Ban's Diving Resort

Had a great time doing my first diving star. Can't say i had a great time at the hotel itself. I had hundreds of bites from bed bugs at night because the bed sheets were dirty and the room was not clean even after room service.

⚠️ BED BUGS // DORM REVIEW ⚠️ I stayed in the 6 female dorm room (D4) for 4 nights and was bitten all over my arms and legs by bed bugs. The receptionists quickly dismissed by complaint about bed bugs and moved me to D7, a 16 mixed dorm. I requested a refund but only received 300 of the 500 THB typically charged for that night. There was no reimbursement for the express laundry I had to do to eliminate bed bug eggs from my clothing. The mattresses are brown (making it hard to see the bugs), but there were blood and brown spots on my white sheets. Aside from the bed bugs, D4’s washrooms were only cleaned once in the morning, which isn’t sufficient for the number of people using them. You also cannot turn off one of the overhead lights, so a sleeping mask is necessary. On the first night, the AC was broken, and I had to report it the next morning to get it fixed. The beds have curtains, but the frames are unstable and shake whenever someone moves on the top or bottom bunk. Of my 4 months traveling in SE Asia, this was by far my worst dorm experience. I don’t understand why such a supposedly upscale resort doesn’t maintain its dorms properly or why the staff were so unhelpful. If you plan to do a dive course with Ban’s, it’s better to pay a bit more to stay somewhere that doesn’t have bed bugs (I can’t speak to their private rooms cleanliness.)

Bed bugs! After finding ants in and around my first bed, I requested to move dorms. They eventually moved me to a new dorm but found a bed bug after waking up covered in bites. The staff was really rude when I raised the issue, basically told me that I was wrong, that there were no bed bugs in the dorm **I was staying in** and blamed it on other travellers after showing them photos. That aside, mattresses are uncomfortable and bunk beds are quite wobbly. Great location and pools though.

We stayed at Hotel Bans for 5 nights with the intention of completing the Open Water Advanced course. Unfortunately, both of us came down with food poisoning and were unable to proceed with the course as planned. The hotel also did not fully refund the cost of the course. As for the hotel itself, it was by far the low point of our trip to Thailand. The beds were extremely hard, loud music played in the neighborhood until 2 AM, and the hotel staff was incredibly unfriendly. However, the worst part was the bedbugs—please see the attached photo.

Did my rescue dive with Ally and everything went well. Accommodation is not fancy, but location is fairly good. One thing I like to warn you guys is the one particular Air-con DORMITORY which I stayed two nights. The bed I slept in is filled with bedbugs. After the first night I thought it's only the mosquitoes. Second night happens again and I woke up at 4am to start search and kill bedbugs. I told the reception and was recommended changed to private fan room is ensure the rest of my nights will goes well. If you happened to find yourself waking up middle of the night feeling itchy and pain, check for bedbugs immediately.