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Region: Southern Cambodia> Province: Sihanoukville> Location: Ochheuteal Beach
Coasters Bungalows Bar and Restaurant
Woefully overpriced
Serendipity Beach
Sihanoukville Province
Tel: (012) 752 181
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Description
This comfortable guesthouse was once a great choice with a decent selection of wooden bungalows scattered over the hillside behind their small restaurant, but in 2004/2005 Coasters substantially upgraded to a large concrete set-up (though some of the wooden huts remain) and as a result has lost just about all of the appeal it once had. Their beachfront rooms are woefully overpriced, with rates as high as $50 a night (though they did knock it down to $25 in a blink of an eye), and the rooms further back are also very overpriced at $25. If you don't mind paying these rates, you'll get a very clean though sparsely decorated aircon room. The plumbing was also dubious, with the hot water in the seemingly brand new $50 room not working. The second problem here is the new restaurant, which while spacious and very comfortable, has uniformally appalling service -- and we mean appalling.
Bungalow fan private b'room
12 USD (low season)
12 USD (high season)
$15 for a big hut
Superior - Double
25 USD (low season)
25 USD (high season)
Deluxe- Double
50 USD (low season)
50 USD (high season)
beach-view
Added to Travelfish on: 15th August, 2004
Last visited or updated on: 18th April, 2005
Guest feedback
excellent food - 
By ionaman ( total comments: 4 
) Stayed here 11/2007
Just had the nicest food since we started our travels here and service was excellent. Didnt stay here, just ate here but highly recommended for food
Second Visit -
By Iloligi ( total comments: 2 ) Stayed here 3/2007
I walk into the restaurant at Coasters and an enormous peace comes over me.. It is hard to describe, but it is an open concept with wood paneling and quiet music in the background. The ocean is calmly rushing in the background, and in the sparse light I can see it less than 10 meters away. What a place!
Great Location, Staff, Service and Food -
By Iloligi ( total comments: 2 ) Stayed here 12/2006
I stayed at Coasters from Christmas Eve until January 7th. Its fair to say that leaving was very difficult indeed. We have been travelling in Indochina for 7 months and have stayed in many hotels and guest houses and Coasters has been nominated our Number One for Great Location, Staff, Service and Food. Considering how busy they are the managemt here really have their act together....not easy by all accounts. We spent 3 days on bamboo Island at the Bamboo Beach bungalows which was a dream....the boat leaves every morning from Coasters and returns every evening....truly a great place to chill out for the road weary traveller.
Not a great experience - 
By luciehayes ( total comments: 5 ) Stayed here 12/2006
Just back from 4 nights at the Coasters Hotel in Sihanoukville and have to say it's not been great.
On the positive side, the location is great - right on the beach and next door to a great restaurant (Bayon) that I would wholeheartedly recommend.
However, the hotel itself went from bad to worse! I'm not usually one to write a bad review but feel a bit forced into it this time. When we arrived, the promised bus station pick up didn't appear, not a big problem at all, but not a fantastic start. We got to the hotel and asked if we'd missed the pick up and the manager just shrugged and said he'd forgotten. Again, I wouldn't have minded at all if he'd said sorry.
The room we'd booked by e-mail wasn't available so they moved us into a different room for the first night - again, not really a problem but after travelling for 10 days and 6 hotels I was looking forward to unpacking for once!
The next day we were moved into our actual room and it seemed OK, until the water cut out. These things happen - there was a leak somewhere near our room, but after a day on the beach with sand everywhere it wasn't ideal. They fixed it that night, but the next morning, after deciding to have a short lie-in, we found it was off again. When we asked about this, the manager again shrugged. Every time we tried to speak to the manager it became clear he didn't want to know. We actually spent 10 minutes waiting at the desk while he sat behind it doing paperwork and counting money. He obviously didn't want to hear about any problems!
The room itself was OK - nice balcony with a sea view. But the mosquito net had huge holes in and had been repaired with Elastoplast. The double bed seemed really small and the blanket didn't reach the sides.
When we got back to our room each day we found it hadn't been made up. Again, not a huge problem but for $30USD a night you sort of expect clean towels, a roll of toilet paper and a general sweep of the floor if nothing else. (Bearing in mind the typical rate in the area is about half this).
We tried to eat in the restaurant one night and although there were 3 staff sitting chatting at the bar we gave up after spending 10 minutes trying to get a menu - similar story each night trying to get a drink, no wonder we went next door!
Overall, I would say the place is OK (we may have been alone in our bad experiences) and the location superb, but the staff are inattentive to the point of rudeness. It is unclear whether they are lazy or simply suffer from a lack of any training. They made several mistakes throughout our stay and initially overcharged us by $35at the checkout (which took half an hour, as there was nobody at the desk). What we had hoped to be a bit of a luxury stay during 3 months backpacking ended up being the worst hotel we've stayed in.
Not recommended.
We welcome any management response. We review on trip advisor and travelfish and this is the first negative account we have made.
The dont go drunks and druggies - 
By lghcih ( total comments: 2 ) Stayed here 9/2006
I was at Coasters when the the author of the previous comments,DONT GO by FLOW, was there. Her statement that ''But it seemed to be the only place where there were some people around so we felt safer'' sums it up. Coasters is by far the best and most popular place to stay ...eat ...drink and socialise in Sihanoukville and it didnt get that way because Don the Irish proprieter is a con man or a screamer or a Khmer rough, what utter nonsense. Flow...the constantly drunken englishwoman caused trouble from the moment she arrived up to the time when she sneaked off before she discussed her bill with anybody at 5.45 the following morning. There are many witnesses to this event. her mail is a lie and a scam. Poor Flow. Check into AA you poor girl.
Coasters Convert -
By elcordell ( total comments: 3 ) Stayed here 4/2006
Its the best place I have stayed in in Cambodia....period. I arrived with 3 or 4 days in mind and left 11 days later ( 3 of those days were on the islands ) Its about as relaxing a place as you can find. Its becomming the artist hangout in SV,great banter and delicious food. Staff were very friendly....check out Socheat the barman and Nee the waitress with her
kneeless jeans. Also the manager Ravuth. The cambodians are beautiful people.
Nice view from the huts - 
By BJORTVEDT ( total comments: 4 ) Stayed here 10/2004
I liked the place a lot. The huts is just the kind of home that made me slow down and relax. Serendipity is a wonderful place to calm down, great view from the huts. It's quiet at night, but still close to everything going on in along the beach. And Don is a nice man. I stayed before the upgrading, but atmosphere can't all be gone?
Loved it -
By fletcherballiet ( total comments: 2 ) Stayed here 11/2004
The location is unbeatable. You can have a quiet evening or go next door and party at Eden. The lounge area is supremely comfortable and great for reading, relaxing. everyone who works there is excellent. We loved don's Leonard Cohen every morning and Ravuth was so helpful and knowledgeable as well as the rest of the staff. the rooms were very clean and breezy. coasters RULES!
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