The villa itself is a great place for larger groups and several families. There is everything one needs for a comfortable stay in Mae Nam, away from the chaotic scenes of Chawaeng. The view was nice, the rooms comfortable and the air worked great in the bedrooms. Seeing that everyone spends most of their time in the living area, an A/C unit needs to be installed there-there are enough similar reviews to warrant it. We spent a lot of time at a great little restaurant at the bottom of the hill called Jung Hom, where the beach was lovely and the kids could swim.
Be warned, the hill up to the villa is steep and treacherous, we managed to swipe an electrical box and total the car on the way up. Suffice to say, it ruined our holiday as we had to deal with paying for it and scraping cash together each day at the ATM, as they wouldn't accept anything but cash and gave us 18 hours to pay it. Complete fiasco. The villa owner, Stuart, was very accommodating, however, and really did his best to try and help us overcome issues. The same could not be said about the villa manager. They were late in allowing us to check in and said that the ride from the airport would be complimentary. But at check out, he battled me and said there was no free ride. Thankfully Stuart stepped in. After mentioning the villa was inadequately supplied (no soap in the bathrooms upon check in), he told me to go to a convenience store! Then at the next cleaning, we were again understocked and he told me again to go buy soap. The whole point in having a full service villa is to have these sorts of conveniences and be told "I'll take care of it." Julien needs a little lesson in guest services. He also said he'd help us find a boat trip but never replied. I found one myself by no small feat. There is a maid's flat attached to the villa and the housekeeper spent literally 6 hours cleaning each time she came and also used the flat to make meals for other villas. She also spent a great deal of time chatting to various lookie-loos from around the community, which aggravated us. The lack of privacy was off putting and the villa manager's feedback was "it is what it is, it takes time to clean."
Next time, I'd just ask for Stuart or request a different manager. This is a 5 Star villa with 2 Star service. Haggling over towels and miniature bars of soap? Please...
