The 100 Islands Resort & Spa in Surat Thani is actually quite an ok place, paying 590 THB for a twin share-the cheap stingy person in me felt alive. The main exterior building resembles a wooden mansion of sorts & is far from the plain concrete structures that are aplenty in overcrowded towns. The reception girls were pretty enough..i mean, they spoke good english, which was a good first impression, no hiding ninjas or crazy beggars anywhere.

The hotel features a very tropical pool area that resembles a natural water feature due to the many surrounding plants, ferns & especially leaves in the water, a very natural look. There is a dedicated Thai massage & spa building near the pool, from the looks of the middle-aged ladies I’m sure it’s a legitimate service, if it wasn’t, id be horrified.

Our Deluxe rooms were fairly basic with tiled floors but was large & had enough floor space to swing several cats. There was aircon, hot water, cable TV on a 51 cm tube & a mini fridge that worked. Our room had a window which allowed plenty of natural light. A feature of the room was the window nook which was comfortable for reading & included a pyramid pillow for sitting up, such unmentioned extras add great value. The buffet breakfast is an additional 90 THB & was good for the price with all the basics covered.

The hotel definitely tries to live up to its namesake as a resort with the pool & massage service but I don’t know if locals would make the trip to the outskirts of town for a few nights R & R in this hotel, however it is ideal for cheapos, travelers & stopovers with plenty of food options in the Tesco mall across the road & walking distance down the road, its so cheap here it would make you uneasy.

This hotel is located on the outskirts of Surat Thani, opposite a Tesco-Lotus supercentre.

We choose this hotel from a guidebook but based on the description given, were sure it would be more expensive than the price listed. After arriving and seeing the hotel, w became even more sure of this.

The hotel is built around a large lagoon style pool, upon which all rooms look out to. The rooms themselves are fairly simple and not as fancy as the rest of the hotel but are certainly comfortable enough.

The best part is that at 590 baht, not including breakfast, this hotel would have to be the best value in Thailand.

We only bypass and need to stay overnight only to rest. We are riding tru out thailand on our Harley Davidson bike on the way back to KL. The room is great, clean and nice. The price is Bht770 for twin bed single room per nite with breakfast. Opposite the hotel is Tesco-Lotus. Food is no problem for everybody.It is windy and cooling during our stay.

We booked our stay at 100 Islands because we were going on a jungle trek in nearby Khao Sok and it came recommended in the Lonely Planet Guide.

We booked through the hotel website and confirmed our booking a few days before arrival via email.

We arrived on a late night train from Bangkok (of which we had informed the hotel). The train was delayed by 30 minutes and when we got to the hotel they told us that because we were late they had let our room go to someone else - given that our original arrival time was 01.30am and we actually arrived at 02.00am I found this very surprising.

A man who said he worked at the hotel, but was not wearing a uniform, said he would take us to his own hotel nearby (needless to say we chose not to), he then said that we could stay in the 100 islands in his room -again - we declined his offer!!

We could not believe that no rooms were available and that they had let our room go so we waited in reception for a while, eventually we were shown to the spa room and slept on the spa beds for the night -not ideal after a long train journey and an early morning start the next day.

When we were able to check into our room the next day we found that it smelt of smoke. On our return from Khao Sok (which was FANTASTIC) we found that the bedroom window had been open all day -not only a security hazard but it meant that the room was full of mosquitos.

The shower flooded the bathrrom as the drain did not work properly and when we got into bed we found that the sheets were stained with blood.

All in all this was a very disappointing stay. I would not recommend it at all.