KB Resort Koh Chang Review

I was so thoroughly occupied with petting the gentle-eyed, silky black dog’s fur that I didn’t notice the KB Resort Koh Chang employee approaching me until he announced, “That dog is dumb.”

Confused, and a little indignant on my new buddy’s behalf, I replied, “He seems very nice to me!”

The employee just reiterated, “He’s dumb.”

I was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to even respond to that. At that point, the man must have sensed my confusion. In the slow, clear way one speaks to someone across a language barrier, he tried again: “That - dog - is - named - Dahm.” (Somehow, it was much clearer this time that he wasn’t saying “dumb”!)

Seeing my comprehension, he went on to explain, “It means ‘black’ in Thai. Because the dog is black.”

Me hanging out with my buddy, “Dumb” the black dog.

For us, the most memorable part of our stay at the KB Resort Koh Chang was hanging out with the dogs: “Dumb” and his friends Seven and Eleven (so named because they like to follow guests to the nearby 7/11). When you go stay there, give them a pet for me!

KB Resort Koh Chang Review

We stayed at KB Resort Koh Chang for a week.

Our overall impression of KB Resort Koh Chang was excellent. It’s situated right on the beach, so you have easy water access. With that said, we recommend being very careful in the water there, as there are sea urchins… I found this out the hard way!

The grounds are beautiful, and very well-maintained. It’s a gorgeous and tranquil escape from the bustling main street a block away.

Rooms at KB Resort Koh Chang

Our Score: 9/10

The rooms are spacious and comfortable, tastefully designed with Thai influences. We were in two rooms in the main hotel and didn’t have the opportunity to stay in a bungalow, so I can’t personally speak to those, but they looked similarly tasteful and comfortable from the glimpses I saw.

If you stay in the hotel part, I would recommend asking for a room on one of the upper floors. These rooms each have their own balcony. The ground-floor rooms have little patios, too, but they’re immediately adjacent to the main pathway through the resort, so there isn’t much privacy.

View of our balcony in the main hotel at KB Resort Koh Chang.

The beds were comfortable, the towels were big enough (if you’ve traveled much, you know the discomfort of using hand-towel-sized things as bath towels!), the water pressure and temperature were great, and the private balcony was awesome.

The only thing I would change--and this is a giant undertaking, so I can’t blame them for not doing it--would be to better soundproof the rooms. We were fine most of the time, but a family with two cranky toddlers stayed next door to us for a couple nights, and we were very aware that they were there.

Breakfast at KB Resort Koh Chang

Our Score: 8/10

The free breakfast at KB Resort Koh Chang is surprisingly good with a variety of Western and Thai options. My only complaint is that it’s pretty light on healthful vegetarian choices other than fruit and cereals. If you enjoy splurging on calories in the morning, though, you’ll love it!

My favorite offering (which they didn’t have every day) was a variation on pad see ew. Of course, you’ll also find coffee, juices, and other breakfast staples.

To get the free breakfast, you need to turn in the breakfast tickets that you get when you check in. This can be a little confusing, because sometimes nobody is there to take your ticket. Just bring it with you and be prepared to hand it over if someone shows up.

Restaurant at KB Resort Koh Chang

Our Score: 5/10

The attached restaurant was, unfortunately, the low point of our stay at KB Resort Koh Chang.

We found that the food itself was actually pretty good! Not the best Thai food we’ve ever had (probably because it was tweaked to suit Western palates, so if you prefer your curries mild and sweet, you’re likely to love it), but good enough that we were satisfied with it.

The food at KB Resort Koh Chang’s restaurant was decent, but the location was unbeatable!

The problem was the service. Everyone was super nice and friendly, but the service was sometimes incredibly slow, and we often ended up with missing or incorrect items. Even when we did get everything we ordered, it didn’t come out at once. For example, two people’s main dishes might arrive, followed by the shared appetizer, very slowly followed by the final main dish. It felt like most times that we ate there, either some people’s food got cold waiting, or someone didn’t even get to start eating until everyone else was just about done.

Trying to pay was a similar experience. Several times, it took quite a while to track someone down to get our check and charge it to our room, even when we got up and went searching for them.

With that said, the restaurant’s location is absolutely unbeatable. Some of the tables are right on the beach, so you can eat with your feet in the sand while watching elephants walk by and listening to the tiny waves lapping against the shore.

Also, the resort is within easy walking distance of the main street. If you don’t want the long waits or chaotic results of eating at the on-site restaurant, it’s super simple to just walk to all sorts of other restaurants.

Massage at KB Resort Koh Chang

Our Score: 10/10

Let me start with a disclaimer: I hate massages. I’m one of those people who is incapable of relaxing (even while drunk), and having a stranger’s hands on my half-naked body in a public place is anything but a relaxing experience for me.

With that said, the massages we had on-site at KB Resort Koh Chang were the best I’ve ever had. There was just enough pain that they felt productive, but not so much that they were actual agony. (I’m looking at you, torturous foot massage place at Chatuchak Market!) The massage flowed well, with most of the painful prodding and stretching at the beginning before it melted into relaxing and loosening massages.

Throughout the experience, I felt like my masseuse was competent at what she was doing; any pain I felt seemed like the productive kind rather than the “what are you doing, my arm doesn’t bend like that” kind. (If that makes any sense!)

At the end, my usually rock-tense shoulder muscles were actually relaxed for several hours. That’s a pretty impressive feat.

Service at KB Resort Koh Chang

Our Score: 9/10

The only complaints I have about service at KB Resort Koh Chang were with the restaurant, as outlined above. All the other service we received was amazing--and the restaurant employees were really sweet and kind, too, when we could find them!

The housekeepers were quick, efficient, and unobtrusive. When we had an accidental breakage in the room, they were kind and quickly took care of it without coming across as annoyed (maybe they could just tell how terrible we already felt and didn’t want to add to it!).

The front desk staff were equally sweet. Check-in and check-out were smooth and simple. When I had an encounter with a sea urchin, the women at the front desk jumped into action, quickly taking care of the situation with a fascinating local first aid technique. (More on that in another post!)

In Summary:

We loved our stay at KB Resort Koh Chang. If we ever make it back to this island, we’ll definitely stay there again. I can only hope that “Dumb,” Seven, and Eleven are still around!