Island Escape by Burasari - SHA Extra Plus

I want to share the email I just sent to the hotel which will describe my experience:

I am writing to follow up on a refund issue regarding my recent stay at your hotel from October 18 to October 20. We made our reservation directly through your website on October 17, with the expectation of a smooth and comfortable experience. However, the stay did not meet our expectations, leading to the refund arrangement I am now addressing.

Upon our arrival at 12:00 PM on October 18, we understood that check-in was set for 3:00 PM. Despite waiting patiently, we were only given access to our room after an additional 3.5-hour wait, following multiple interactions with the reception. Upon finally checking into our room, we found it unsatisfactory and immediately returned to the reception to request a refund. After an hour of discussion, your staff agreed to issue a refund for one night of our stay.
I also want to mention all this experience made while we came to celebrate our honeymoon which the hotel was aware of.

It has now been 9 days, and I have yet to receive any confirmation or verification of this refund.

Attached is the signed letter provided by your team, which confirms that a refund was agreed upon.
If I do not receive verification of the refund promptly, I will be left with no option but to explore legal avenues to secure the refund, as I have all necessary documentation to support my case.

This experience has been highly disappointing, and I am hopeful you can provide a swift resolution to this matter. Please respond with an update regarding the refund process at your earliest convenience.

If you want to spend a nice vacation, it's better to spend your money elsewhere. We traveled around Thailand for several weeks and probably found the worst value for money here.
The prices in the hotel are exorbitantly overpriced even for a 5 star hotel. Things that are a matter of course for a 5 star resort such as water bottles in the gym or hot water in the room. Mostly not available. The thing that annoyed us the most was the service and the poor management. There are six ladies at reception, all of whom can hardly provide any information on everyday questions. Basic forms of politeness such as letting people finish or a friendly tone are completely absent. Instead, they like to put their heads together and seem to make fun of other guests.
It is so loud at the large pool that you can hardly understand your own words because of the air conditioning. The beach is unkempt and there are glass panes, rusty nails and other garbage everywhere. I would not recommend this place to families with small children in particular.
On a positive note:
The pools are nice and large and are kept clean and the cleanliness of the rooms must also be emphasized positively. The cleaning staff in particular are not pretentiously friendly, but make a real effort. The breakfast was actually improved based on the negative feedback here.
Just one star review because they tried to scam us twice with the bill in the end.

Overpriced for what it is.
Service is really bad, I don’t think the people who worked here are qualified to work in a “4” stars hotel. Don’t get me wrong it’s not that they are mean it’s just they are not qualified/skilled. It’s a real job to work on high standard hotel.

We’ve been woken up at 22:00 to pay a bill on the first day, they called twice and someone showed up at our door to ask for cash(we didn’t had cash..)

Once when I came to pay at the desk she give me the terminal so I enter my credit card code without even showing me the amount of money I would pay for… this is very basic of service. So I made her redo it cause I won’t put my code without seeing the amount ….

People who do service in restaurant have been asking 2/3 times our order and still making mistakes when delivering the food.

Food is overpriced. On 3 restaurants only one of them serve Thai food and it’s the one that is far away and hidden.

Our room is a bit dirty and also very impractical. There is not even a table to eat on when we do room service. We eat on the bed head the only horizontal surface of the room..

I stayed at Island Escape during summer 2023 and, due to exceptional circumstances, had to cut my trip short. The management at Island Escape acknowledged my situation and kindly promised (in writing) to refund the amount for the last 2 nights of my intended stay, making an exception to their non-refund policy. This gesture was deeply appreciated at the moment, as it not only showed understanding and flexibility but also a commitment to customer care- or so I thought.

However, my initial relief and gratitude have since turned to disappointment and frustration. It has been 7 months since that promise was made, and despite my numerous attempts to follow up via email, I have not received any response, let alone the promised refund. This lack of follow-through and communication from the hotel has significantly marred my experience and opinion of their customer service ethics.

The hotel itself offered comfortable rooms and a beautiful location but the failure to honor their commitment and the subsequent complete lack of communication have overshadowed these positives.

To Island Escape I urge you to improve your customer service follow-up and to fulfill your commitments to your guests. Honouring your promises is fundamental to maintaining trust and ensuring guest satisfaction.

To fellow travelers, while the hotel has its merits, be wary of any promises made outside the standard policy. Unfortunately, my experience has shown that follow-through may not be guaranteed, and communication post-visit can be disappointingly non-existent.

I hope by sharing my experience, it encourages Island Escape to address these issues and ensures that future guests do not encounter the same disappointments.