We stayed at the Tongsai Bay at the beginning of May 2008 for our honeymoon. We had just got married at the Dusit in Phuket and had a wonderful time, so this had a lot to live up to. On arrival the Hotel doesn't look as grand as we had imagined. They are very eco conscious here and as such the air con is very limited. That said the Hotel really grows on you the longer you stay. We had one of the cottages with a private bath on the balcony, which is a lovely romantic touch. However the rooms are smaller than we expected, but tastefully decorated. There is also a 4 poster bed which although is lovely again it seems to take over the room.
The beach is very private and has a wonderful beach side restaurant (which is the Keith Floyd Restaurant, also serving great food at night). The half moon pool was excellent. It is solely for adults and known as the peaceful area. We spent most days there just chilling by the infinity pool which is excellent. There are two other restaurants: 1. Butlers by the half moon pool - this is very nice and intimate, serving contemporary food. 2. Thai restaurant by the Reception. Not too impressed with this one - there are better Thai restaurants in Boh Put - 10 mins in a taxi.
The staff all over the hotel are very friendly - you are transported everywhere in a golf cart, which is a nice touch.
Summing up this is a great Hotel to get away from it all and totally chill out.

We stayed at the Tongsai Bay from June 6th to June 15th 2008. On arrival we were warmly greeted and complementarily upgraded from the detached cottage villa we booked to a faboulous "Grand Villa" (No. 504) overlooking the Half Moon pool and beach.

The Grand Villa provided roughly 175 square meters of living room, roughly half of which is a partially roofed open air terrace. The sleeping room was well furnished although it did not compare by any means to the room standards one may expect from a first class city hotel (such as the Pensinsula in Bangkok, where we stayed a few nights before travelling on to Koh Samui). Bathroom was OK, although we missed a weight scale. The air conditioning system managed to keep room temperatures low; however it's quite windy in the room when it is turned on; that gave me a stiff neck on several mornings. The refrigerator was filled with a selection of cold drinks, beer and wine. Interestingly all cold drinks were sugary. No diet coke available. TV channel selection is extraordinary poor. 15 Channels, most of them non-english.

The place itself is beautifully tied into the nature of a small bay and completely secluded from busy Chaweng - which is not worth visiting at all; the beach there is extraordinary dirty and the shops offer nothing special at all. The Tongsai beach is rather steep and stony. No sand. Water quality was OK. Sometimes we faced some algae.

Tongsai staff is extraordinary well trained, disciplined, friendly and helpful. We did not have any single negative experience with anyone of them. They did a fantastic job to make us feel like at home. Probably one of the best and most motivated teams we have ever experienced. Some of them even managed to learn a few words of Russian to impress my girlfriend.

Everything from arrival to departure was very well organized and all the announcements on the public signboards were up to date. People really care about you at Tongsai.

There are three Restaurants at Tongsai Bay. We did not try the Thai one as we heavily dislike Thai food. Floyd's Beach Bistro is a casual place at the beach serving decent western style food, while Butler's provides a slightly more refined cuisine in a more Restaurant-like setting. Floyd's was OK. Butler's was close to excellent; fantastic(!) staff; good food; however a very restricted menu that did not change during our stay. Both restaurant's do not serve anything even close to healthy kitchen; especially the desserts are mostly to sugary and heavy. Cheese selection is extremely poor. Wine selection is OK; there is wine to match any choice of food. Food prices are rather low. A good dinner for two with a good bottle of wine comes at roughly 6000 Bath. 3000 without wine. 10.000 if you really celebrate your dinner.

Breakfast was a perfect disappointment. Not too much healthy food on the buffet. Ham and Cheese of very limited quality. Fried eggs acceptable.

Nightlife is kind of non-existant at this place, which was no problem for us as we were here to relax and not to party.

The only really annoying experience was, that they managed to mow the lawn around our Bungalow for seven consecutive days with an extraordinary loud (and obviously inefficient) lawn trimmer. This heavily disturbed the very peaceful ambience.

Also the exercise room was poorly equipped in comparison to what we are used to.

There is WIFI-Internet availabe, however restricted to public zones. They should install that in any of their Bungalows.

Phone calls to Europe and Russia were extraordinary expensive. However I don't know whether this is a Hotel- or Thailand-specific problem.

If you happen to be in charge of big business and need to be in touch with corporate headquarters on a regular basis, Tongsai is simply not connected enough.

Regarding value for money although they provide a lot of pleasure they definitely heavily overcharge; the high room rates would only be justified if there were clearly visible signs of recent investments in infrastructure and facilities; the place however looks a bit run down and even the excellent service can not distract an experienced traveller's attention from the fact, that the place has not seen major refurbishment for quite a while.

In general we can recommend the place as a perfect quiet hideout for a couple of days relaxing. We spent a phantastic time here without being bothered by anyboby; when we needed assistance service was ready to exceed our expectations at any time. People seeking a more intensive, sophisticated, high-class holiday experience better try something else.

Tongsai Bay is an eco aware paradise! Wonderful and friendly staff, 5 star facilities, and an utterly beautiful location which they have done as much as possible to protect and leave unharmed by tourism.

I stayed in one of the cottages suites with my partner and it is the ideal romantic getaway. The cottages are spacious, clean and perfectly appointed. Our cottage had an outdoor bath on the balcony that was secluded and offered spectacular views. The pools and private beach are fantastic too - there really isn't a bad thing to say about Tongsai Bay! I particularly recommend the Prana Spa for some luxurious pampering - treat yourself, it's worth it!

We stayed here for a week over Christmas 2007- our first warm-weather Christmas- and it was truly wonderful. We stayed in a standard cottage set in the hillside, with a view of the bay. The cottage was lovely- imaginatively designed, cool and luxurious, especially the outdoor bath (but beware of passers-by as you stand up...). Duplex style, the large bathroom and four-poster bed were on the top level, whilst the snug lounge and outdoor terrace with bath sat below. Even torrential rain on Boxing Day couldn't ruin it- a huge library of DVDs, pool table and cocktails helped!

The grounds are lovely- hilly and full of flowers and plants, with a large pool set down by the beach and another tranquil adult-only pool further up the hillside looking out over the sea. Three restaurants means a great choice of setting and food- not cheap but extremely good. The spa provided a great Christmas Day treat, and the service was impeccable: helpful but also friendly.

A very romantic place for a couple, but also very family-friendly: managing to accommodate both so well is quite a feat. We only left the hotel once in a week, and were glad to get back. Now we just have to work out when we can come back, and start saving!