InterContinental Sanya Resort — Hotel in Sanya City

I have a soft spot for this hotel despite its shortcomings. It needs to up its game though, because standards have slipped since last time I was there in 2013.

What’s good? Well, the setting, the gardens, the pools, the Club Lounge building, the public spaces and toilets, the guest rooms, the bathrooms and the housekeeping. The food in the restaurants we tried was also good, but where are all the customers? We ate in Mediterrano and Asian Village on several occasions – usually around 8-8:30pm – but there were never more than a couple of tables occupied. Maybe people eat earlier?

What’s not so good? Unfortunately, consistency and service standards. What bothers me might not bother others, but this is an InterContinental resort after all, so why shouldn’t I expect InterContinental standards?

Some of my gripes might be trivial, but I’ll air them anyway then the reader can decide:

Arrival was perhaps a warning of what was to follow service-wise! I booked, several weeks in advance, a (pricey!) hotel limo to collect us from the Airport. I received an e-mail confirmation, but obviously nobody told the driver, because the limo never showed. We ended up sorting our own transport. Then when we checked in, we were twice shown to the wrong room! Third time lucky though and we eventually got the Club room we had booked.

Standards in Club InterContinental have undoubtedly gone downhill since our last visit! I can’t actually think of any aspect of our Club experience this time that was better than in 2013.

The staff in Club are now passive rather than proactive. They seem to lack training or direction, or both. I actually ‘caught’ two staff smoking in the customer toilets one evening! Unthinkable!

They stand against the back wall of Club looking smart while dirty plates, cutlery, glasses etc, pile up on the tables, uncollected. One evening we went in at 5:30pm and stayed until 8:00pm and our table wasn’t cleared once.

They don’t seem to notice when drinks are running low. I’m convinced some things are even rationed! For example: there were never more than 3 or 4 paper napkins in the holder on our table. I had to ask several times for more. They always had some, so why not fill the holders?

Red wine seemed to be the most popular drink in Club, but stock was usually very low. On our penultimate night they completely ran out of red wine during evening cocktails. It took them half an hour to ‘find’ some more. Unbelievable!

It appeared to us that the evening Club experience has changed from ‘cocktails and canapés’ to an ‘all-you-can-eat buffet’. Maybe that’s the direction they want to take it, but it might help explain why the restaurants are empty!

Speaking of restaurants, we enjoyed the food in Mediterrano and Asian Village, despite feeling lonely! Staff were pleasant and efficient. However, I don’t particularly enjoy chilled red wine. And if you eat on the terrace at Mediterrano, be warned that the lights go out at 9pm!

The Beach Bar is fun, but the staff in there avoid eye contact. Be prepared to flag someone down or shout to get attention, even when you are sitting at the bar with an empty glass. And they take the chilled red wine thing to a whole new level, by serving it in a frozen glass!

We went to the Lobby Lounge one evening for a nightcap after dinner Asked for the wine list, which was duly brought, and then we were told there was no red whatsoever! This despite being the Lounge being less than 100 metres away from 2 restaurants and a bar! No wonder it was completely empty!

We didn’t let these things spoil our holiday at all. In fact the lack of attention to detail was beginning to provide us with a source of amusement in the end! Almost every day there was a ‘Fawlty Towers’ moment!

In my opinion, this hotel has fallen below the usual InterContinental standard. Not because of the surroundings, but because of the service. It felt more like an all-inclusive resort than somewhere 'exclusive’. Maybe that’s what the majority of their clients want, but not me I’m afraid.

If you’re unfazed by my grumbles I would recommend you stay here because it is beautiful. Just don’t expect slick service and...

We spent an amazing 7 nights at the IC Sanya Resort on a family vacation. The service was impeccable from start to finish, extremely welcoming staff with a genuine interest in taking care of all our needs (level of spoken English was very good!). We were met by the guest services manager Bert on arrival who immediately made us feel at home. What really sets this hotel apart from others is the entire staff team, they are dedicated to delivering the very highest level of customer service and making you feel very special, I cannot praise them enough. The resort is well organized, not overly busy, with plenty of space to relax. We upgraded to club access, which gives you use of the club house lounge and a large private pool area; I highly recommend this. The club lounge staff/chefs are amazing, food and drinks are plentiful, and the staff were extremely accommodating for our specific dietary requirements with nothing too difficult for them. Always serving with a smile!

Rooms are spacious and modern, stunning bathrooms, astonishing sea views, cleaning staff are great (morning plus turndown service)

Breakfast can be taken in the main restaurant or the club house, both were fantastic, with everything you can imagine available. The breakfast manager (Venture) was extremely courteous and helpful, he really looked after all our needs. Eggs Benedict prepared to order in the club house was superb. Freshly squeezed juices, local mango, papaya, passion fruit all very delightful!

The manager in charge of catering (Rachel) was brilliant, she helped design specific menus for us with an east/west blend for our children. We tried the Brew Factory, and the Ocean Pavilion restaurants, both fantastic with fresh fish/seafood perfectly prepared. I also highly recommend booking the Ocean Pavilion buffet (Friday + Saturday), huge selection and all premium quality (we particularly enjoyed the grilled seabass, various sashimi/sushi). You dine by the beach/sea with fantastic views and live music.

Tennis courts were great (need to book), transport in and out very easy, we visited Luhuitou scenic area nearby, and enjoyed some watersports (jet skiing etc) nearby. I was able to find all the information I needed through Bert who was extremely helpful.

I must mention and thank the General Manager (Weifang) who we met, she was extremely personable and genuinely interested in creating the best possible experience for all the guests. She has created a fantastic team and environment for the staff and guests, ultimately that’s what set’s this hotel apart from many others I have experienced.

Overall, I highly recommend this hotel if you are looking for high levels of service and a more tailored / individual experience, opposed to the usual generic mass resort and being amongst the crowds. We had a great time and...

(Tried to upload pics but not successful)

Disappointing experience during our stay as our anniversary trip. Although staff was quite friendly and Jenny at the reception provided hospitable service, the hotel itself wasn’t the greatest place to stay.

The layout and settings itself is not on par with a resort. The lobby lounge looks cheap and doesn’t provide very good service. There is no view at all at that place. Sitting there you would feel like u are being at the lobby cafe at one of the commercial buildings - not relaxing and pleasant at all.

Direct access to the beach is ok. However depend on what you are expecting the beach is not a one that you can swim comfortably in due to the coarse sand and rocky bed of the sea. Maybe I missed it but it doesn’t seem to have facilities for washing your feet before going back to the room.

Maintenance of the rooms in the hotel was the weakest among all the intercontinental I have been to. Mould can be found in the bathing areas (see picture). Serious scratch on the floor can be found, and some of the appliances are out of order. We could see many workers are working very hard to maintain all the fountains and garden areas of the property - but to me, instead of paying attention to all those superficial work, more attention should be paid to upgrade the facilities in the room e.g. there is a bathtub in the room but not bath salt was provided as in other IHg hotels. For other facilities, we were very disappointed when we realised that in an “resort” of this price range, this hotel doesn’t have a sauna room. The only thing they have was a steam room, which is located separately from the changing room and in the Spa section - a little weird design. Swimming pools were mediocre compared to many other resorts, not too bad but not impressive at the same time. The so called diving pool is already out of service.

Lastly what made the trip a more unpleasant one was the cleaning service. We were shocked when we saw the one-time sandals were actually USED out of the bag (see picture), which is totally gross…..This might be an isolated case but you can tell from this that the management has not been paying enough attention to the overall room maintenance and cleaning service.

All in all, this hotel first of all should not be called a resort. It would be a nice place to stay for a business trip since it has nice view from many of the rooms - provided that the room are renovated and upgraded. However, if you were like us who expected a relaxing holiday, beach and sunshine, I would NOT recommend this hotel. It was a disappointing stay for us. A reposition of this hotel would be very much needed and an overall upgrade would be necessary before it can be on par with a real...