The hotel is temporarily closed for renovation. This review describes our own stay in March 2025, before the works began. Reopening is expected in the second half of 2027, but this has not yet been finally confirmed.
A stunning hotel with a perfect restaurant - the rainy days affected our experience
Probably not - you cannot fix a first impression
We stayed at Impiana Resort on Chaweng Noi Beach, Koh Samui, in March 2025, for two nights. It is a beautiful hotel, with striking design, good service and a restaurant we really loved. In the end we were given a huge, pampering suite, and yet we left feeling we would not want to come back. Sometimes even a hotel that looks great on paper does not manage to create the holiday experience we had hoped for.
The hotel is on Chaweng Noi Beach, a quiet area that is fairly cut off from central Chaweng.
It is an area of impressive hotels and resorts, best suited to people who want to spend their time at the hotel itself, by the pool and on the beach.
But there is a downside: you cannot just step out of the hotel and immediately find a wide choice of restaurants, shops and bars. To get to central Chaweng, especially in the evening, a taxi is the easier option.
For us, the location became less appealing precisely because of the weather. When the beach and the pool were not pleasant places to be, we felt there were not many other options nearby.
We arrived at the hotel early and waited quite a long time in the lobby before getting our room.
The wait itself was not the only problem. The lobby area was not particularly comfortable or pleasant for a long wait, and by that point we were already feeling a little worn out and impatient.
And then came the really disappointing part.
We had booked a luxurious, pampering room in advance, but the room we were given turned out to be small and considerably less impressive than we expected based on our booking.
That is not the kind of room we chose a hotel at this price level for.
We went to the hotel staff and made it clear that the room did not match what we had booked. To our relief, the complaint was dealt with, and we were upgraded to a huge, pampering suite.
It was a significant upgrade, and we really appreciate the way the staff solved the problem.
But for us, the first impression had already been damaged.
The upgraded room was simply stunning.
It was a huge suite, with a seating area, double sinks, lovely design and a great deal of space. A welcome reading "Welcome" was waiting for us on the bed, too.
Everything felt much closer to the kind of stay we had expected when we booked the hotel.
One of the things we used most was the enormous TV, with the option to connect to Netflix.
Normally that is not something we would care much about on a holiday in Thailand. We come for the beaches, the pools, the restaurants and the trips, not to sit in front of the TV.
But in this case, with the rain that came later, the TV became one of the room's most practical advantages.
Looking only at the suite we were eventually given, it was certainly very good.
Once we had settled into the room, we went down to the pool area.
The hotel itself is beautifully designed, but the pool was fairly small and we did not feel it particularly invited us to stay and spend time there.
That is, of course, a matter of personal taste. Some pools immediately make us want to put our things down, pick a sun lounger and stay for a few hours. That did not happen here.
For us, when we choose a hotel in a fairly isolated area, the pool is one of the most important parts of the stay. We want it to be a pleasant place to spend time without leaving the hotel.
At Impiana, we simply did not connect with that area.
In the evening we ate at the hotel restaurant, and it was excellent.
In fact, the restaurant was one of the best surprises of our stay.
In terms of design it was fairly plain for such an impressive hotel, but despite the simple look, the food was very tasty, the atmosphere pleasant and the service good.
The price also seemed reasonable to us, which is not a given at a resort restaurant in an area with few places to eat within walking distance.
Here, of all places, the hotel gave us exactly what we love: tasty food, friendly service and the chance to enjoy a good dinner without leaving the grounds.
The restaurant is definitely a major point in Impiana's favour.
And then it started to rain.
During our stay there were rainy days, and the sea was too rough for us to sit on the beach and enjoy it as we had planned.
We cannot give a real opinion on the quality of the hotel's beach in normal conditions, because we simply did not get to experience it properly.
The pool, which we had not loved to begin with, did not become a particularly pleasant alternative either.
We found ourselves spending much more time in the room than we had planned.
On the one hand, we had a wonderful suite, large and pampering, with a huge TV and Netflix. On the other hand, we felt a bit cooped up, frustrated and disappointed with the holiday.
And that is not really the hotel's fault.
We can easily imagine that in sunny weather, with a calm sea and a beach to enjoy, our experience would have been completely different.
But we also do not want to describe a holiday we did not have. In reality, those were our two days at Impiana.
It is important to us to give the hotel the credit it deserves.
When we complained about the room we were given at check-in, the staff did not ignore us. On the contrary: they dealt with the problem and upgraded us to an excellent suite.
The service in the restaurant was good too, and overall our impression of the staff was positive.
We cannot say we received bad service. The problem for us was the very fact that we had to start our holiday with an argument over the room we had booked.
The solution was excellent, but we would have preferred to be given the right room in the first place.
Our tip: when you arrive at a hotel, especially if you have booked an expensive room or an upgraded category, compare the room you are given straight away with your booking details and the photos of that exact category. If something does not match, go to reception before you unpack.
Impiana could suit couples looking for a stylish hotel in a fairly quiet area of Koh Samui, with a good restaurant and beach access.
It may particularly suit anyone planning to spend a large part of their holiday at the resort, who does not need shops, bars and restaurants within walking distance of the hotel.
On the other hand, if you like to go out on foot every evening, explore the area or move between restaurants and beach clubs, we would suggest also looking at hotels in central Chaweng.
We also think that anyone choosing a hotel like this should check the room type, its position on the grounds and the value you get for the price carefully.
Probably not.
And that is the conclusion we reach even though the hotel itself is very beautiful, even though the restaurant was excellent, despite the good service and despite the pampering suite we were given.
Check-in left us with a poor first impression, and then the rainy weather stopped us enjoying the beach and the holiday as we had expected.
We felt the stay did not justify the cost for us.
We know that much of the disappointment had to do with the circumstances and not necessarily with the quality of the hotel. On a lovely sunny day, with a smooth arrival and the right room from the start, we might have felt differently.
But this was our experience, and we prefer to share it as it was.
The bottom line: Impiana is an impressive hotel with rooms that can be very pampering, a wonderful restaurant and good service. But we did not connect with the pool, we were disappointed by check-in and we could not enjoy the beach because of the weather. For us, there are hotels on Koh Samui we would rather go back to first.
Pleasant, stylish and large, but in our view not the best value on the island.
We were given a small room that did not match our booking. After complaining, we were upgraded to a huge room.
Same level of comfort and price - hotels we stayed at
Also on Chaweng Noi, we stayed there on the same trip - a perfect villa, about 4,600 THB (about $137 / €122) in our search
✓ We stayed here
