I have just come back from Koh Lanta and thought I would write a review. If you are looking for a beach type of holiday like I was, then I would stay at another Hotel, but if you are not bothered about the beach then this hotel is fine.
I did lots of research before booking the hotel Maya and the reason I booked this one even though it was pricey compared to others, was it is on the beach front and all rooms have a sea view.
It is on the beach front, but its not actually on the sand. There is no chairs or beds on the beach, as they are all around the pool, so bang went my idea of having breakfast on the beach with sand between my toes...Robinson C styley.
Also the beach is not the best beach as the first day we walked left onto beach and there are rocks and we soon ended up in the middle of even more rocks and rubbish all over the place. This maybe the reason they keep beds etc round the pool. My idea of Koh lanta was to actually spend it on the beach.
If you go to the next beach Pra hae (long beach and my favourate klong Nin beach further south) there is plenty of beach action as all restaurants and bars have beds or table and chairs on beach and most have bungalows, so you can eat breaky and evening dinner with sand between your toes, listening to the waves breaking on the shore.
We hired a bike as it was working out expensive in a tuk taxi about £12-16 rtn to klong Nin beach about 30 mins away, and spend most days and nights at Klong nin beach and also went to view point and south from there.
I guess it depends what you are looking for? The Hotel in its self was exactly what it says on the tin. I use Best western alot in london so maybe I was looking for something different on koh lanta, so this is no reflection on the hotel, more my pick of choice. We had also just arrived after staying on Phi Phi on a quiet beach (away from the noisey end) in a stilted bungalow right on the beach with a breathless view of the sea and there restaurant and bar were all set out on the sand so didnt even have to put your flip flops on to walk down to enjoy breakfast/dinner and drinks from bar and we enjoyed that very laid back chill out feel on the sea shore, so thats why we were disappointed when we got to maya on koh lanta and realized I had not booked what I exactly thought it was.
My advice when traveling is dont book too much as you find you may change your mind a lot and if you have booked and paid for all your hotels you are pretty much stuck. Next time I would book, it as I go along. All the places we stayed in have internet. I was worried as it was peck season but I shouldnt have been worried as there were lots of places not booked up to stay in.
Also another tip, a lot of really good cheap restaurants are not advertised on trip adviser or internet, so be adventrous....we found some really nice ones but they are not set up for internet, otherwise I would of written good reviews.
We did eat at some advertised on tripadviser or internet and found them busy and a bit more expensive than some of the others, but it does vary.
Hotel..
The pros are..
Nice modern rooms over 2 floors
All have sea view
Staff were lovely
Nice pool
Near to get to ferry and shops in village
Can watch dvd's from reception
Can hire books from reception


Cons are..
The beach was very disapointing.
The superior rooms are north facing so yes you can see beach, but no sun on balcony.
Pricey

Hope this helps
H