Review: Renaissance Koh Samui Resort & Spa

Breaking up our trip between the busy city life in Singapore and Thailand, we stayed in Koh Samui for five nights to enjoy a relaxing time in a tropical paradise. 

The Renaissance Koh Samui was a decent option for our stay, being a Marriott Bonvoy property in a solid location. I had 5 Marriott free night certificates to use up, and couldn’t string together 5 consecutive days at favorable rates at other luxury properties I’d had my eye on, like the W Koh Samui or Vana Belle, Tribute Portfolio. Thus we settled on the Renaissance.

Read on for my review and experience at the Renaissance Koh Samui Resort & Spa.

Booking 

I booked the Renaissance Koh Samui for five nights using five Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates worth 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points each, earned from a welcome bonus on my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card. I had to do a top-up on several days of a few thousand points, totaling 39,000 points for the entire stay (and 250,000 redeemed via the certificates).

I also used 5 suite night award certificates to request an upgrade to a villa with a private pool, either garden view or beachfront, from the base King room. Thankfully, these requests were accepted a few days before the stay.

Check-in

We arrived a bit later than anticipated to check in after hailing a taxi from the airport (notably, rideshare apps no longer do pickup at the Samui airport due to the local taxi mafia). 

The hotel welcomed us with staff immediately taking our luggage from the taxi, and escorting us to the check-in desk. We were provided with hot towels and some delicious frozen yogurt.

Check-in went smoothly and the agent provided us with a resort map, taking care to personally highlight and circle a few features of the property.

They also provided us with a card containing a QR code linking to a Google Drive folder with a variety of property info, as well as full menus for all restaurants and bars.

We were then shuttled with our luggage to our villa, number #130. The staff member personally took us into the villa and explained several features and quirks of the room, which was helpful.

Location

The Renaissance Koh Samui Resort & Spa is situated on the eastern coast of Koh Samui, in the Gulf of Thailand. Specifically, it is located in Lamai, one of Koh Samui’s most popular and vibrant beach areas. 

Located centrally, it offers quick access to Lamai to the South as well as Chaweng to the North, and numerous other popular attractions on the island such as Big Buddha, Samui Football Golf, numerous night markets and beach clubs. 

It is about a 20-minute drive to Samui Airport (USM) which is on the northeastern point of the island.

Resort Layout

The resort was located on its own relatively secluded beach. Most of the restaurants, the lobby, and the private villas (numbered 101 to 134) were located on the side of the road closest to the beach.

On the opposite side of the road were apartment-style standard rooms and suites called Deluxe Rooms & Suites. This side of the resort had its own smaller lap pool (Leelavadee Pool) and also had the gym on the upper floor.

Parking

We didn’t need parking and I can’t imagine many tourists visiting here would, but it was available complimentary to hotel guests.

Scooter Rental

There are scooter rentals offered at the hotel, via an independent company. The daily rate for rental is 400 THB, along with a 1,000 THB deposit which is returned after the rental. 

I had an unusual experience when booking a scooter as the rental agent had me sign the contract and pay 400 THB up front in the lobby while mentioning nothing of the 1,000 THB deposit until after she had taken me to the scooter and showed me how to operate it. It seemed a bit unusual not to mention the deposit and have me pay at the same time as I paid the rental fee and signed the rental agreement.

Room – 1 Bedroom Villa, 1 King, Garden view, Private pool, 

The walk to and from our villa was short and scenic, through a tropical and well-maintained orange terrace with lots of trees and greenery.

Each individual villa had an exterior door with a wooden latch that could be used to keep the doors closed shut. 

Through the door and some stairs was a large terrace with a table and chairs. The entryway to the villa was a large wooden double door, which had a wooden latch as well as an electronic deadbolt. 

The villa’s main living area was spacious with a large TV, sofa, and desk.

We received a nice welcome gift, a card and some dragon fruit, waiting for us on the coffee table.

Behind the desk was the bed which had large wrap-around curtains and netting. We didn’t find there was any problem with bugs inside the villa, however.

The bedside plugins were not convenient to access at all as they were behind the bedside tables near the floor. This could be easily improved with a corded adapter/dock.

Overall, the room definitely showed signs of its age, which is unsurprising given the resort opened in 2006. From slightly lifting floorboards to misaligned cupboard handles, to the toilet requiring an extra press to flush. It could certainly use a refresh.

Past the bedroom was an ensuite bathroom hallway with a double vanity. There was a separate toilet room, a separate shower, and a whirlpool area.

Connected to the bathroom hallway was the main attraction of the room: a large private plunge pool with high walls and lots of privacy. This was a great addition to the room that we made use of many times throughout our stay.

I will comment that the room service was fast, attentive, and consistent throughout the stay. All staff members were friendly and welcoming. Plus, after a few personalized requests, the staff tailored the rest of the service to match. For example, if we went through water and coffee pods quite quickly, the staff started replenishing more of these for us with each room service visit.

Restaurants & Bars

The Renaissance Koh Samui modestly has two restaurants, as well as two bars. 

• Banana Leaf: The hotel’s main restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Open from 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM, it offers a variety of international cuisine and Koh Samui specialties. 
• tawaNN: A higher-end seafood restaurant serving Thai dishes made with locally sourced seafood. tawaNN’s terrace offers a fantastic view of Lamai Bay. Open from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM.
• R Bar:  A small bar located just below the Banana Leaf. R Bar is a seemingly new addition to the hotel, as it isn’t listed on the website or the Marriott Bonvoy app. 
• Pool Bar: A poolside restaurant and beach bar. Open from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM daily.

Banana Leaf

Marriott Bonvoy Elite Complimentary Breakfast 

Breakfast at the hotel was served at the Banana Leaf. As a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite member, I was entitled to complimentary breakfast here for the duration of our stay.

Guide: Breakfast Benefit for Marriott Bonvoy Elite Members

The breakfast was set up as a buffet spread as well as an ala carte menu.

The spread was extensive, with everything including a noodle bar, dry foods including breads, cereals, danishes, and muffins, a variety of fresh fruits and fruit juices, meats and cheeses, fried chicken, vegetable stir fry, noodle dishes, and much more.

Everything at the breakfast was fresh and of good quality. The ala carte items were especially a highlight, with a variety of regular North American options and Thai twists, such as the Samui-style eggs Benedict with grilled chicken and panang curry sauce.

We enjoyed at least one ala carte item each per morning. Aside from the crepes, which I found a bit hard and flakey, every ala carte item was fantastic!

Uniquely, there was a Bloody Mary station for guests to make their own drinks with a plethora of spices to choose from.

Every day there was a special health drink served as a shot. For example, one drink was called a “snow white” and contained apple and ginger. On hotter days I opted to have an iced coffee beverage as well, which was refreshing.

There was also a variety of unique juices to choose from, including guava juice, one of my favorites.

Overall I was very impressed with the breakfast at the Banana Leaf (which was a good thing because we were committed to it for the entire stay). The buffet spread had good variety and was changed every day so there were always different options to choose from. 

Lastly, I can’t forget to comment on the great view from the outdoor seating. We opted to sit outside on more than a few occasions to enjoy.

Dinner

We ate dinner at the Banana Leaf on the first night of our stay. It was quiet for a Friday night. The Banana Leaf had its own food and drink menu available, as well as the R Bar menu which provided a plethora of choices.

The cocktails we had here were okay. The food similarly was, although extremely well presented, just okay tasting. 

Overall, I would say dinner at the Banana Leaf was overpriced compared to local Thai restaurants which can offer better quality for lower cost. 

For example, we ate at Cafe 69 one afternoon of our stay and enjoyed everything pictured below for the equivalent of $30 USD!

tawaNN

TawaNN is the fine dining restaurant available on the property. We reserved a spot a few days ahead, and I asked for a good seat to view the sunset.

Indeed the view from the dining terrace was fantastic and made dining here worth it even just for that.

Our dinner orders came with an amuse bouche, followed by a noodle prawn appetizer. For my entree, I chose the classic: phad thai. 

The phad thai was tasty but I’d still echo my earlier comment regarding dinner at Banana Leaf. The food here simply didn’t have the quality or value offered by local Thai restaurants. Try the nearby Kawin’s Kitchen or Maitai restaurants close by for higher quality food at a lower price point. 

R Bar

R Bar is a small bar located just below the Banana Leaf restaurant. The menu for R Bar is different from the Banana Leaf.

After our first night’s meal at Banana Leaf, we were given a voucher for two complimentary cocktails (from a select menu) at the R Bar. We both enjoyed the Blue Kamikaze cocktail, which was tasty and had quite a kick.

Notably, there is also live music played here on Saturdays from 7:00-9:30 PM.

Pool Bar

There was a nice pool bar/shack located just off the main resort beach. They had quite a selection of beverages, as well as food, snacks, and ice cream.

I enjoyed many a slushy beverage here while relaxing on the beach and on the lounge chairs facing the main pool.

On top of that, there was a late afternoon cocktail ritual held at the pool bar or on the beach nearby every day. In the example above we made Apple Sour cocktails (with a generous amount of tequila), all complimentary of the resort.

Facilities

Beachfront Outdoor Pool (Main Pool)

The main pool for the property is located at the waterfront, steps away from the beach. It was pretty quiet here during our stay, as it seemed most people opted for the beach or to lounge in the shade. I didn’t count more than a couple of people in the pool at any one time.

 The beachfront pool is open daily from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

Leelawadee – Outdoor 50-meter Lap Pool

Leelavadee was a secondary pool located closer to the deluxe rooms (non-villas). It was a long lengthwise lap pool. While much smaller than the main pool, perhaps the main allure was the tranquility compared to the main pool. 

We didn’t use this one during our stay.

As with the beachfront pool, the Leelawadee pool is open daily from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

Beach

The beach is rather quiet. It had many deck chairs directly on it which was convenient. The beach was shared to the north with several other hotels and resorts. 

If you venture south around the large rock protrusion, there is actually a secondary “secret beach”, which offers even greater tranquility. 

Prior to our stay, I had heard some complaints about this beach being small. However, I didn’t find this to be true for us. However, depending on the tides, the beach can shrink quite a bit so others may have had a different experience. 

Also of note, the hotel also provides free kayaks to explore the bay.

Romantic Swing 

There were some nice walking paths just above the beach and below the villa area, which offered a great view of the ocean and beach.

The path culminates in a romantic swing, just before a path leading down to the secondary secret beach (pictured above).

This was a great spot to watch the sunset.

Gym

The gym was not that easy to find. It wasn’t pictured on any resort maps or signage. Instead, I had to ask the lobby desk staff to point me towards an elevator and across a bridge to the Deluxe Room (non-villa) side of the resort. 

Although small, the gym was nice, clean, and well kept with plenty of natural lighting. 

The facilities in the gym were above average. There was a fridge fully stocked with a complimentary hibiscus recovery drink which was delicious.

The gym even has boxing gloves and blockers for Muay Thai training. Although I’m not sure there was enough room in the gym to spar…

Quan Spa

The property has a full-service spa located in a quaint garden setting.  We had a 60-minute Thai massage here for 1,600 THB per person.

The massage was really nice. It was not relaxing or comforting like a typical massage, but had my body feeling stellar for days afterward. 

Speaking from personal experience… be careful not to get burned the day of or the day before your massage. Otherwise, you may be in for some pain.

We were served a fresh fruit drink to start the massage and a calming tea to end it.

Conclusion

Despite any shortcomings in the physical aspects of the property, the Renaissance Koh Samui more than made up for it with its quality of service. The beach and pool were both awesome and the resort was quiet throughout our stay. The location is secluded and out of the way, yet still close enough to other alluring attractions on the island for easy day trips.  

Although the breakfast offering was fantastic as a Marriott Bonvoy Elite, the rest of the dining was just okay and not good value, in my opinion. If having exceptional fine dining available on the property is important to you, you may want to look elsewhere.