First impressions of this hotel were not great, but we had just come from a terrible hotel in KK so we were not having the best start! The reception in the jetty is not nice, for a 5 star hotel they don't strike up conversation with you, or offer you any drinks or snacks. We left the room until the boat arrived (although the surrounding area isn't very nice either).
Once you arrive at the resort, its a world away from KK and the staff are amazing, it's very 1:1 service from the moment you step onto the hotel, you are shown around the whole resort and up to your villa which I thought was lovely. They have free wifi which wasn't great but it's not important when you are in such a beautiful place.
The hotel is very well equipped, great pool, restaurants, gym, library, water sports, you could easily spend a week there. Service around the pool wasn't great, but they did provide ice water which is nice, they need new towels though, they were looking a bit ropey!
The villas were beautiful and the view was out of this world. There were monkeys that came to visit the villa every evening and they were fun, a little cheeky but got some great photos.
The water sports was really expensive, the hotel should be ashamed of how much they charge you for these, we hired out two paddle boards and one didn't even have a fin so spent most of the time wobbling around and falling in! These should be complimentary for guests or if not, at least upgrade the equipment to be a good standard.
The food was lovely, the first night we went to the Fishermans restaurant which was great, amazing food and service. We then tried the buffet the next evening and it really was good and a reasonable price...the desserts were very good! Breakfast there was good too, has every type of food you could possible imagine for breakfast!
Beach bar was good, drinks are really expensive, even happy hour didn't tempt many people down but maybe because the drinks were still way overpriced!
We spent one afternoon at the private beach, if you stay in Gaya island you must visit this beach. The bearded pigs are always around but kept in check by the staff!
Although it's only a small point but it's one that will always stay in our mind, our departure from the hotel was so lovely, a number of them come to wave you off the island and it really is a lovely touch to see their smiling faces as you leave.
This really is a beautiful resort, set in the heart of a stunning island, the villas are huge and set in well with the surroundings (shame about the huge amounts of concrete road though which felt a bit unnecessary), the nature around you is amazing to see, the views, the people, the service, we would highly recommend this resort and would love to return in the future!