Koh Russey Resort

Very good relaxing place in cambodia

The resort location and the stylish rooms are the good things to look forward to in this resort. We stayed for 3 nights in the 1 Bedroom beach pool villa with breakfast. The breakfast buffet had sufficient choice and when asked the staff did accommodate for dietary choices. The staff though completely undertrained for the role in hospitality are friendly and serve you with a genuine smile on their faces in keeping with their culture and customs. The downside is that the prices you pay for the whole stay does not compare to the service you are given. It is a 5 star resort accommodation and we have certain expectations when the price tag is higher, which we didn’t mind paying. But after our stay we felt cheated because besides the room with a pool by the beach, we did not receive any of the service that one would expect for a five star resort nor one with the hefty price tag. We talked with the manager “Samanta” and gave feedback about the undertrained staff, lack of English speaking staff, understaffing in general and the poor quality of the food. When we had an issue with the food, they did not charge us for it though we would have preferred to have had a nice dinner with quality food to round out our holiday experience. The manager was understanding and listened to our concerns and that helped a bit. She admitted that the staff are all new hires and still needed to undergo intensive training to bring to the required level which takes time. While I sympathize with the manager’s situation, i however absolutely disagree that the onus is on the customer to bear with the fact that the management did not train the staff before the season started. We did not pay a heftily discounted rate for our stay so why should we as the customer have to suffer for the poor management of resources. That is my biggest grievance with this stay. I was unsure whether i wanted to waste my time by writing a review but i think the hotel management should take corrective actions to improve the overall experience and bring it in line with the price that they charge their customers.

This place is close to paradise. Reading some comments beforehand we were -like others- a bit bewildered. After having stayed at the koh russey for four nights in a two bedroom beachfront suite, we are nothing but amazed. It's a tranquil haven with beautiful architecture and views, wonderful staff, an exceptionally large and gorgeous pool, good food (esp breakfast) etc. etc. 100% recommendable. Thanks for everything.

We debated whether this was worth 2 stars or 3 and feeling generous we have given three stars. In summary, we would not recommend this place - there must be better chill resorts to stay at. Starting with the positives: We had a lovely beach view apartment which was spacious, well equipped and had a private pool and a great view of the sea. The views from the two restaurants were lovely and the restaurant and bar service was very good. Now the negatives: you are stuck in the resort with very little to do apart from walk along the litter strewn beach. We asked about walking around the rest of the island but were told that this was not possible. The menus don’t change and with few guests they alternate between the two restaurants for dinner. The menu selection is very poor and the quality of the food is awful - worst club sandwich I’ve ever seen and beef and squid were tough. We asked about trips but they were eye-wateringly expensive and didn’t sound as good as similar trips that we had already experienced in Cambodia. The beach is strewn with litter and the resort’s response to another guest about regularly removing litter is completely untrue - we saw plastic bottles, lighters, plastic rope and a load of other debris still in the same places for three days. It’s not an attractive resort - the architecture is dreadful. The photos on their website make it look great but, whilst genuine, they give a misleading impression. The resort looks tired and despite several people meeting us on the jetty, we didn’t feel particularly welcome.

TL;DR - Do not go here As this will be longer review, I will give little bit of context. We are traveling couple (35M, 31F) and we are usually seeking for retreat like resorts with beach, private pool, villas and gym. As this was our first time in Cambodia, we were seeking for the good resorts to finish our trip including Angkor and Phnom Penh and Koh Russey was in filling in our criteria as it was advertised as tropical retreat, with lot of activities around. We stayed in beach view villa for 11 nights, with price around $350 / night so in comparison to Vietnam or Thailand it was bit pricier, so we had some expectations. Boy, were we wrong. I will start with the positives as it will be shorter. Location on the private island is absolutely amazing, besides us, there were max 6 other people for 1,5km long pristine beach, this was exactly the retreat we have been seeking for. First days, the beach was stunning and clean, later it got very messy and was not taken care of. Staff was very friendly and even nobody speaks English, we managed to get by. Now for the negatives. When we arrived, we felt literally trapped (vibe was similar to “Get Out” movie) - you immediately see that money and profit is the first and customer is not even on the list. Almost everywhere, you are faced with subtle messages about fines when you bring your own food, about just “one hot drink” at the breakfast and as there are not any options to get food besides one restaurant in the resort the prices are out of this world (I am thankful for our intermittent fasting as breakfast are enough for us) - in room delivery (100m) club sandwich for $25. Also, we planned our trip with possible activities in mind and on the web page resort got lot of activities, which can be done so we wanted to go “Island Hopping”, which is priced around $150 / pax with minimum 2 people. When we wanted to book, price was suddenly $1,000 after discount from $1,300, so we went just for the plankton night boat trip - 60 mins for $250. I do not have problem with paying for the services, but want to be treated fairly, or at least based on the pricelist. Secondly, resort is definitely not 5 stars - it is very old, not taken care of, rust and dirt is everywhere, we had to ask staff to clean our room on arrival as it smelled like public toilets, gym is there but 4 out of 6 cardio machines are broken or not working. I need to stress out that staff working in resort was amazing and without it, our stay would be much worse (we were even thinking about leaving after 3 days). I believe that current situation is caused by very poor management of the resort, who does not understand that “milking” few customers will not do the trick and that there is difference between covering fixed costs and variable costs pre guest. - during our stay out of approx. 30 available rooms max 5 were occupied. Do not make mistake of coming here.

Samantha the manager and Cholsa had nothing to say after I asked to speak with her regarding a horrible transfer experience despite promises otherwise. I wasn't informed of any service recovery being offered and no apology was provided despite being given the opportunity. Disappointing "welcome" to a supposedly five-star resort you pay a premium for.