The biggest positive about the Banyan Tree is that the property is absolutely stunning. The views are incredible, the pools are incredible, the villas are incredible.
We visited the Banyan Tree Samui as part of our honeymoon in Thailand. We were upgraded upon arrival from a Hillside to a Spa villa. We really appreciated the upgrade as the view was wonderful.
On the downside, there was construction being performed on the villa directly to the left of ours. This made for some noise but it wasn't a big issue. Our hot tub also didn't work for the majority of our time there. The hotel though was very dilligent about having people out there to try and fix it. Finally on the last night, it worked! And we stayed in it pretty late that night!
We loved the interior of our villa - the living area, bedroom, bathroom, shower, pool were all great. The rose petal bath was very nice and we loved the view from the shower. Our villa host, Reyna was very nice and set up a honeymoon surprise for us when we checked in. The breakfast was really good and we loved the view from the restaurant.
We actually thought the buggies were kind of fun but we could see how not everyone would want to ride in them. They showed up so fast after calling for one. Although we had some near-collisions with other buggies.
The spa was also really nice. We booked it when they had a discount on a massage + rainforest experience. Without the discount we probably would not have enjoyed it as much as there are so many other spas on the island.
We thought the Banyan Tree was beautiful but it just didn't quite have the same feel as other resorts we had stayed at that really gave you a personal experience. Perhaps some of the staff didn't speak much English - or maybe they just did not want to talk to us (not sure!). But it didn't have a warm and inviting feel. We probably would have booked an on the beach dinner or something special but this wasn't really suggested or discussed. So, we were happy to leave the property and have dinner out most nights. We did go to lobster night at the hotel. The lobster was very good, but we were the only people in the restaurant. It was a little strange. For the price, we decided it was not worth another try and we ate out for the rest of our trip. Although we did have lunch down by the beach and this was really great. The drinks were all very good.
The service was always great. We would recommend this hotel but felt like something was missing.
Other resorts we stayed at while in Samui brought canapes every afternoon and were always surprising us with fresh fruit smoothies and different drinks throughout the day. This didn't really happen here at the Banyan Tree. There were cookies left in the room at turn down, though which were pretty good and little "gifts."
Overall it is probably the most beautiful resort in Samui. But there are certainly a lot of options in the area. We would go back.