Great location. We had a raft room, which had great views but the bathroom needed modernisation and a good clean. Food was generally disappointing, particularly the buffet dinner. What we were most disappointed with, though was the trips - what we had booked was changed beyond all recognition as we were bundled on and off minibuses to join other trips rather than having our own itinerary, despite having booked one of their standard packages. We were told what we would do on a particular day and then found we were off somewhere else instead. The trip along the Kwai in a long-tailed boat to see a trestle bridge disappeared altogether and when we queried it we were told we'd had a ride on the train instead. We were not consulted/advised in advance and due to their disclaimer felt we had no comeback.

There was insufficient time at the Hellfire Pass museum and way too little at the River Kwai museum and cemetary, although we had stopped at a petrol station (with a horrible toilet) for 20 minutes only 30 km before arriving at the museum (where we could have used their clean, European toilet) and had to rush to try to prioritise what we saw once there. We had a voucher for a tea or coffee at the museum coffee shop but there was no time to use it as we were then rushed off to the bridge over the River Kwai and left for 75 minutes to browse the touristy shops and use the facilities at the nasty restaurant alongside the bridge before being driven to meet the above train.

There is undoubtedly a lot to see and do locally but the emphasis is all on filling the minibuses to cut costs by fitting in with other trips rather than enabling guests to make the most of their time at the fascinating attractions. Had we realised that this meant the highlightsof our 3 day trip would be squeezed into 1.5 days we would have only stayed for one night. We filled the empty afternoon with a visit to the nearby hot spring spa (at additional cost), which was very enjoyable, but then had to be up early for the additional visit we had arranged to the lava cave, which lasted only 1.5 hours, so we then had 2 hours before check out time and 4 hours to wait before being loaded onto a very cramped minibus (to fit in with the itinerary of a separate 1 day trip) in order to get back to Bangkok.

Despite our high expectations this was definitely the low point in an otherwise wonderful trip to Thailand and Cambodia. We would much have preferred a private tour to the "cattle truck" approach we endured and would have been happy to pay the difference.

My advice? If you go here, get confirmation before travelling of your actual itinerary and make it clear that, unusual circumstances excepting, this is what you expect and try to negotiate a price for a private package.