Hi FromDC,

What a surprise seeing my old trip report come up! And I haven't really been checking in on Fodors too much as I'm in the process of backing up all my crap as I just bought a new computer.

To answer your question, I didn't see any other villas but from everyone I spoke to who was staying there at the time, no one was complaining! I really loved that hotel and I think it's a very good choice. It's much less expensive than Aman resorts and just as nice imo. You won't be lacking for space there either. And the pool was quite large and lovely.

Laurie,
I was really happy to see SQ's price the best for the dates we needed to fly for our US trip. We're booked directly on SQ's website from NRT-LAX for our flight next week & like you mentioned in your thread, you are not allowed to reserve a seat. We have been informed though that you could check in & work on your seat assignment 48 hrs before our flight. Now I'm holding my breath on what we'll get. I'll report back later.

I dont know if its the same in the US as here (Uk) but i have always been able to reserve my seat on SQ. I just joined their frequent Flyer programme. (i guess though if you want the miles to go to another airline you wouldn't want to do that)

Thanks Laurie. Any pix of the view from your villa and do you remember the room #?

Laurie,
Based in part on your review, and what you said at that very nice NYC GTG, we too have booked the royal pita maha for August. The views look great. And, when taking all things into consideration, we hope its a good choice. Its not cheap, but its certainly cheaper than some other options. We had looked at the Alam Shanti, as Bob and Andy recommended, but they were sold out for our dates. The other Alam hotel had a large room room for us but, the bedroom area didn't have AC and we (Ok, kids especially) still wanted the views.

From DC: maybe we will see each other there?
Tengo

Tengo,
Our trip is mid-October, so I will be interested in hearing about your experience. Did you try to book a specific pool villa or are you going to look at different options when you arrive?

DC:
I think they have only two types of rooms, the Healing Villas (I believe), down by the river, and all the other rooms. We booked the standard room and I think I asked for something not too far from the lobby. I guess I can email them closer to my departure.
Tengo

FromDC,

I do have pics of the room but I've pretty much wiped my hard drive clean since I'm in the process of changing over to a new computer. I'll be setting up the new computer this coming weekend so I'll put some pics up after I get them on the new machine. Just do me a favor and top this every now and then so I don't forget!