We stayed in Sala Khao Yai for 3 nights in September. Reason for booking the hotel was our experience Sala Phuket last year and were absolutely blown away.
Sala Khao Yai is located on a hill top with absolutely stunning views. There is a beautiful infinity pool with view over the valleys. The villas are beautifully decorated with views over the mountains, private pool and a rooftop terrace with a huge round loungechair where you can enjoy the scenery. The restaurant on top of the hill is really nice to sit and look around. The staff were absolutely very friendly , as usual they did not understand English very well but they did their best.
However there were a few things which would need improvement, mainly the restaurant as the food was pretty poor. And nestled on top of a hill, there is not a town nearby where you can go and have dinner. The resort is very small (7 rooms only) so we did not expect a wide variety in the menu, but we did expect good quality as we had in Phuket.
It was also quiet difficult to make reservations as the staff did not respond to my email and I had to remind them I really wanted to book a room serveral times before they answered.
I gave the feedback to the management and they were really great about it and responded within 1 day they would investigate and get back to me. They mentioned they would like into my feedback and work on improvements and knowing the Phuket quality, they will manage to bring the hotel up to higher standards.
Some tips in general for visiting the area:
1) Bring a car, either your own or rent one in Bangkok. If you are without a car you are helpless and need to arrange for a driver who offcourse tries to rip you off, does refuse to drive you to place further away and only understands English when it is convenient for him
2) Ensure you bring a detailed map of the area so you know where you can go to and how far it is