Very beautiful and tasteful arranged garden + two large swimming-pools (with enough shadow), adjacent to the sea (with a very nice and sandy beach, but no shadow).
We stayed in a superior room (however, I would recommend to chose for the standard room unless you really need a bath-tub and want to spend a couple of hundred TBT extra) at the Garden Wing in the second building (which seems to be the newer part of the hotel), at the second floor. I would strongly recommend to ask NOT to stay at the ground floor of the first building, unless you love the noice of many people using "your" corridor to pass by to their rooms.
If you want to avoid the restaurants (which do NOT overcharge, but have "normal" prices for this type of hotel), just walk 200 meters on the beach to the east and you will find at least two local restaurants for half of the price (and good food/drinks).

We stayed here for 2 nights. No porter service on arrival. Carried our own bags to room. Room was adequate, a little dated and not soundproof. Very pleasant grounds backing onto beach ( one of the better beaches in Thailand). Lovely swimming pool. Virtually all guests were on a package tour from Europe. No Thai nationals which was somewhat surprising given the relatively close distance to Bangkok. Breakfast buffet selection was very good, however the evening buffet was very disapointing, overpriced and a very poor selection of dishes which did not include thai food. There is a Thai restaurant on the beach, 2 minutes walk from the resort, which serves excellent thai seafood at far less cost. Would we return? Probably, as we live in Bangkok. However only for the accomodation and the beach, not the food and drink.

We spent our honeymoon in Novotel Rim Pae Rayong last August. We had very nice experience. We arrived quite early (7 AM), but they were able to give us the room at that time as well (I know that August is low season there). Breakfast is perfect, room is perfect. Prices are relatively cheap if they are compared to European prices. Staff is very nice and speak English. Garden and swimming pools are beautyful.
I can recommend it to everyone.

We (me, hubby, 2 little ones) stayed at the Novotel and our friends (with three kids) stayed at Sametview beach house about 1km down the beach, which is house to rent in Rayong. We had a great time and this turned out to be a good arrangement. We walked down to the beach house every day to hang out with our friends – they were in a 3 bedroom house on the beach with a pool and BBQ area – perfect for the kids to run around and play and swim and get tired so we could relax in the evenings. On the nights we didn’t feel like cooking, they came up to see us and we ate at the hotel restaurant. Novotel was good, the service was great but hotel is not ideal for young children.

I think next time we’ll try and book the Sametview house before our friends do as the cost is similar! Much more peaceful but close enough to go to the restaurant and excellent spa at the Novotel if you want to get out. The beaches in Rayong are gorgeous and not over run with tourists so it’s a great place to go if you want a really relaxing holiday.