After the long 618 shopping festival, I flew to Thailand, a country with visa convenience and (relatively) cheap airfare, once more.
I’ve been to Thailand many times, but this trip was particularly extravagant. I stayed on a small island between Phuket and Krabi, booking an entire hotel for $14,000 a night (roughly RMB 100,000).
This “unwinding trip” led me to the ÀNI Thailand Private Resort, where I was invited to stay.
The ÀNI brand might not be well-known to most Chinese people because it currently only has four hotels located in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Anguilla, and the Dominican Republic.
*ANI Private Resort in the Dominican Republic
Even in the familiar territory of Thailand, the resort is situated on a smaller island called Koh Yao Noi, in the northeast of Phuket. Some translate it as “Little Long Island.”
The classic movie “The Man with the Golden Gun” from the 007 series was filmed on Koh Yao Noi.
Once you’ve chosen a hotel, your vacation plans are pretty much set, especially for an island getaway.
ÀNI has a “hard requirement”: they only serve one group of guests at a time, meaning you must book the entire hotel.
However, each ÀNI hotel is small, with a total of just 10-15 rooms. This makes it suitable for a gathering of friends and family or a small corporate retreat.
For example, at ÀNI Thailand, the minimum booking is six rooms, starting at $14,000 per night, with a five-night minimum stay.
Even if I managed to sell off two apartments, I still wouldn’t find this price cheap.
So, what does the room rate include? After landing, apart from the visa-on-arrival fee, everything else is included in the room rate—it’s an all-inclusive package in the true sense.
This means I only needed to get myself to Phuket Airport, and the hotel staff took care of everything else for me.
*Upon disembarking the plane, there were staff members to receive me, and even help with filling out visa forms.
An all-inclusive package naturally includes three meals a day. I stayed for five days and never had the same dish twice.
The cuisine ranged from Thai, Chinese, and Japanese to Italian and French. The chef was likely a top student in school, excelling in every type of dish.
Moreover, each dining table setup was different, and there were always shows and performances to accompany the meal and drinks.
So, the number of restaurants at Anyi isn’t important. In the lawn, on the beach, by the pool… anywhere with a great view can be set up with tablecloths and cutlery.
This brings us to another major feature of Anyi—personalized customization.
During your stay at the hotel, you can customize everything from what you eat to what you do, from morning till night, and all without extra charge. These are experiences that non-resident guests would find difficult to access.
*Reasonable requests like camping on an uninhabited island and having a drink will, of course, be fully satisfied.
Let me first give you an overview of the hotel, so you can get a general impression of it.
Anyi Private Resort in Thailand is built on Koh Yao Noi, located between Phuket and Krabi. You can reach the island by taking the hotel’s private speedboat from Ao Po Grand Marina in Phuket, which takes about 30 minutes.
Getting to the hotel requires a car-boat-car transfer, but the “troublesome” location means the hotel has stunning coastal scenery facing Phang Nga Bay directly.
Not only does the hotel have a direct view of Phang Nga Bay, but there is also a beach right outside its doors.
During your stay, you’re not just using the hotel but also have exclusive access to this stretch of beach and the sea.
The hotel as a whole features the typical ancient Lanna style of Northern Thailand, with iconic V-shaped sloped roofs made from a substantial amount of Thai teak wood. Rather than just a hotel, it feels more like a small, charming tropical garden.
With such innate advantages, Anyi in Thailand has a lot of potentials to offer. Even though it’s a vacation, you wouldn’t believe how busy my daily schedule was!
In the morning, there’s a coach-led Muay Thai session. Whether my combat skills improved or not is one thing, but the scenery was undeniably fantastic.
The hotel chef not only arranges your meals during your stay but also generously supports “culinary theft.”
Looking at the cups and plates laid out on the entire table, the chef really seems to be trying to teach me!
Thai massage is a national treasure of Thailand, and as long as you’re willing, you can get a spa more frequently than you drink.
The hotel also arranges uniquely Thai experiences, like batik painting and flower garland making.
One day, when I’ve got a couple of houses redeveloped and want to relax completely, I’d come to Thailand to do this.
The fire dance performance at night is also extraordinary. Photos can’t capture the lively atmosphere of the scene; it’s truly spectacular.
Especially with that (fu) lamp (ji) shining beautifully, I have to share another photo.
Since the itinerary is personalized, the range of activities naturally won’t be limited just to the hotel.
Ge Yao Island may not be very well-known among locals, but it is highly favored by luxury hotels. Besides staying at ÀNI this time, every time I fly my drone, I often find myself flying toward Six Senses behind it.
Luxury hotels haven’t brought large tourist groups to Ge Yao Island, so the small island has maintained its very pristine appearance.
In addition to the service industry, rubber is another major source of income for the islanders.
ÀNI Designs offers island tours that take you to meet the island’s richest woman, where you can learn to tap rubber in her rubber plantation.
The decked-out motorcycle team will also take you across half the island to a wooden house in the middle of the paddy fields to enjoy a field breakfast.
The ÀNI brand was founded by art patron and philanthropist Tim Reynolds, and near each ÀNI property, there is an ÀNI Art Academy of a charitable nature.
The schools have teachers who offer free art lessons to the local residents and provide full scholarships, truly teaching them how to fish rather than just giving them fish.
The small island doesn’t have an aquarium but does have a marine market called Crab Bank.
Here, many rare fish accidentally caught while fishing are rescued. You can feed the fish and interact with them.
However, I think Chinese people might not be very used to this kind of attraction, as stepping onto the fish raft might instinctively make them think it’s mealtime.
My favorite activity is taking a long-tail boat trip out to sea. In Phang Nga Bay National Park, there are countless uninhabited islands and reefs.
Monkeys with an IQ of 180 will immediately gather at the shore, even jumping onto the bow of the boat and instinctively reaching their paws into bags of fresh fruit.
The long-tail boat then makes landfall on another uninhabited island, where you can change into swimwear and swim or snorkel in the clear sea, becoming the island’s owner for 3 hours.
If you don’t want to go into the sea, it’s no problem either.
The staff will have prepared everything needed for wild camping on the beach in advance, but this high-end version even includes several kinds of drinks.
All off-island activities are accompanied by more than five hotel staff members throughout the entire trip.
This is quite different from the approach of booking an entire house in a homestay; at ÀNI, all staff members serve only our group throughout our stay, almost responding to every request we have.
Though I’ve stayed in many expensive hotels, this “booking the hotel” experience is truly unique.
The hotel has 22 staff members, resulting in a very high staff-to-room ratio.
Moreover, I feel that ÀNI’s proactive service rate is particularly high. What do I mean by this? It means they take the initiative to ask about my needs before I even speak.
The staff can memorize every guest’s name and preferences.
When I wake up at 6 AM to photograph the sunrise, I’m asked if I need water or coffee; while watching the sunset by the pool, they ask if I’d like some fries or pizza.
The bar staff have an incredible memory, asking if I’d like the same drink as the previous day, even when I can’t remember myself.
Moreover, any suggestions we make are swiftly adopted and implemented.
One day, we asked for Chinese chili sauce, and by the next morning, we were presented with not one but three types of chili sauce at breakfast.
Whatever ingredients we wished to eat were available at the dining table the next day.
ÀNI’s service also pays great attention to detail.
Whether it’s the business car for airport pickup, the long-tail boat for sea excursions, or the tuk-tuk for island tours, the hotel’s WiFi connects seamlessly throughout, with the WiFi password being the ÀNI brand slogan— “it’s all yours.”
When leaving the hotel, the food is plated, and the drinks are chilled.
The vehicle is stocked with sun hats, mosquito repellent, sunscreen, ice towels, and other essentials you might need.
A companion of ours was injured while snorkeling, and to our surprise, the medical kit was also prepared. Such meticulous preparation earns ÀNI full marks for travel readiness.
Competing on hardware is just the basic tactic of luxury hotels, but competing on service is the ultimate skill worth documenting in the guidebooks.
Our itinerary was packed each day, so we spent little time in the room, but it was certainly a comfortable stay at ÀNI.
The hotel only has ten rooms, with some differences in types. The suite I stayed in, for example, had a private pool.
Though the pool was cleaned daily, I didn’t get a chance to use it during my stay.
After all, one of the perks of booking the hotel is sharing with familiar faces. If I had to choose, I’d prefer to share the 43-meter outdoor pool facing Phang Nga Bay with friends.
Despite the differences in room types, at this price level, hardware issues are unlikely, and even the smallest room measures 91㎡.
Compared to the glittering Thai aesthetics, the interior design of ÀNI Thailand is much more subdued and timeless.
With the generous room space, areas are appropriately sectioned, and amenities doubled where necessary. The bathroom houses a large egg-shaped bathtub with ample space remaining.
Attention to detail includes providing each room with beach bags, hand fans, sun hats, mosquito repellent, and other items you might need on an island. The mosquito repellent is even homemade by the hotel.
The minibar is stocked with handmade snacks that can be replenished at any time, just like the beverages.
Laundry in the dirty clothes basket will be washed daily, packaged nicely, and placed in your room along with the turndown service—laundry service is, of course, free.
As for the time spent outside the room, if I’m not soaking in the pool, I’m drinking at the bar.
I neglected the hotel’s gym, but can you blame me?
A seaside hotel is naturally meant for lounging.
After watching five sunrises and sunsets over the ocean, on the flight home, it felt like the breathtaking scenery of Thailand was still replaying before my eyes.
Due to the complexity of reservations, An Yi is not currently available on domestic OTA platforms. You can make bookings through their official website 👉 aniprivateresorts.com.
Based on this experience, I can’t say it’s value for money, but An Yi definitely delivers quality for the price.
The all-inclusive, custom-made setup certainly provides a much better experience than simply booking an expensive hotel. It relaxed not only my body but also freed my mind. I hope my (wealthy) friends can help me unlock more An Yi resorts! 🏝️
