The Ridge Villa 5

Villa 9 has a lovely location, thoughtful design, and plenty of space, but it wasn't ready for guests. Two rooms had just been painted and couldn't be used because of the smell and wet paint. We only found out at check-in. There were also 3 broken air-conditioning units, broken appliances including the dishwasher and lamps, several faulty locks, 3 broken TVs, a clogged drain, and spiders in one bedroom. The washing machine was so dirty that our clothes came out dirtier, too. After several days, local staff fixed it, did extra cleaning, waived electricity costs, and offered more fans instead of air conditioning. We declined the fans since the rooms already had them. The local team did try to fix or compensate for some problems, but the villa management was unprofessional, blamed us for some things, and claimed other problems didn't exist. With better care the villa could be nice, but it's also very expensive. There are much better villa options on Koh Samui, so I can't recommend this one.

The villas are beautiful and feel truly luxurious, with amazing views and amazing staff. The steep hill is the one drawback. Taxis may not want to drive up, so you might need to walk, and it's steep and poorly lit at night.

There are two bedrooms outside the main building, but that wasn't a problem for us. The basement room is its own suite with a kitchen. The place is beautiful, has an infinity pool, and easily fit 10 people.

These villas up the hill are amazing. The main snag is that some taxi and grab drivers don't want to make the trip up.