Summary: Luxurious scenic sea-side resort with 60+ villas on the mountain slope blended in the tropical nature in the northern tip of Samui island. Six Sense Samui is a part of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
[Updated: April 2022]
This 17-year-old hotel has recently reopened after a long COVID break. It’s running at only one-third capacity (20 from 60 villas). We’ve booked right before COVID and upon reopening, the hotel launched a generous (2 free 1) promotion and also gave extra credits, so it’s worth the wait.
Venue: Beautiful spacious private villas with breathtaking panorama sea view, a private pool (in some villas), and mosquito nets. You’ll be in the middle of trees so prepare well for insects and other animals. The hotel area is big and mountainous, but you can rely on a buggy car, except the last leg to your room, which can be a bit of a hike (ours need 96 steps to reach). Large infinity swimming pool with sunset view (very warm with direct afternoon sunlight) and the cooler and more relaxing beach pool on the east side. In short, there are few places in the world with better location and setting. (9.8/10)
Services: Very friendly staff with great service mind, great experiences from the reservation till good-bye, although we could sense this was not their full-team yet. We were asked to use the hotel app for communications but it wasn’t really smooth, e.g., the PDF files sent via its message couldn’t be opened. (9.5/10)
Activities: Spa, fitness, are there. Bikes can be hired. There are some extra arranged activities, e.g., yoga, kids activities, but not that many, and one of them rescheduled without letting us know the updated time. (7/10)
Food: The hotel is not running at its full capacity, to be fair. Three restaurants take turn to open on different days. The food in general is up-to-the-standard, both quality and taste, albeit no WOW moments. Breakfast has rooms for improvement: limited and mostly sad salad vegetables, bread somewhat dull, kids frustrated as things were not properly labelled, notably those fruit juices. But the Thai spicy dishes (changing every day) are super tasty! A la carte menu not very extensive. All restaurants are open-air so summer heat can be challenging to both food and guests. (7/10)
The hotel is a bit out of town, so having a car should be convenient.
Verdict: Beautiful villas in the middle of nature and great services should be good-enough reasons to visit. If you are serious about eating, better wait until the restaurants are fully open.
