We had a mixed time at the Devasom, in a beach pool villa. Although there were some things we liked, nothing was outstanding. Their grounds are manicured, and well-maintained, but without much of a "wow" factor. We had nice view of the ocean from bed (although at a bit of a distance.)
The villa was large, with a big “wet room” with large bath and double shower. If you have limited mobility, be aware there are multiple steps up and down inside the villa. Having injured my knee in Indonesia, it was somewhat difficult navigating this, but they were good about sending buggies, on time, to help me get around the resort. The food in their restaurants was good.
However, the bad aspects of the resort cancelled out the good ones. Our villa's pool area was poorly maintained, and the villa was, overall, a little worn throughout. We opted for in-villa breakfast, a perk of our booking, but our eggs arrived stone-cold the first day, and only somewhat warm the next.
What really surprised us, though, was their Beach Grill staff was unwilling to help us with a simple request. We asked for their help in shifting our table for our anniversary dinner, so my husband could share the ocean view and sunset with me, instead of his busy pool view. There was plenty of space to do this--think multiple feet, not inches. They denied the request, saying shifting our table would block the ocean view of the reserved table, diagonally behind us.
This was despite the fact that there were 1) no diners there, and 2) our plan would have moved my husband’s 6’ tall body AND bulky chair entirely out of the other table’s view, and 3) the sun was setting, and it would soon be dark, with no view for anyone.
After some persuasion, the staff finally agreed to help out, but shifted the table less than 5 inches, which didn't really help. However, we enjoyed our dinner. (The other diners finally arrived two hours later, as we were preparing to leave.)
Moving our table was a small accommodation which could have easily been made to enhance our occasion, and their refusal to assist us, in terms of guest relations, was baffling. As we were paying $500+ a night for our villa, we were rather hoping the Devasom would be an excellent, service-oriented hotel, but we were disappointed.
We spend a month or two in S.E. Asia every year, for many years, and have spent time at two other beautiful hotels in the Khao Lak area, one inexpensive, and another on a par with the Devasom. We'd happily return to either of these, but we won't return to the Devasom.
