Pranee Bungalow

The good things were the location right on the beach and the pool, which was quite nice. There were no sun loungers, though, so we had to sit on the floor. I loved Koh Tao, but I regretted booking this hostel almost as soon as I arrived. The other options were expensive, so I’d booked a very long five days. The room was an eight-bed dorm, but there were windows into the next room, so it felt more like 16 beds. You could hear conversations from next door, or in our case, a very loud speaker. We were told on arrival that it was cash only, even though that wasn’t mentioned online. The woman was quite rude about it and mocked us when we said we only had cash. Cleanliness was the biggest problem. The cleaner emptied the bins once every three days, and there was blood on the toilet sink for two days. Once that was gone, there was rice and beard shavings instead. Some showers didn’t even have shower heads. I also saw two girls arrive after the room had been overbooked, so one had to go elsewhere. The cleaner said she just needed to clean the bed before the other girl could use it. Instead, she took off the sheet and put that same sheet back on, fluffed the pillow, and said it was ready. The girl didn’t know. If you’re desperate enough to book here, keep in mind you might be sleeping in someone else’s sweaty bed.

The beach here is amazing, and the service from the staff was nice. But the Agoda listing was misleading, showing pictures of the nice building at the front. The bungalow is cheap, yes, but the bed was worse than any I’ve slept in. I arrived with low expectations, and the first night somehow surpassed them. After a late night I woke up early with a lot of back pain from the terribly hard mattress. I’m 23, and I’d rather have slept on the beach if it weren’t for the mosquitoes. The cold shower didn’t help, though at least it might have relieved the pain. I don’t know where there’s more cement, in a prison or in this “bungalow”.

The path to the hostel was very dark and sketchy, and it didn’t feel safe, especially after what happened on our last night. A guest who was allegedly connected to the owners was beating his girlfriend. There was no staff around to help or step in, so we other guests had to call the police and help her ourselves. She was concussed and clearly not okay. It was one of the scariest nights I’ve spent in a hostel. We were ready to pack up and leave immediately, but had plans to go to the jungle party, so we left for the night and didn’t return until it was light. My friend and I had already been sceptical of the rooms, which were disgusting and looked like a prison setup, but the location and low price kept us there for four nights until then. I’d spend my money somewhere else. This isn’t a safe or clean place.

The prices are totally fine, but we got really bad rooms and some guests didn’t know how to behave after 10pm. A couple of times, loud drunk Brits were in the pool after 2am, chanting football songs. That’s really bad when you have to get up at 5am, and the staff didn’t care about the problem at all. I asked four times to have my room cleaned and eventually had to do it myself.