I've spent a lot of time at both, including having stayed at Samsara in an AC room (god what a deal a few years back, like 55 per night with pool view and HUGE balcony), and I think the customer service might be a bit better at Xtabi. That's important cause they're otherwise very close -- but Xtabi also has better food and drinks by a touch, too, so that's another point in Xtabi's favor. You can go to beach, roundtrip, for about five dollars, and you dont have to wait for a shuttle at an appointed time, so if you went to the beach five times over a weeklong stay, that would be 25 dollars or so, maybe a bit more, so that's the value of the shuttle ....