We stayed in Rawi Warin first week...
We stayed in Rawi Warin first week of January 2008 and had a great time! Hotel is so beautifully built and landscaped, including a pond, waterfalls, gardens and more. The swimming pool is very nice as well, with special area for children and also a bubble-massage area. There is also a mini-movie-theatre to enjoy daily shows, a spa (though too expensive to my taste, even compared to Bangkok 5 star hotel spa prices), small-but-nice Gym and a tennis court.
There are some downsides (the following list is long, but it's really not so bad when compared to other hotels we have stayed in; I am hoping this list will come to the attention of someone in the Hotel Management, so as to correct the following):
1. No information in the room about the resort, meaning we only found out after 3 days that there are daily schedueled ectivities for hotel guests, for example cruises. (Obviously many of the cruises were cancelled for lack of sufficient participants, which stands to reason seeing guests are not informed of the existence of these activities...)
2. The restaurant appeared high class but the food was very dissappointing. For such high prices we expected so much more (e.g. the shrimp was not peeled contrary to our explicit requests, and the dessert was completely burned/dryed in the oven).
3. Staff is unorganized in some respects (e.g. we asked for a banana shake in the pool and were answered: "no bananas left" which is a curiosity in a 5 stars hotel).
6. Guests should be aware that the beach of the hotel is wanting. Either walk 100 meters southwards to some decent beach, or stay in the pool area.
7. Finally, be aware that not all rooms are the same, and in fact you should investigate what you are getting - the Seaview Deluxe is perched too high up on the mountain in my view (even though the view is quite nice up there); the Pond Villas are nicer though be aware some are right "on top" of the pool area (we stayed in a Pond Villa that was remote from the pool, on the second floor, and were very content); the Ocean View Villa is right on the beach where all the people are (if that's your thing).
Overall our experience was very good and we will consider staying there again. The resort is so beautiful it fits young couples / Romantics.
Enjoy
