The Passage Samui Villas and Resort

All the staff without exception were extremely friendly. Breakfast is served at the restaurant next to the beach with breathtaking views out to sea.

Around the pool needs attention, it is very outdated and run down. The pool is unsafe in places. The restaurant is OK. The breakfast is the same every day and often runs out of food. The waiters are good. Evenings food is expensive but OK. We mainly ate at Beryl's bar down the road which is fab food. I was disappointed with the Hotel. Worst holiday we've had in years. Visited Thailand a few times, will not b going back.

The hotel is located down an old unsuspecting road which is also inhabited by a number of other random (derelict looking) buildings. Note that there is a mini mart down the road which has a very limited supply of snacks/drinks and toiletries etc.

The hotel lobby is open to the elements and we were greeted by the friendly staff upon our arrival with a fresh cold drink and cold towel. Moments later we were shown to our room. We decided to opt for one if four villas with a plunge pool. The room was spacious, clean, the AC worked very well and the bathroom was all the same. The bed and pillows were super comfortable and the sheets were clean. The plunge pool however was visible from the pathways (question of privacy) and I’m not sure if it was the chlorine, but every time my partner and I used it, it caused skin irritations/burning sensations. This unfortunately meant we were not keen to utilise it as much as we would have liked during our stay. We noted that a lot of the walls around the villas were splattered with plaster or paint, this unfortunately made for a very unsightly aesthetic appearance overall.

My advice for the air on to keep the room cooler when you pop out is to remove the room fob from the key chain, then you can have the room kept cool while having dinner/ swimming etc.

Despite the villas be separated, there is minimal walls surrounding the villas, meaning sometimes privacy is comprised by the use of foliage walls. We also had some incredibly noisy and inconsiderate neighbours, who insisted on having their patio doors open the entire time and spent most of their time shouting and screaming at each other. We were even woken twice on one night at both 2AM and 4AM to a woman screaming like she was being attacked. We were going to call reception but heard someone talking to them asking them to be quiet. This then occurred two nights later.

The main pools are great, clean and it never appeared that there were many people around so sun loungers were always available. The decking surrounding both pool areas could do with replacing/a lot of TLC as there we uneven areas and large wooden splinters poking out. I do question the contradiction of one of the rules regarding not “reserving” a sun lounger but giving pool front villa guests a sign that states “reserved for pool front villa guests”. These appeared to have been left on each of the loungers adjacent to the main pool. When we used these loungers, it was fairly apparent that we were not “welcome” as we were not staying in a pool front villa.

The food and drinks bills at the hotel are extortionately expensive for the quality in comparison to some of the other places we have eaten during our Thai trip. The drinks are also very expensive and can be more reasonably when bought during the two happy hour periods throughout the day. There is a pool bar where you can order food. The main restaurant is also open to the elements and on one occasion we were overrun with ants. Breakfast was included in our booking, a selection of continental and traditional Thai food were provided. Unfortunately despite all attempts to keep the food covered, I did notice that every morning the fruits (particularly the fruit salad) were literally swarming with fruit flies. Generally speaking the quality of breakfast was okay, not the best selection and on occasions food did run out. Service was good, some waiters spoke better English than others, on one occasion a waiter bought my main out with a side order we had ordered to share, but didn’t bring out my partners main. once I had finished my main and my partner and I had finished the side, the waiter then returned and asked if I wanted pudding. We thought the waiter hadn’t understood/heard our order correctly so we both proceeded to order a desert. The waiter then said no, you have a main coming still. It was all very confusing but we got what we ordered eventually.

The beach is beautiful in the morning/early afternoon. When the tide goes out though, unfortunately it inevitably leaves behind a sheet of tiny conch shells. The beach stretches a fair way around and there is a number of places to eat along the way (lots of seafood options).

The resort has a number of shuttle buses that you can use at various times throughout the day. These need to be pre booked at least three hours in advance. There is quite a significant gap between drop off and pick up in the afternoon so we needed to get a taxi back.

Generally the hotel is good, I probably would stay here again if there was an offer on a stay but I would probably opt for a beach front villa, as these appear to be much more secluded and away from everyone else.