Beautiful night view of Baan Kilee village in Samui.
After enjoying the beach next to your Thai house, you decide to have a massage at the villa's spa, and if you feel like it, you invite your friends to watch a movie about the sand, reclining on comfortable ball cushions while the villa staff brings you popcorn or your favorite cocktail.
Although it may seem like it, it is not a dream, nor is its price unattainable. Renting a luxury house on the coasts of Samui and Phuket with a cook and domestic staff is no more expensive than a five-star hotel. The key is to make all the rooms in the house profitable –sharing with friends, for example– to reach $200 per room in mid-season. The price of the houses varies depending on their size, from 2 to 8 rooms; its location, on the beachfront or inland; and services included, such as cook or masseur.
The children? If they're not exhausted after a day of kayaking and snorkeling, they'll be enjoying the Wii or watching a movie in the game room. Tomorrow is cooking class Y, When the sun's out, they can go outside to play on the giant slide or imagine adventures in the tree house where they'll have dinner later.
The pool at the Ban Kilee villa in Samui.
What has been common practice for years among movie stars and other celebrities -since Kate Moss, Mick jagger either Jude Law , and if health permits, our Duchess of Alba and his consort – has resulted in a market that continues to grow and expand on the Thai coast, available to the rest of the mortals with a sufficient budget.
The villas offer a level of privacy and exclusivity that a hotel cannot compete with. The professionalism of the villa's staff is another key element in making your vacation truly a success. Each villa has a director, shared by the smaller ones, whose sole task is to meet the needs of its guests, like the concierge of the best hotel, from reserving a table, guaranteeing a babysitter or attending to the dietary preferences of a member of the group.
Some of the most complete are Baan Puri or Ban Kilee in Samui, or WW Beach House in Phuket. All of them guarantee an unforgettable stay. So much so that when tried, it's hard not to repeat.
Thai dining room overlooking the garden of the Ban Kilee villa in Samui.