Ok you are not going to like this palce if you need a kids club, karaoke machine, or bingo night as part of your experience, but if you are a couple wanting a quiet place to hide for a few days, I am struggling to figure out what's not to like.

Firstly this review is for the Guti, not the main AKA which I have also reviewed and rated it pretty highly.

We were actually booked at the Seraton but checked out promptly after checking in and rang the Guti, looking for a quiet room. They took care of the rest.

We arrived, they knew who we were, they showed us a couple of rooms, we settled for a two bed with absolute privacy looking out over the Black Mountains, and we were relaxing in ten minutes with a beer next to our pool, while they cleaned the room.

We had room service dinner which was excellent, breakfast was bit limited but did have an egg station and freshly brewed coffee, so met our needs.

Some people have said the place is tired, clealry they have not owned a property in tropical climate. Basically what the Guti have done is blended into the environment, which means not slappimg glossy paint on everything, but letting the materials mix and fade as nature inteded. Truly a masterpiece in foresight and taste. I also loved the indoor outdoor flow of the villa.

The staff couldn't do enough for us, and I also loved the understated uniforms, simple black pyjama style, again class.

Sum up, if you are a couple looking for absolute privacy, in a place that has been exquisitley thought out, try it.

Tip, Plonk down a bit extra for a two bed on the front, and you can leave your swimming trunks at home.

I could easily find negative things to say about AKA but I don't want to because the whole was better than the sum of the parts. Our 1 bedroom deluxe pool villa was divine. The spaciousness and privacy with our quite large private pool was great. We had a compound with a large bedroom, spacious bathroom with outdoor shower and sunken tub, comfortable living room with wet bar and stocked fridge, second complete bedroom and bath in another bale (they call it the "spa room") and the pool with deck and lounge chairs and dining area. All of this is surrounded by a high privacy wall and planted with healthy, flowering plants. There is also a second floor lounge area with a view of the entire resort. The air conditioning worked perfectly and the bar was conveniently (and oddly) stocked with fairly priced pints of rum, vodka, etc. as well as water (complimentary) and soft drinks. The bathroom amenities were plentiful and nice quality. The staff was charming and very available and helpful. I don't speak Thai and appreciated the fact that most of them spoke some English. The resort provides a shuttle to Hua Hin which we found convenient for trips to town for dinner, etc. The breakfast was more generous than I require so should be good for those who eat hearty breakfasts. We ordered lunch delivered to our compound twice and ate one lunch at the restaurant. All meals were delicious and though not cheap like eating in local restaurants were good value for a hotel restaurant and room service. Cocktails before we went to town to dinner were well made and graciously served by the pool when we asked.

While it wasn't their fault that it was cold while we were there (really cold) they apologized none-the-less. The spa was okay--beautiful, but the staff was not particularly skilled. I had better and certainly cheaper treatments in town. There are some maintenance issues. The outdoor bath tub was not inviting--tired and grubby looking. The wooden decking around the pool is due for replacement or repair. The only real issue for me was what should have been a charming water feature within the compound of our villa--but the water was stagnant. While it didn't smell bad and there were not mosquitoes, it was not appealing. The same is true of some of the water features in the public parts of the beautifully landscaped resort. But really for what we got and the great price we felt it was extraordinary value and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

My girlfriend had booked this as part of a surprise weekend, so prior to the trip I had no expectations. After the drive down from Bangkok, we were greeted by welcoming staff, towels, refreshing drink and biscuits. We were immediately showed to our villa which despite being advertised as a one bedroom villa actually had 2 bedrooms as well as a private pool.

The whole apartment was clean and although their were slight signs of wear (stained wall and cracked wood) we appreciate that is a place which experiences Monsoon and prolonged heat it is going to be impossible to maintain a look of everything being branch new. The Villa itself was spacious and private and mostly quiet although in the evenings a nearby bar did sometimes like to play music until the early hours which was more of an inconvenience as oppose to being truly annoying.

One evening we ordered the private villa BBQ and when they chef arrived with the food we thought he was planning on feeding a small army; including prawns, fish, chicken, pork, steak, vegetables, rice, salad, corn on the cob, baked potatoes and deserts and I am sure I have missed things! The BBQ was very well done, with the evening remaining a romantic affair despite there being the chef and waiter present, unlike some times in Asia with the staff is so keen to assist you sometimes feel you are being watched by a hawk!

The only point to bear in mind is that it is a good 15 minutes from the centre of Hua Hin so don't expect a stroll, but instead a taxi or the hotel shuttle bus you can book in advance. We also found the Tuk Tuks to be a lot cheaper than the taxis, and infinitely more fun!

Having read other reviews, it seems that opinions are mixed but given the experience we had, I would happily return to this villa.

One last thing is that in the evening, given the amount of water the Mosquito's can be very aggressive so ensure you are well covered.

Me and my guest arrived at the hotel at 1030 pm on a Friday night straight from the airport starving, hoping for some food, to be told that we would have to go into town to find something to eat... This is as the staff are eating in sight of the check in desk.... Not exactly a good move when dealing with 2 service industry customers.. So we ended paying a local taxi driver that was droping off other guests to go into town to grab some fried rice for us.. Upon check in we were taken toour room, the staff member that took us was flamboyantly gay, not that we care, but he proceded to open one room of our 2 bedrooms then started to leave When we requested that the second room be opened he gave us a confused look like he was annoyed we we're not staying together... Once settled in we planned on hitting the pool, when the lights came on we couldn't even see the bottom the water was so dirty.. Again we called the front desk and asked to be moved to a room with a useable pool. No such luck and we were assured the pool would be useable by morning, it was fairly apparent that a 10 m pool would not be drained and re filled by morning, but we were assured it would be... Wrong the staff didn't even attempt to do so.. In the morning we complained again, and were offered another smaller 2 bedroom villa at Aka guti, of course for a higher price. Needing to salvage the trip we went ahead with the move, no visible management of any kind assisted us offered us any sort of compensation for a ruined and aggravating trip. I would suggest that there are plenty of much better resorts in hua hin skip this one.