hotel practice to ask for payment upfront. All in all, we had a lovely time at the Centara Villas and enjoyed the quiet and peaceful surroundings away from Chaweng and Lamai but it was great to have the opportunity of the hotel shuttle bus to see a different part of Samui as well.

hi just got back after 13 nights at centara villas we had booked and paid for a deluxe ocean view when we arrived after already having spent 8 nights in thailand we were told we would have to wait 1.30 hours for it to be prepared i asked if we had an ocean veiw this was met with laughter when i asked what room it was i was told 310 we went to look at it to find no sea view a small room with small terace and no privicey on going back to reception i told them i was not happy they then said they were full and had only 1 room left 315 large balcony large room twin beds but not deluxe and definaitly not what it looks like in the books 1 chair no day bed and very basic but we thought well at least we could swim and snorkel all day of the reef the reef is dead and the sea so murky you could not see your feet the sea bed felt like silt and at some points felt like your feet were stuck at least we can get the shuttle into town yes if your lucky 1 bus 5 times a day each holding 12 people and needs booking 24 hours in advance after 1 week of this and a lot of anger they put on another bus but the day before we left 2/5/08 it was back to one also the hot breakfast never was hot the day before we left we felt the containers and they were cold staff watched us and the next day they were hot we aslso noticed things missing from the mini bar in our room on arrival but were not charged for them as for bar prices drink out side at the bar next to the baracuda which does good food cheap i would say this hotel at best is only 2 star and needs a good overhal if they spent as much time maintaining the buildings and training staff as they do on the gardens it could be nice

Stayed here for 2 nights following a 5 night stay in Bangkok, found the villas to be very nice and there are a lot of stairs but that was no problem and gave you plenty of exercise. The only down side was that i found the bed hard and the pillows like bricks, esp after the different pillow choice in the bangkok hotel. I used the Spa and they were very good and very helpful. I found all the staff to be plesant and at no time was i pressured into doing trips or using the spa.