We have just returned from a week at this hotel. (Jan 25th 2012)
The staff were wonderful and so friendly, nothing was too much trouble. They really went out of their way for you. the food was excellent and the service to match
We stayed in one of the apartments with a shared pool (4 apartments to one large pool) This was lovely, very often we had the pool all to ourselves,...
We did take a couple of days to get used to the 'open shower and toilet' and of course there was the odd mosquito but hey, what do you expect, you are in the tropics.
The only thing I would say, and this is a personal view, the rooms are too dark and not enough mirrors. Getting ready at night with dim lights and not enough mirrors was a little difficult. I would definitely return but next time I would stick to bright white tiled bathrooms ... An amazing holiday ... i already wish i were back there

Our family of seven stayed in anantara lawana for two nights at the end of our week long stay in Chiang Mai and Samui. We booked the two bedroom pool villa and a standard room. While the pool villa did provide a beautiful ocean view, that was sadly one of the few pleasant things about our stay. Service was mediocre at best. We had to call three times over two hours to get housekeeping to come clean our room. We called a buggy to take us to our other room, but eventually gave up waiting and walked after waiting for over ten mins. So the next time, we called ahead for the buggy, but this time it came almost immediately, which was great of course, but when we asked the guy to wait for one minute while we grab our stuff, he just took off without saying anything! The hotel has two restaurants, tree tips which is supposed to be amazing but is always booked out, and ocean kiss which was horrific. We ate there twice, on the first night, they forgot one of our orders and try to tell us we did not place it in the first place. On the second night, risotto was undercooked, and one of them actually had a worm in it! Perhaps because anantara came with such a reputation, we expected too much. This is certainly no four seasons or hoshinya. We stayed two nights at Napasai before coming here, and in comparison, I would recommend Napasai, which is actually a lot cheaper.

this is a gorgeous hotel with lovely staff. The rooms are beautiful, pool and beach area divine. breakfast superb etc. I would suggest that perhaps they write a Do's and Don'ts in Chinese - I saw the most disgusting thing ever in the restaurant one morning - if the hotel doesn't advise people of different cultures that some things are unacceptable (emptying your nose in the middle of the restaurant onto the floor) then Western people won't want to come...

One word - Amazing. We booked a private villa with pool and it was the best choice.
This hotel is located in a quiet area, unlike the middle of chaweng where you can hear all the music all night. The place is just pure bliss. The breakfast is awesome, full of fresh fruits and a variety of local and international dishes, the staff are pleasant, the massages are heavenly and compliments a relaxing vacation.
The common infinity pool by the beach overlooking the sea is also a nice place to chill, and I have never seen it overcrowded.
The hotel is located just at the end of the busy chaweng road - walking distance to all the bars and restaurants. The pickup trucks, as well as taxis, are always passing by so getting a lift or being dropped off is never a problem.