Samloem Laguna Resort

Not recommended, especially for service and location. My friend had an emergency and the staff was just ignoring him, apart from a very kind and supportive English girl who felt sorry for him. The Estonian bartender, who talked like he was managing the property, instead of trying to resolve the problem was shouting to us to chill out and have a beer, then became very polite again when the owner came to check on my friend. I would not come back just for this rude bartender who talks to you like you are one of his mates at a party, you don't yell at guests to chill out because you can't handle a problem, maybe staff with this attitude should work back of house with no contact to guests. At night the road to go to the main beach has no lights and it's a long walk into the forest, not very safe to go back at night in the dark.

My Honest Review

1. Accessibility: Getting to this resort is a real challenge. Unless you take a private boat taxi directly to the property, you’ll have to walk the entire length of the beach and then navigate an unmarked, overgrown path with no clear signs leading to the resort. At night, the path is completely unlit, making it unsafe and difficult to follow. In contrast, the previous resort along the beach has installed solar-powered sensor lights and actually cleans the beach and path every morning—something Samloem Laguna Resort clearly does not bother with.
2. Water Policy: This was absolutely shocking! The resort does NOT provide complimentary drinking water—not even a single bottle on your first day. Instead, you are forced to buy water at $2 per bottle, and if you want a refill, it costs $0.50. This level of penny-pinching for something as basic as water is unacceptable.
3. Cold Shower Only: The resort claims to have luke warm water, but that’s simply not true. The shower water is cold—there isn’t even a hint of warmth.
4. Neglected and Dirty: The entire resort looks abandoned and unkempt, with leaves and overgrown vegetation everywhere.
5. Non-Swimmable Beach: Don’t be fooled by any claims that the resort has a swimmable beach—there isn’t one. The water is murky and stagnant; even a crocodile wouldn’t dare go in.
6. The Room Experience: Where do I even begin? My room reeked of urine as if someone had relieved themselves inside. The only way I could stay in there was by keeping the window open and the fan on full blast. I had to remove a puff seat and a carpet from the room and leave them on the balcony because they smelled horrible. The bedsheets had stains, and the bathroom cup (meant for brushing your teeth) was still covered in dried toothpaste from a previous guest—disgusting! I requested room cleaning one day, and the only thing they did was replace the towels.
7. Breakfast: The breakfast selection is extremely limited, with just four options: a pancake with chocolate syrup, muesli, an omelet, or fried eggs. The coffee was terrible, and they also offered a smoothie every morning—except for the last few days when, for some reason, they stopped serving it to us while still giving it to other tables. I guess they just didn’t like us?
8. Beach Towels: We asked for beach towels twice, and both experiences were ridiculous. The first time, the towels smelled awful and were so tiny they could barely dry off a child. The second time, they gave me a white towel that was completely black with stains—it looked like it had been used to clean car engines!
9. Aggressive Dogs: The resort keeps two large, unleashed dogs, supposedly to protect against monkeys. (Side note: during our entire stay, we saw only one monkey, which was actually someone’s pet, and we were told that most wild monkeys on the island have been killed.) The dogs were aggressive when we first arrived but eventually got used to us. I personally have no problem with dogs, but for someone who is afraid of them, this would be a major issue.
10. Uncomfortable Stay: Because of all these issues, we ended up spending as little time as possible at the resort. We would return late at night just to sleep and wake up early to leave again. Staying there was simply not enjoyable.

Final Thoughts:

I am not someone who enjoys leaving negative reviews, and I always try to be fair. However, in this case, I feel it is my duty to warn others so they don’t waste their money. This place is NOT worth it, and I strongly advise looking elsewhere for accommodation.

The resort is difficult to go very bad and scary in the forest no beach to play and swimming. The owner is not welcome not safe . They have a lot of big scary dogs and make them bite you . Good choice don't go there. The picture is good but reality haha. Beware of regret later!

ATTENTION DONT GO!

Do not go to this accommodation because the bed has bed bugs and the mattress has many stains and also traces of bed bug droppings. When we presented this to the manager the day after, he wanted to see proof because he did not believe the video we had made (unfortunately I can only post a screenshot on booking). The manager himself is one of the unfriendliest people I have ever seen. On the day of arrival my girlfriend wanted to have a chat about the horses they have. He just kept looking at his computer screen while she was talking and a few words came out. We wanted to leave as quickly as possible after the first night and actually get our money back since we did not want to stay there another day. We had to pay for the first night, which I was okay with (even with the bugs in bed), but he actually wanted us to pay for the other nights as well. After it was very difficult to cooperate with him, we only had to pay a booking fee of 20%. That was still 6 dollars, incomprehensible how an owner can make a problem for such a small amount of money. So all the bad reviews you read about this stay are true!