Sheraton Haikou Resort — Hotel in Haikou City

With China borders locked, our only choice is to take a holiday in China when we would otherwise be outside. Found Sheraton in Haikou, and photos and reviews looked good. But sorely disappointed. I struggled about reviewing, because the price is quite low (should I complain?) but also because its a Sheraton, I expected a Sheraton. But was more greeted by a 2 star Chinese hotel. ||||We were 5, and so took up 2 rooms which I booked via Ctrip.com||||Check-In||Booked a week before arrival and also called to ask for interconnecting rooms as first priority. And if possible, one room with a king bed and the other with 2 singles. Still had alot of trouble trying to get this during check-in. I had to repeat many times that I called a week before to get interconnecting rooms.||||Rooms||Acceptable. But dusty floors. Found an empty water bottle with cigarette butts in the bathroom. Housekeeping missed that. ||Cabinetry old and tired. Rooms smell musty.||Mini fridge not cold at all. Housekeeping not always replenishing water everyday. ||When we got to our room, interconnecting doors were not opened. I had to call at least 4 times to get someone to come and unlock both doors. And when done, the floor between both doors were covered with a layer of dust and dead insects. The person did not bother to clean up. I had to call another 3-4 times to get housekeeping to come and clean the entire floor. Dusty. Not sure if they bothered to clean the rooms after they were allowed to open. ||||Pools||Look good on photos. But tiles are old, broken and covered with a layer of slime. ||Staff by the pool do not allow you more than 1 towel per person. Annoyed as I never had this with other resorts in Asia. We were 5, asked for 7 towels, not allowed.||We were the only foriegners. The rest were locals. With alot of shouting, screaming and spitting happening. No peace. ||||Buffet||Absolutely no joy from breakfast buffet. Quality of food, presentation, and variety is appalling. All breads are seriously under baked. Still need another 5 mins in the oven. And I mean ALL BREADS. ||||Its all just very sad. And we feel sad having to come down for breakfast (all other food choices are too far away). And we always look forward to a great breakfast whilst on holiday. No salt and pepper available. There were grinders, but empty. Cutlery placed in a metal container like you were eating in a canteen. ||||Staff don't bother to clear used plates at all. So you just pile everything up on the table. ||||Lunch||Had 1 lunch in the hotel. Limited and predictable offerings .... club sandwich, salads, etc. Nothing that brings joy. ||||For the rest of the days, we just ordered food via a food delivery platform - eleme 饿了吗||||Gym||Went to the gym every morning. Spacious and adequate for a hotel gym. ||But annoying that no one works there to control guests coming in with flip flops and children who just run all over the place and try to lift the dumbbells. ||||Overall - Not the Sheraton I expected. More Chinese than anything, and I guess the Chinese owner had a bigger say. Especially there were Karaoke boxes and pachinko machines lined along the corrridor to the breakfast place. Kitsch and tacky. ||||Will not return nor...

My family of four, including two kids 2 and 5 years old, visited Sheraton Haikou for two days. The main reason for choosing this hotel was the water slides and variety of swimming pools that I knew my kids would love! After reading some negative reviews here on Tripadvisor, I was little worried but in the end, decided to try as it was only for two nights. When we arrived at the hotel, we were a bit disappointed at first as the hotel seemed quite old and worn out, and there was a long queue at the front desk. But the front desk employees were very efficient so we did not have to wait for long to check in. We stayed at the family suite and the room was actually better than what I expected! It has all these small toys, play tent, running horse and even the toilet was designed for a toddler! We felt very much at home. The hotel appears to be older than it actually is as it sits right on the beach with all these wind and humidity, but the rooms are clean and well maintained.||||The swimming pool was amazing! We visited four of their swimming pools and the kids just loved them! All the slides and water-park-alike design shows Sheraton mainly targets family with children. Some of slides were quite long/challenging that adults enjoyed the ride as well. And the best thing is, because Sheraton has different modes of swimming pool/ jacuzzi, it was not crowded at all. Unfortunately, we could enjoy the swimming pool for only one day as lockdown started from the day after our arrival. Still, I think it was the highlight of our trip and will definitely go back!||||We tried their dinner buffet on first day, and it was quite good. Good value for money (about 168rmb per adult) and great variety of dishes. Kids loved the dessert section with a huge selection of pastries/cakes and ice creams! We tried their lounge on second day, and while the food was decent, the place was a little dark and small. Since many family with children must be coming to Sheraton, it will be nice if they can expand the lounge area or move to more spacious location with better lightings. For couples, the current lounge would just be perfect as it is quite romantic!||||In summary, I would like to recommend this hotel especially to family with children. I also would like to thank Hanks from the guest service for all his help in making our stay more enjoyable, he speaks good English so it was nice to have him! Also thanks to Tim, the restaurant manager, for the great food and service. We will be...

My stay at Sheraton Haikou almost ruined my first visit to the city.

To be fair, the location was OK, right next to the beach, despite being relatively far from all the activities in town.

Facilities were visibly old. The poor hotel apparently didn’t fare well during the pandemic, but housekeeping had tried their best to keep the room clean. That was the only highlight during my stay.

The biggest turn-off was the staff’s attitude towards service, or rather, the lack of it. As a beach resort in a tropical climate with outdoor spaces like balconies and terraces, Sheraton Haikou was ill-prepared for mosquitoes - no repellent sprays in the rooms, and when I approached the concierge, the best they could offer was some herbal essential oil that proved no more effective than alcohol wipes, and even that came in short supply as I was adamantly asked to return the bottle ASAP. Most of the time, the staff member I came across didn’t seem to know what they were doing. When four wine glasses were requested, only two came, covered in water stains. When a cafe latte was ordered, an americano was served instead. And don’t get me started on the boy at the reception desk, who, for unfathomable reasons - maybe it was a long day, maybe it was the stress from the full house - showed zero hospitality, but instead, cast hostility at me throughout our interaction at check-in. The whole situation could have been disastrous were it not for a more sensible colleague of his who came to the rescue. We all have bad days, but if emotional stability is one’s weak suit, he probably should consider career alternatives.

I seldom fuss about room upgrades. And when I was not upgraded at check-in this time, I didn’t have an issue, as I was aware that there was a concert in town, and the hotel was said to be fully booked. But when I later found out that a friend of mine who was also staying here, who was of a lower Bonvoy tier than mine, who made the reservation later than I, who checked in just after I did, who booked a room just like mine for the same dates, got upgraded to a presidential suite, I really felt acutely reminded of how LITTLE my loyalty was appreciated.

I don’t expect hotels to be perfect. Most properties have a thing or two that needs fixing. But small things add up, and it’s rare to come across a place that fails on so many ends. I am not sure if I’d visit Haikou again, but if I do, I know...