I don't have a lot of time to write this so will make my point short but accurate, will pad out the details when I have more time...

We stumbled upon this hotel while on a trip around Thailand and specifically ko Phangan. We booked for 2 nights but ended up staying for 5 before travelling round the island some more. We also decided to go back to rasananda for the last 3 nights of our holiday rather than try somewhere else, so 8 nights in all.

Everything about this place is class, from the service, to the food, to the sumptuous rooms and awesome beach [like out of jurrasic park]. It is a five star slice of heaven sympathetically woven into the best beach on Phangnan. Just check out the website - it is better than the pictures.

The team effortlessly makes you feel welcome from the moment you check in, to the moment you take their speedboat back to the airport on Samui. The Swiss manager, Peter i think, is always talking to guests and making his graceful and never staged pressence felt - he is a seasoned professional who has instilled a level of service that is comparable with The London Dorchester, only more genuine. There are too many personal touches and gestures that we experiences to mention here, such as the small desserts left by the bed each evening with a hand written note from the chef, to the warm greeting from the restaurant manager each morning, Most impressive of all is that Rasananda has managed to achieve this level of service, without falling in to the usual trappings of insincerity or over the top and intrusive. Maybe its because of the all Thai team being intrinsically better equiped to bestow great service that western attempts? All I know for sure is that we will be returning plenty. Oh - i should also mention for the girls: The Spa is like something out of a bond movie, with a coi carp pond running through the middle of it and a waterfall! Unreal.

You know how us Brits love to complain, but we stayed here for two weeks and I could not fault it. I am not easy to please having worked in the service industry for many years. I treasure my leisure time so get very stressed if my holiday is not spot on. We were so pleased we choose to take our holiday here, it suited us perfectly.

I have never been able to relax on holiday or anywhere for that matter, and usually need to ski for 8 hrs or climb a mountain before I can chill, but this place had an amazing effect on me. I was relaxed! First few days we did the gym (which is really smart), speed kayaked and swam back and forth across the bay, but by day 4 I was chilled out. It felt really weird at first, I thought something was wrong with me, but soon discovered this was what relaxing felt like and it felt good. Rasanada should be given 5* just for that alone.

Transfers:
Fantastic, what a way to get over the stress of the journey. Arrive Ko Samui to be greeted by a A/C people carrier and driven to meet the luxury speed boat which delivers you straight to the beach infront of the hotel. On the way back sea was too rough so boat was moored at another port, but no trouble they drove us to meet the boat taking care of everything. Our flight out was quiet late so they took us to their sister hotel on Samui so we could chill there for the afternoon, then took us to the airport later.

Food and drink:
Great - you get the best of both worlds, luxury hotel and amazing food, or £2 thai curry in beach bar next door. There were plenty of places to eat out and in two weeks we did not lack places to eat in fact we found it hard to decide. Luna, Baan pong, BBQ at end of beach where all very good and reasonable about £15 -£25 for two. Eating at hotel is great, if you want whole dining experience, food is lovely, great choice of Thai and Western. Three courses with bottle of wine was around £80 for two (wine is expensive in Thailand because of taxes, so £40 of this is wine). For cheaper option we ate in our room and got wine from local shop. There are plenty of little shops around selling snacks and drinks so you do not feel you have to buy everything at hotel prices, but mini bar etc.. is reasonable. Daily snacks and spirits in the room are complimentary. They don't advertise it much but every night 5-7pm is happy hour at the bar 2-4-1, making it cheaper that local bars. Cocktails were really good standard, blended correctly and premium ingredients. Champagne is a killed so unless you are loaded stock up at the airport and chill it in the mini bar - perfect.

Resort:
The resort is beautiful and maintained to the highest order, every detail is addressed, every leaf is picked up, the beach is even swept. It is a very relaxing environment but at the same time modern and funky. It is very well spaced out and covers a large area, it really dominates the beach taking up around 40% of total beach, right slap in the middle, so really you do not need to worry it is a public beach, it feels like the Rasanada beach.

Rooms:
We had a Thai Villa and think it was a great option it was totally private and detached from other properties so we could play music, kick back and run round in the buff if we felt like it! Reading other reviews about privacy and looking around we could see that other properties lacked privacy - but you can't have a sea view without people being able to see in, but to be honest who is going to look in, you would have to look quiet hard to actually see someone as each property is large and well stocked with vegetation, but if you want to be totally private go for a thai or lagoon villa. The single floor apartments also looked totally cool, so if you on a tighter budget these would be a good option.

Service:
This is not a negative but Service was not 5* like it would be in England or the States but it was very good, the staff are all lovely and did everything they could to look after us. They really work hard and from the sounds of the reviews they are literally improving week on week. Service they do regularly like breakfast and housekeeping is seamless, it seems to be the more off piste stuff that needs a bit of polishing, but it was really minor stuff, this only added to the humour of the whole experience and was in fact quite endearing. We got to know some of the staff quiet well Nok and Rat were great fun and both really charming. We had a special meal for my partners b'day and John really looked after us. We had a special meal on our last night too. Ask to eat in the Sala on the beach and they set up a table for you in an open building next to the beach, amazing.

Massage:
We had two massages in the Spa. Although expensive compared to beach massage you can't compare. The Spa is truely beautiful and the staff are very professional and expert at what they do. We have thai massage which was a leap of faith for me as I did not know I could bend like that. Thinking about it you want a professional doing stuff like that to your back and neck so it is a no brainer. A lot of people used beach massage and said it was OK, but there was no sign of a qualification, not saying they weren't. We did find a fab place tucked round the back, go out of the hotel and turn left (to town, if you can call it that) opposite first convenience shop there is a track to the right at it in just up there, behind Handsome sandwich. Massage house called Tanaporn. Same price as beach massage, but fair better IMO. Porn is Thai and her husband Greg is English, really lovely couple. The atmosphere is amazing really chilled, if you only have one massage make this a must visit.

General stuff:
Mosquitoes, I was really worried about this before we booked the holiday. Things that bite love me and being bitten all over is not a good look in a bikini. We used Jungle spray in the early evening and I did not get bitten. Make sure you pack it though. We also put the net round at night as the odd one can get into your room.

Safety, felt very safe in hotel and local area. Everyone is very chilled and friendly. There are security staff in the hotel and you do not see anyone other than guests and staff in resort.

Deli belly, now called Baan Pong bum in our family. We did not get food poisoning, but as food is very spicy best to take some imodine, e.g. in case you do diving etc.. We think this was from eating outside the hotel BTW.

Dogs - If you don't like dogs don't worry, there are dogs on the beach as there are on most Thai beaches but they are friendly and the staff chase them away.

**Special news - If you do like dogs and you are visiting the hotel can you do us a huge favour and keep an eye out for 'Little Miss Woof' ( I will upload pics so you can ID her) she became our little friend over the two weeks and we were really sad to say goodbye. She appeared to be only female on the beach so is easy to spot, she is black with tan face and feet a real sweet dog. She came to most meals with us and enjoyed our left overs. She is quite healthy but not as fat as the other dogs so could do with some extra scraps from a kind passer by. A treatment of frontline would do wonders if you are feeling really charitable...I realise I am getting silly now, but i would love to think she is being looked after.

Conclusion:
This place is lovely, charming and in a beautiful location. A perfect way to spend two weeks letting all your troubles float away. We got a good deal with Kuoni and felt it was worth every penny, not sure we could afford the full price which is a great shame as I would love to go back. Will have to see if they do mates rates for returning clients who write nice reviews. In conclusion we would highly recommend a holiday here.

Thanks Rasanda for a fab time - Lou and Russ.

Just read the last review and I'm pleased to say that our experience couldn't have been more different. From the moment we arrived to our leaving the staff were fabulous, especially in the restaurant where they were very charming, fun, friendly and professional (thank you guys, especially Nok). The food, apart from one disappointment (rather tough, horrid squid), was heavenly and the chefs deserve high praise. Just the memory of some of the dishes keep me smiling. We always ate in one of the huge circular upholstered banquettes and with our feet in the sand, super-friendly staff, fabulous food and cool music who could ask for more?
We had a super beach-front pool villa which although people walking by on the beach could see in if they really tried, as some have mentioned, it was not problem. I loved the understated luxurious and sexy design of the rooms and the resort and our bathroom was huge, partly open to a little garden and super-cool.
Unfortunately we didn't try the spa, leave that for next time, which I hope won't be too long.
I will certainly return but not at the regular rate as there are lots of other great places to go for that price but if you can get a deal don't hesitate.

My husband & I stayed here on our honeymoon and were very disappointed with the hotel.

Negative Points -
* Changing the transfer times & not notifying us (see below)
* Staff lying to us
* Staff had no ability to be able to solve problems
* Staff were surly and unpleaseant (not at all like all the other beautiful Thai's we have met)
* They provide tea & coffee facilities but no milk to have with it (a little strange for 5*)
* Having to argue with staff to get items promised as part of our package
* Staff were suppremly disorganised especially with details of our bookings
* Had to call room service to clean our room
* Bathrooms don't allow much privacy, people walking past can see in and hear you clearly
* Chef yells at his staff infornt of hotel guest (no wonder they were unhappy)

Positive's -
* Rooms were beautiful
* Outdoor area with pool & direct access to the beach was awsome

I would never stay here again & wouldn't recommend anyone esle to either. While you may think that if the setting is beautiful you can overlook sloppy & bad service, however after the way we were treated it made a huge difference to our stay and really soured our opinion. After reading the reviews on trip advisor we actually thought we’d checked into the wrong hotel, because it wasn’t lovely at all. This is not a 5* hotel for service (maybe for rooms & facilities) especially considering the resort we stayed the previous 5 nights where the service went above & beyond.

Issues with the transfer:
Unfortunatly we got off to a bad start on the trip when Rasananda changed the transfer time & didn't let either our travel agent or us know. We were supposed to be collected from our first resort (6th Senses, Koh Samui) at 12:30pm for a boat depature at 1pm. However at 11am we were told that the transfer had arrived and we had to pack and leave straight away otherwise we’d miss the boat. So in haste we packed, checked out and caught the boat to Rasananda. We we arrived we were told that our room wasn't ready and had to wait 2 hours before we could check in. Normally I wouldn’t mind so much, however after being yanked from our pervious hotel (where we were about to go relax by the pool) we felt a little short changed that we had to wait. For two days we fought with the staff to get an appology and a refund. Staff changed their story, lied, blamed it on the agent, and on us. There solution to the problem was to offer us free cancellation if we wanted to leave, which really surprised us, why would they want to lose 5 nights paid accomodation to refund 1 transfer?