Akwa Guesthouse Ko Samui

I found AKWA at asiahotels.com where I noticed its high rankings and nice reviews. I felt it lived up to my expectations, even though they were quite high. I stayed in their penthouse room for 8 nights.

What I really liked about this hotel was the feeling of being at home (but with better service ;-). What made up that feeling was the nice owner with staff, which was always welcoming and service-minded, but still very relaxed and not pushy.

The hotel is located at the south of Chaweng Beach Road, which felt less noisy than the parts further north. However, it takes a while to walk up to the bars where the action is - if you are into that. But I did not have a problem with a bit of walk each day (or night).

The beach is also nicely located just a minute walk straight out from the hotel. I usually rented a sun-chair by the beach.

The penthouse room is something special. If you are not into teak furniture, you will love it. It is almost all white with this funky paintings and stuff. It has a great spacious sunroof with two sun chairs and a table with four ordinary chairs. And an own temple of course! A tip could be to maybe also arrange with a parasol for us pale (!) Scandinavians. The penthouse room also had a flat screen TV with DVD/MP3-player and stereo speakers. A DVD-library was provided in the hall and you also had an own library of a variety of CD albums. The bed was really comfortable and you had about seven pillows to choose from! And not least the cleaning was great. If you left the room for a short while, it was all fixed when you got back. I have to mention the bathroom as well which was of really high standard. Bathtub with a big window and view (if you liked) over the sunroof.

The bar and restaurant had a wide offering of dishes. I can recommend the sandwich with marinated chicken.

To sum it up, I can really recommend AKWA and especially the penthouse room. Great service and great people with a relaxed and personal atmosphere!

When a friend and i found AKWA on wotif we thought "this looks different why dont we just fill the gaps in here", much to our surprise we did not want to move on and tryed to extend our stay there but missed the boat due to the popularity of the place. Akwa oozes cleanliness, friendlyness , quirkyness and offers a huge wow factor that could not be compared to anywhere else on our trip.

I WILL stay there upon my next return and wish Tim and his staff all the happiness and sucess for the future.

Tali WD ,Melbourne, Australia

We stayed in Akwa for 5 nights from 16th May to the 21st May 07 and really enjoyed our stay. You pay for what you get and you get a lot at AKWA. The rooms, which i think there are only 5 of them are really funky with bright blues and reds and everything but they pull it off very well. Its really the small things that make the difference at AKWA though, such as the DVD player in each room, with a pretty big dvd library to pick from available in the hallway. They even provide you with travel books to read in your room and it just makes for a very homely feeling. They even booked a different hotel for us for earlier dates when AKWA was full up and put a deposit on for us so would definitely reccomend AKWA. Enjoy..

I loved this little guesthouse. For the most reasonable of prices (especially in Ko Samui), it provided amenities that are difficult to find in Asia for the same price. Tim was so helpful! As a woman traveling alone, he took such good care of me. The rooms were adorable, immaculate and had everything from a blowdryer to a duvet. Totally will recommend it to anyone I know traveling there. The only negative was how far it was from Central Chaweng Beach in terms of eating and drinking, but its distance was a plus when it came time to sleep!

We're nearing the end of a 9 month round the world trip and we couldn't have wished for a better hotel in which to spend our last week or so. We'd read the reviews & seen the photos of the guesthouse on the website but having travelled for a while we have come to realise that some places are not quite what they seem. With AKWA, however, we were not disappointed - it did exactly what it said on the tin & more! We were so impressed we decided to extend our stay. From the moment we arrived Tim, Lee & the staff made us feel so very welcome & nothing was too much trouble. Infact they went out of their way to help us.

Our room was well designed & decorated, full of the comforts of home. Like we said, it's the little things that make all the difference - the free DVD & music library, the feather quilt & pillows, the fresh orchids, the comedy toilet brush holder and other quirky furnishings - it all served to make our stay more enjoyable. AKWA is up there with the very best of accommodation we've experienced on our travels & if we return to Thailand & Samui we'll be back for sure.

Thank you to the staff that cleaned our room and kept us amused on a daily basis hiding Rexxy the cuddly toy dog in the most imaginative of places!

Thank you Tim & Lee for sorting out our laptop, for advice on trips & travel & for just being genuine honest friendly people.

Akwa is one of the best kept secrets on samui-it is a boutique hotel but without boutique prices-I can safely say that it was one of my best holiday experiences ever! Lee and Tim were so incredibly accomodating and warm-as soon as my friend and I stepped out of the cab from the airport Lee came running to greet us, by name-which I thought was a testament to how personal and intimate the whole atmosphere at Akwa is. There is a sense of family at Akwa. (but without the overbearing parents and annoying younger brother!!)

If you need any advice, or even just fancy a chat-Lee, Tim and the rest of the Akwa gang are brilliant. They know anything and everything you could ever want to know about samui. Tim even went so far as to help my print a 14 page work document that I needed to print, (internet cafe's printer didn't work) this 'personal touch' is something that cannot be manufactured, and indeed it is something that is rare even in the large 5 star hotels.

As for the rooms, we started off in a standard room, which was anything but standard-beautifully decorated with all sorts of fun and funky furniture and bits and pieces, and spotlessly clean. We had a night away in kho phangan-in a hotel that purported to be 'luxurious', but was in reality anything but. We legged it back to Akwa, where we were delighted to find that Tim had very kindly upgraded us to the penthouse suite!! We were over the moon, and I have to say next time I would definitely splash out on the penthouse-nothing better than coming home after a day at the beach to relax on the enormous roof terrace...or having a nice bath in the tub, which thoughtfully comes with a little cushion for your neck. All in all, an absolutely fantastic experience-there is nothing i can fault. Location is great, on the quiet end of Chaweng. Cross the road and you're at the beach, where you can rent a beach bed and use the pool facilities of the other hotel. Food at Akwa was delicious and good value for money.

Would definitely recommend!!! Book now as they dont have many rooms!

Big hugs to Tim and Lee from Andrea and Marika xx

We only stayed at Akwa guesthouse for 2 nights, looking back we would have stayed there for the whole week. Lee (Head Bar boy) and Tim (Owner) were extremely welcoming, and always willing to give us advice on where to go and what to do as well as what we should avoid. The room was really funky, exactly as published on all websites, they were the cleanest we stayed in and the added extras of DVD player / CD library really topped off a great stay.

Karl and Lindsay.

We stayed at the guesthouse for 25 nights and couldn`t have picked a better place to stay. The staff were really nice, Lee the master of staff :-) always had a smile on his face. Tim, the owner really did everything in his power to make our stay as pleasant as possible.

The rooms were the best,clean, nice decorated and with DVD player and plenty of films.

We will recommend this guesthouse to everybody. Every single place on earth should have a spirit like this one! Others have something to learn!

Hege & Jan André, Norway

AKWA Guesthouse is a real hidden jewel. We loved every minute of our 6-day stay there, also largely due to the great service from Lee, Tim, and the rest of the team. We booked AKWA via wotif.com, which went without a glitch, and also check-in and check-out times were very flexible, so very convenient.

The penthouse was immaculate, very luxury, amazing bed, great views from the large terrace overlooking the sea. Located in the somewhat quieter part of Chaweng, but still conveniently close to the busier parts. Also close to some good nightlife and tasty restaurants... and of couse not to forget close to the sea... only 30seconds walk away.

A great place to stay at, and excellent value for money. We'll be back :-) Thanks Tim and Lee... we had a great time and will always have fond memories of Koh Samui.

Ciao, Rini & Pericles

I stayed at Akwa in February 2007. Was upgraded to the Penthouse and all I could say was WOW. The decor was stunning. I had never been upgraded in my life before and it felt brilliant. Like everyone else, I took photos before settling in.

The location is fantastic for shopping in Chaweng. It's also close to the beach and the night life. When getting there the first time, if the Taxi driver doesn't know where go to, just tell them it is (almost) opposite Poppies. About Akwa - I slept like a baby in that huge comfortable bed and it was lovely having a bar fridge and video and TV and a big bathroom and a balcony.

Tim and his staff are brilliant - so friendly and helpful. I loved the atmosphere in the bar restaurant. I will definitely go back there, (even if I don't get the penthouse).