Koh Chang Paradise Resort & Spa

The resort grounds weren’t well kept, and the place overall seemed poorly maintained. Wi-Fi was another headache: apparently only one person knew how to connect it. There were fines posted for all sorts of things, from ฿500 for eating breakfast in the area or for not controlling your kids, to what I believe was ฿1000 for bringing outside food or drinks, and they ranged up to ฿2000. The only fine I agreed with was the one for not controlling children. Poolside chairs and couches had odd charges too. You had to spend ฿1000 to sit on a couch, though food and drinks counted toward that amount. Food and drinks at Chang resort were much pricier than at similar places, with cocktails at ฿300 compared with around ฿180 elsewhere. I got food poisoning during my stay and needed treatment at Chang Internation Hospital, though to be fair, I probably caught it at the property next door. This was my 27th hotel in two months of traveling Thailand, and I won’t return.

My room needed a proper clean. There were no cotton swabs, the floor was so dirty that after a minute barefoot my soles were covered in sand and dirt, and there was hair in the corners and grime on the mirror. The hotel itself also feels quite old. At check-in I found that guests don’t get beach sunbeds. There’s a separate beach club, where a sunbed costs 250 THB. To use the white sofas for the sea view and waves, you need to leave a 1,200 THB deposit toward food and drinks, which seems more worthwhile for a larger group. Think carefully and check the details before booking.

The beach and location are beautiful, right by one of our favourite beaches on Koh Chang, with taxis easy to get and places to walk to for food and drinks. It suits couples and families in that respect. The hotel itself, though, ruined a trip we’d been looking forward to for ages. We’ve lived in Thailand for four years and travelled a lot, and this was the worst hotel stay we’ve had. We raised our concerns at reception and got nowhere, so we feel others should know. The pool featured as the main selling point online wasn’t usable during our whole stay because of building work. The new beach-side pool shown first on both Agoda and Booking.com, where we booked, was closed. Reception gave what sounded like a rehearsed answer about two other pools. One sat beside the construction site with drilling all day and was very dirty. The other was across the main road, a short walk away, and also dirty, with scum around the edges, cigarette butts and plastic in the water. When we complained, staff laughed us off. One receptionist wouldn’t make eye contact or answer our questions. We felt the hotel had been mis-sold to us. The rooms looked stuck in the 1980s, with dated, odd décor, though we wouldn’t usually mind that if they were clean. Our bathroom had cobwebs even in the shower. The shower was freezing and had no pressure, and the shelves were too wonky to use. The balcony doors didn’t close properly, Wi-Fi kept cutting out and didn’t work in the rooms, so we had to use mobile data. At least the room was cleaned daily, and the cleaners were lovely and polite, leaving nice towel arrangements on the bed. Food service was poor. We ordered Thai dishes several times and they were nearly always wrong. They removed chilli and garlic without asking, apparently assuming what we wanted. Breakfast was very basic, with pancakes, an egg station, cereal, very sweet bread and mostly non-Western choices. It wasn’t horrendous, but we stopped going after a couple of days. The eggs came cold and overdone, and when we asked for a fresh one the response was rude. Though most staff were friendly, they often struggled with simple orders, brought things we hadn’t asked for or added extras. Food seemed to get sent back often. My Caesar salad had none of the right ingredients, just shredded cabbage, processed “chicken bacon” and a strange sweet yellow mayonnaise that was disgusting. Drinks were okay apart from the horrible wine. They had bottled beer and cocktails, though one cocktail came with a dehydrated tomato that I mistook for a cherry and ate. It didn’t taste good. Even setting aside the renovations, the dismissive service was the worst part and feels like a serious problem with the hotel. I hate sounding so negative, but I’d strongly advise people not to stay here despite the beautiful beach. We’ve had much better stays at small family-run places without star ratings.

We booked three sea-view rooms, but were given one overlooking a noisy road. Staff said there were no rooms available that day and refused to move us, even for later. Then, half an hour later, two rooms became available right in front of us. That felt deceptive and unprofessional. We asked about switching for an extra charge, but they quoted the same price as booking a room from scratch on the website. I wouldn’t recommend staying here if you don’t want to gamble on the room and deal with unprofessional staff.