Wonderful quiet spot

located on a very quiet part of koh yao yai, this hotel is for those seeking quiet as there is literally no other adjacent resorts or town to speak of nearby. you have wonderful western facing sunset views over phuket and a more or less private beach. the rooms are fine, we stayed in a superior villa right next to the pool area and it was fine. you won't get 6 star service from most of the local staff, but gino the gm and scott the chief chef are incredibly friendly, helpful and service oriented to making your stay relaxing and enjoyable. the island is predominantly muslim so there is no beer or liquor for sale outside the hotel and there is very little of a town to speak of, so most all your meals are eaten at the hotel (thank goodness scott is there and customizing the menu). if you are expecting extremely new accomodations and a glitzy stay, this is probably not the spot, but it does feel incredibly comfortable and authentic. it's down a dirt road but has great ais mobile phone connection (don't think other carriers worked), somewhat ok wifi in the public areas ... no internet in rooms to speak of. chill, no frills, comfy spot with very few tourists around. have to take a speedboat from phuket to get there and on windy days there can be very big waves and can get quite choppy. we had two very small kids so i would suggest trying to get on a bigger boat if it feels windy and/or sit in the middle of the speedboat cabin. we caught the last boat out and they packed it probably far above capacity. didn't feel very safe with small kids and a very windy day. fortunately it was only about 25 minute trip. otherwise was no problem. going over on speedboat was not a windy day and didn't feel too bad. rent motorcycles from the shops outside the main entrance for 250 baht a day and you can cruise around the island and/or go over to koh yai noi which we didn't get to but apparently has restaurants or other things to see.