Samloem Laguna Resort

Lovely island with even lovelier staff! Was a great place to stay. On the other hand, I wouldn’t spend more than 2 nights without hot water, air conditioning and decent WiFi when in the room (wasn’t aware of this when booking however this was a fault on my behalf). However, when in reception it was very strong and was able to charge everything in the hotel to the room and pay on exit which was great and they even helped organise our boat home for $15. Also had a cute lizard friend on our last day

The hotel is far from main areas of Saracen Bay, and the hotel charges per boat ride even tho other hotels that are closer to piers provide the service for free. The hotel itself is decent enough, the only thing that really bothered me was the stained sheets found on arrival, luckily i just stayed for one night. Staff is kind.

I hope you have the water kettle and Aircon. But all in All it's excellent!

AVOID. Wow. This is my first bad review. I’ve been traveling all over the world since 1996, and I have never had such a bad experience. I was supposed to be picked up from the ferry dock, but because of a storm the previous evening, I should have been sent information on how to arrive at a different dock. Unfortunately, I was never sent that information. With heavy luggage I was told to walk 1.5 hours to the resort. The attitude of the receptionist at Laguna was like, “not my problem”. It was a very tough walk (and I’ve done a lot of backpacking, including a month on the Appalachian Trail) through brambles and climbing resort partitions was required. At one point I needed to cross a small estuary where a bridge was out. Luckily right then, I met two other Laguna guests who showed me a path through the forest to avoid crossing the water. The young man help with one of my bags. I asked them if Laguna was nice at least. They laughed heartily and said a resounding “No”. When I arrived, I showed Laguna all messages, including spam and deleted messages, to show that I had not received any communication from them. I asked what they could do for me. They said that they could only give me 10% off food and activities (though I was told that there were no activities due to the storm) or they could upgrade me to a villa my second night. They said that their only other option was to cancel my prepaid two nights (but I would still need to pay), and I could find somewhere else. I couldn’t believe how damn rude they were. But I had prepaid, the walk back was difficult, and the sun was now setting. I was recovering from food poisoning, and the only thing I could stomach was bread, pasta, and bananas. They made me a plate of pasta with olive oil and attempted charge me 4.50 USD, no 10% discount. I argued, so they charged me 4 USD and the discount. Are you kidding me? The rest of my stay there the receptionist, Alex, and the owner, Indrek, were nothing but rude. The shower water was ice cold. There was no beach at the resort. The kitchen staff made fun of me for having food poisoning. I could go on. I asked about a boat to get back to the ferry after staying my prepaid two nights. I was told to be prepared to walk and that no one would give me assistance. (I’m 5’1” and weigh about 105 pounds.) All this for 49USD/night. Luckily a German man who stays there long term got a boat for me that morning. He told me that if a boat wasn’t available, he would walk me back and help with my bags. Avoid this place at all costs.

ATTENTION DONT GO! Do not go to this accommodation because the bed has bed bugs and the mattress has many stains and also traces of bed bug droppings. When we presented this to the manager the day after, he wanted to see proof because he did not believe the video we had made (unfortunately I can only post a screenshot on booking). The manager himself is one of the unfriendliest people I have ever seen. On the day of arrival my girlfriend wanted to have a chat about the horses they have. He just kept looking at his computer screen while she was talking and a few words came out. We wanted to leave as quickly as possible after the first night and actually get our money back since we did not want to stay there another day. We had to pay for the first night, which I was okay with (even with the bugs in bed), but he actually wanted us to pay for the other nights as well. After it was very difficult to cooperate with him, we only had to pay a booking fee of 20%. That was still 6 dollars, incomprehensible how an owner can make a problem for such a small amount of money. So all the bad reviews you read about this stay are true!

I spent four days at Laguna in May. It is the perfect place to relax and disconnect. The resort is surrounded by nature. I stayed in one of the bungalows. The room was clean, modern and had all of the amenities I expected. The restaurant area is wonderful, with very reasonable prices. It is lovely and open so you can watch the sunset over the island of an evening. The hotel offers pool (billiards), board games and boat trips around the island. However, the best thing about Laguna is the staff. Michael the Manager and Neal the bar tender are warm, friendly and work hard to make your stay the best it can possibly be. My friend and I are vegetarian so they gave us some additional off menu options. I would highly recommend a stay at Laguna.