Phannarai House

This is one of the most striking sets of numbers on the site. Around ฿1,098 a night, the cheapest thing we list anywhere on Samui, and a staff score of 10.0, a perfect ten for service and the joint-highest staff score anywhere on the site. Value for money 9.6. Location 9.7. Nothing on the board below 9.0.

It is a small adults-only guesthouse up behind Lamai with a pool, a garden and a sun deck. There is no restaurant, no spa, no gym, and Booking.com does not assign it a star rating at all. What it has is a pool, somewhere to sit, and by all accounts people who look after you properly.

Set it against Amari Koh Samui, a five-star on Chaweng at roughly four times the price, which scores 8.1 on value against this property’s 9.6. The gap in guest satisfaction runs the opposite way to the gap in price, which is the single most useful thing guest data does.

One honest caveat on the evidence. Agoda has only 65 reviews here against Booking’s 337, so the combined figure clears our 150 bar largely on Booking’s strength. Treat the 9.4 as the reliable number.