Guest Reviews

Slow Villas and Spa: "3 nights – 25-27 July 2017"

I stayed with my husband and 2 teenage children in a two bedroom villa with private pool. I can only describe Slow as, calm, instantly relaxing, bare foot luxury! Stunning bedrooms with lovely outside bathrooms. So fabulous to be in the shower looking at the incredible stars (no light pollution at all!). Sadly we only had a short stay here as our sole purpose for being on Gili Air was to complete our PADI Open Water certification. How wrong we were not to stay longer. Gili Air is quite magical. No cars or scooters. Just horse and cart or bicycles. Slow Villas is situated in the middle of the island 5 mins from the beach. Definitely the best location away from the bars dotted around the coastal path. We had early morning starts and Slow made sure we had lovely homemade muesli/fruit and yoghurt in our fridge the night before so we could have early breakfast. We borrowed bikes every day to get around. Great fun!! Our stay was so short that we didn't have time to try the spa which I'm sure would be equally wonderful. Thank you Martin and the staff for making our stay so enjoyable. We will definitely be back.

The Island Lodge: "A bijou at the Mekong Delta"

Our stay at The Island Lodge was simply awesome. The food is great and the service is extremely polite and attentive. Michel has taken his time to personally talk to us and make guests feel welcome which is much appreciated and adds to the warm experience we had. The whole experience is rounded up with the nice swimming pool at the Mekong river and the Spa which invite to some relaxing moments.

Yandabo Home: "merveilleux etablissement"

"personnel charmant , souriant et attentionné situation des plus originales et agréable réalisation spacieuse et luxueuse avec chambres extraordinairement belles, bien conçues et épurées petit bémol quant a l éclairage minimaliste de la salle de bain en résumé, un vrai régal"

Manukan Island Resort: "10 idyllic days in paradise"

"Hillside villas: fantastic, bright, airy, separate bedroom and lounge, satellite tv incl movies, huge bathroom with waterfall tap over bath, good warm showers, lovely little touches like slippers, bathrobes, 2 complimentary waters, 2 cokes, and 2 sprites per day. For cheaper and no steps the beach suites are newly renovated, very nice, a couple of minutes walk from the private beach area, 5 minutes walk max from restaurant, view nice but is on edge of busy public beach. Wi-fi was assigned to each room and worked all the time for me. 27 rooms/villas total now. Beach: We stayed on private beach for 10 days - wow! Gorgeous, soft white sand and lovely warm sea, palm trees full of coconuts, views of the rainforest, sunsets, monitor lizard takes a nightly swim. The beach is cleaned immaculately daily. But the seabed does need to be cleaned more from odd bits of rubbish - we mentioned to Ben, the Manager, who is talking with Sabah Parks about it. It did NOT put us off sea swimming. Facilities: huge varied breakfast outside with fans, we had all meals outside with fans - perfect, even on the beach! 16 choices on the menu but Joey the chef made a different vegetarian menu for me every night, at a very good price, our maximum bills were 65MR pp for huge buffet , most meals were less than this, even with starters. We spent under £300 for the 10 nights on food and drink! A bargain. Alcohol expensive, as per Borneo. This is indicative of the personalised service at Manukan - everything is possible, just ask! Quiet bar, pool area very quiet but nice, small parties come for an evening meal from the mainland some nights. 3 piece acoustic & bass band serenade you every night too. Staff: EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE. Friendly, not intrusive, really care about all the clients and their happiness. Small and informal with very high standards of cleanliness and service. Thank you Ben, Welther, Joey, Sabre, Frederick, Yazid, Shima, Jessica, the new Mazilla, Nora, the band,.... The monitor lizards are safe and lovely to watch, hardly any spiders at all, but we used lots of deet against the mosquitoes (not too bad) and sand flies. There are mosquito plug-ins in the villa and a coil is lit at the evening turn-down service so you can continue to sit on the balcony at night. Things to do: we went on a day trip to Kota Kinabalu to see the City Mosque and do some shopping in one of the malls. Management and reception will arrange a boat at a good price 65 mr pp return (£13) or you can use the public one, slightly cheaper. It is only 10 minutes. From Manukan - There are watersports - thankfully they go offshore so it is not noisy, the sea-walking looked amazing, trips to other islands, snorkelling trips (there are not many fish jsut off the beach in comparison to the Maldives but other guests said the 3 island trip was good for fish). Cafe and shop run independently too if you need, but Manukan also sells the necessities, toiletries, drinks, crisps, beer in their shop too. A longer stay, 10 nights, allowed us to really appreciate this island. We had been to Sepilok Sanctuaries and also Turtle island before and were glad to have such peace in magical surroundings. Our memories will last forever. Do not hesitate to ask questions. Jayne and Mark"

Amata Lanna: "Wonderful Hospitality"

My parents stayed at the hotel earlier this year for a few nights. Both of them are in their mid-seventies and still fit and able. However, they appreciate a little extra comfort and service, and this is exactly what they received at the Amata Lanna. They loved the amenities, the food, the location and most of all the staff. Keep up the good work guys!!!

Cabochon Hotel & Residence: "Hidden Treasure in the heart of Sukhumvit"

Cabochon is hidden inside Soi 45. Once you reach there, it has a real peaceful and charming feel. The decor is exquisite with very fine attention to detail. They have a lovely bar and also a very tasty Northern style Thai restaurant. It is a definite place to visit for food, drinks or a relaxing night. I will definitely be back here! Until next time...

Villa Song Saigon: "Fantastic boutique hotel, plus free speedboat and minibar"

"We absolutely loved this hotel. Beautiful, quaint, great staff, lovely food and wonderful rooms. It's no wonder that this is the top hotel in Saigon on Trip Advisor (at the time of writing). We stayed in a beautiful room overlooking the pool, with a deeply comfy double bed, separate shower room and washing facilities, TV, private balcony and all the usual mod cons included. Their service is second to none. There's a free minibar in all rooms (including beer, water, milk and juice). They serve breakfast at any time of the day (seriously - you could have it at 10pm if you REALLY sleep in), and it's included in the price of the room. And electricity can be left on in your suite when you leave, meaning those devices that keep dying might actually get charged. They have UK plug sockets too. Best of all, as the hotel is not right in the city centre, they put on a speedboat to ferry guests to the main bit of the city, on a first come first served basis. (Although it was never full when we stayed in May). The boat takes approximately 15-20 minutes, but you'd wish it would be longer, because it's brilliant. The last boat is at 6pm, and a taxi back to the hotel should set you back 150,000 VND. If it's more than that, they've got lost! The pool is excellent, as is their restaurant, which is overseen by Kevin the chef from Luxembourg - who will certainly seek you out to say hello, or offer some food and drink recommendations. Food and drink here, incidentally, is a few more pennies by Vietnamese standards, but very fair when compared to the rest of Saigon, and even better when compared to the likes of London. Breakfast, which I briefly mentioned, is very good. The best we had in Vietnam, in fact. And it offers up some really well done variations of Western classics like pancakes or a full English versus your traditional and excellent Pho noodle soup. (If you're really hungry, you can even have both - in fact, it was them who suggested it, which I greedily accepted). Their staff are great, too. When we wanted to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, the front desk organised a speedboat to pick us up from the hotel's own private jetty - and one of the highlights of our trip. If I was to take points off this hotel, and it is being picky, then their airport to hotel transfer service is very expensive in comparison to most hotels we stayed at in Vietnam (all of which have a comparative distance from airport to destination). It was a nice air conditioned private car, but then it was no better than every other hotel provided us. And 1,386,000 VND is a bit steep. Full disclosure: they had quoted this price to me some time before we arrived in Vietnam, and I could have shopped around for cheaper prices, so I can't really blame them for quoting a price to me and then accepting it. But it might be something they could look at in the future! The taxi they booked us for our return to the airport after our stay was much, much cheaper at 300,000 VND. So maybe shop around for your original pick-up. I know there's loads of 'taxi scams' in Vietnam, but you should be able to find a decent service for cheaper transfers if you need. None of that dented out love of Villa Song Saigon, and I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. I really miss their speedboat..."

David’s Kitchen: "Exceptional service and attention to detail"

"From the moment we (my husband, adult daughter, friend and myself) were collected from our accommodation, greeted warmly on arrival and chauffeured back to our hotel, our experience at David's Kitchen will be remembered as a highlight of our holiday. The staff were attentive but discreet. David's hospitality was much appreciated as was his advice on matching wines with menu choices. And the meal did not disappoint - exceeded all expectations. The food presentation was only excelled by the amazing flavours and textures of each course. I have no hesitation in recommending David's Kitchen for those visiting Chiang Mai who are looking for a very special dining experience."

Satri House: "Wonderful Boutique Hotel"

"What a delightful surprise this little hotel was! We had the absolute best stay. The gardens and pools are amazing. The pictures really doesn't do it justice. We spend hours just lazing on the sun loungers ordering drinks. You couldn't ask for a more perfect location. 5 min walk to all the action, yet quiet and secluded from it at the same time. We enjoyed taking the free bicycles available and taking long rides next to the beautiful Mekong. The entire hotel has been tastefully renovated, the decor is sublime. Each element carefully chosen and blends in with nature and the french heritage of the town. The pools look green because they are tiled in little green tiles that mirror the beautiful gardens. I'm going to make a special mention of the warm and caring staff. We truly felt welcome, and cared for. They would arrange anything, give advice on all, and run after us with umbrellas. We'll be back."

muang la: "What a wonderful oasis"

"Visited very briefly during an extended planned trip and had to be dragged away otherwise we would have quite happily stayed for a lot longer!! Staff couldn't have been more attentive or friendly and every little detail had been thought through thoroughly to make you feel special. Thoroughly recommended"