Opening night at a new Koh Samui resort

I had an expiring Cat 1-4 free night certificate with Hyatt, so it seemed like the perfect excuse to visit the Hyatt Regency Koh Samui on its opening day. While the combination of opening day plus the weird semi-shutdow situation in Thailand means that there are lots parts of normal operations that I'm unable to comment on, I'll try my best to share some details for anyone planning a visit anytime soon.

Overall, I was quite impressed by the Hyatt Regency, particularly compared to my expectations. I think the architect did a good job in creating something modern and connected to nature, and the hotel features a wide range of room types from "conventional" rooms with no views through to Beachfront villas. The hotel should absolutely be on the shortlist for any Hyatt loyalists visiting Koh Samui and I think could do quite well in the 5* family resort category thanks to its fresh design.

As a side note, the Koh Samui "sandbox" is set to open in just 9 days, and while the Hyatt Regency isn't one of the quarantine hotels on the list, it is an option for people after "just" 7 days at another hotel.

The hotel offers a wide range of rooms from those with no view behind quite a loud and ugly air-con exhaust through to seven Beachfront villas (one appears to be a Presidential Suite type setup). Their policy is to upgrade Globalist members to Royal Suites wherever possible. As a one-off perhaps for opening day, I was generously upgraded to a Beachfront Pool Villa.

The room was modern with a large bed, sofa, a full sized fridge and freezer and a large bathroom. There were both indoor and outdoor showers. There was a smallish and lovely cool (considering it's super hot here now) private pool overlooking a true beachfront view. I'm not sure if it heated. If not, I think it might get a bit chilly.

Having stayed at a large number of Koh Samui's pool villas in the last 6 months, I'd say this one is a bit smaller than most and doesn't have the best of views (due to both the lack of elevation and not being immediately on the beach), but does benefit from being brand-new and well designed. Given the modern design and the fact that it does genuinely look at the ocean, I'd say it ranks pretty well and only loses out vs. those in the more expensive modernish resorts like the Conrad and the W (and of course the Four Seasons). I'd certainly be very happy to stay in the room again. I didn't have a chance to review others. My suspicion is that Globalists will be on the main quite happy if they're able to get a space available upgrade to the Royal Suite.

One issue specific to the Villas which I think they are going to find a major issue is that there is no way of properly securing your room while you are out. The keycard is used on a door in a wall at the front which you can simply squeeze around. At the back you're facing the beach and so there's not even a wall to walk around. I wouldn't be 100% confident an insurance company would agree that the room was locked if anything expensive was stolen. There is a lock for the sliding doors of the villa itself from the inside for when you are sleeping, but I actually couldn't get that to work (that's probably just me). 

It's hard to say much about service because of it being opening day, not least that large parts of the service team from the Park Hyatt Bangkok and at least one of the Grand Hyatt Bangkok came down to help with the opening. 

I had a chance to meet the GM Adrian (who opened PH Seoul and PH St Kitts) as well as most of his senior team. 

Considering it was opening day in particular service was very slick, friendly, the team was proud and set high standards. There were a few minor slip-ups with dinner taking a bit longer than it should do, but frankly less than I would expect given it's opening day. The guy next to me at dinner seemed to think tons of things were wrong, but I think it's more than likely he was just one of those people who really enjoys complaining. 

Bearing in mind anything from topping up my water was done by a senior manager of a Park Hyatt I can't say too much on service, but do think that it looks promising. 

One note is that in line with Hyatt Regency brand standards, there is quite a nice looking stand-alone Hyatt Club facility a bit back from the beach. It's not yet open (and I can't see them wanting to open it until Christmas at the earliest), but is quite a nice touch and a bit of a rarity in family beach resorts.

There are quite a lot of F&B options considering there are only 140 rooms at the resort. Food quality on Koh Samui is overall exceptionally high, and I think that's true for the Hyatt Regency as well. I didn't have a chance to try the drinks at the HR, but did notice they were priced a decent amount below that of the top 5*s on the island. 

Most F&B venues have both indoors and outdoors seating, designed primarily for one, but with some seats on the other - so I won't bother saying which is which.

Yangna: Breakfast buffet + Thai restaurant by the main pool. For opening day at least they were offering one of the few buffets currently on the island, with a focus on things made on the spot. I didn't have time to eat, but it looked a solid effort to me - including an egg station, Chinese/ dim sum and a Thai section. I ate here for lunch and had a nice caesar salad with a poached egg and a very nice catch of the day done Italian style.

SESUN bar & grill: A really pretty bar and Mediterranean restaurant by the beach. I thought it was very atmospheric, but apparently guests were complaining it was too dark. The menu is heavily influenced by the background of the Sicilian F&B Director and was one of the highlights of the hotel to me.

KUBE: A nice lounge/ cocktail bar next to the lobby with a nice view over the ocean. "Club" drinks are in here until the Regency Club opens.

Cobalt: Small pool juice (and cocktail) bar by the main pool

Koh Samui is not that big and so to a certain degree location doesn't matter that much. The HR is in a quiet area just north of Chaweng, which I actually think is an under-rated part of the island.

You're between the madness of Chaweng's bars, clubs and seedy sex industry on the one side and a peaceful beach area on the other. It's also just 5min from the airport. The resort has a large oceanfront of its own which is a bit on the rustic side as far as views go. I got the impression that they're still upgrading the beach at the moment so make it a bit more Western tourist friendly with fake sand, etc. 

The resort apparently has a stunning sunrise, but really not much in the way of sunset. 

Koh Samui's hotels are ageing and I think the Hyatt Regency can fill a spot imbetween the likes of the Sheraton/ Lamai hotel (former Meridien) and the more expensive all-villa properties. 

The GM suggested some target pricing rates which were highly speculative so I won't repeat here, but I think the HR will be effectively up against like for like rooms at somewhere like Nikki Beach or the Anantara Bophut. The Hyatt is so much newer and fresher and so I think it will be a good choice in that market. Even more so if you prefer Hyatt hotels, or have World of Hyatt status to take advantage of.

I expect that I will be going back for staycations this year and would certainly have the hotel in my target list when I return back post-pandemic when things are a bit back to normal and I can't rely on $200 pool villas anywhere I want any more.