Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort — Hotel in Sanya City

This is probably one of the most beautiful hotels I've ever stayed at. The architecture and interiors are stunning. Every hall and room are meticulously designed. It's insane how gorgeous it is.||That said...it's a hotspot for photoshoots. On the day we checked in, there were at least 4 groups with professional photographers roaming around. But the hotel and grounds are so massive, and it's so not busy...so it wasn't too annoying.||Check In - 8/10 - Pretty smooth, but just ok. We don't speak Chinese, but the front desk staff spoke pretty good English. There seemed to be more scrutiny and background checks on our passports than other hotels we stayed at in China. So that took a while. Also the deposit is very high (about $1,250); higher than the cost of the 2 nights we spent there. Also usually hotels of this caliber would give you a welcome drink or have you sit - nothing like that here. Still, the rest of the experience was fine. The front desk helped book our dinners and gave us a quick overview of the hotel layout (which can be confusing at first). ||The Room - Very nice 10/10. It was large, clean, modern and comfortable. The AC/HVAC was good (good temp. and not too dry). We had a balcony and ocean view. The bathroom had a huge walk in shower with overhead rain spout, WC with Japanese style washlet, double sink vanity with chair, and separate bath tub in front of the balcony window. Amenities were good, all the basics included (no face skincare though). There was even a wardrobe space with plenty of storage and an iron. The mini fridge area included water, soft drinks, juice, beer, coffee/tea etc and some snacks. ||Food/Restaurants - 9/10 - Overall the food and service were excellent. We arrived and had Afternoon Tea at the Library bar area (very good, maybe too many sweets). The first night we had hotpot buffet at the main restaurant (delicious and great variety) and the second night we ate at the Tea House (very delicious, but we wish there was a chef's tasting. As a couple it's hard to order family style). Both mornings we had their breakfast buffet (very good, wonderful selection of both Chinese and Western options with made to order egg dishes, waffles/pancake/french toast). Yes, it was a bit expensive (more in line with prices in Stockholm or maybe NY or LA), but we expected as much since it's a resort. The quality and taste were worth it.||Pools - 9/10 - Very nice, clean and maintained. The main infinity pool is huge (like 130 meters wide). There's also a smaller indoor pool. Indoor Jacuzzis. And a family, child's pool with a small water slide and play area. It was never busy; we always found open lounge chairs, towels and bottles of water waiting for us. Sometimes there was a small food truck with snacks or ice cream. But other than that, it's a pretty simple area to just relax in. Please note that the vibe is very different than resorts in Europe, the US or Mexico...you won't find people day drinking; there's no bar by the pool/beach. Or maybe it was closed (there was a big circular concrete structure by the family pool that looked closed-just being used for storage...idk).||Beach - 7/10 - Good and bad. The sand is nice and fine. There are plenty of loungers. There's a lifeguard, roped area for swimming, and you can borrow inner tubes, surf boards and other equipment. The water temperature was pretty comfortable (even in late nov). The beach was clean...BUT - there is a lot of plastic garbage floating in the bay. At first it was fine, but then when the tide came in - it became disgusting. This is supposed to be one of the nicest beaches in China...hate to see what the other beaches are like. Apparently cargo ships just dump their garbage in the water further out...and the plastic makes it back to shore. So maybe just wear a wetsuit. ||Overall - great hotel. If you're in Sanya, this is probably the best resort as long as you're looking to just relax (no...

This is probably one of the most beautiful hotels I've ever stayed at. The architecture and interiors are stunning. Every hall and room are meticulously designed. It's insane how gorgeous it is.||That said...it's a hotspot for photoshoots. On the day we checked in, there were at least 4 groups with professional photographers roaming around. But the hotel and grounds are so massive, and it's so not busy...so it wasn't too annoying.||Check In - 8/10 - Pretty smooth, but just ok. We don't speak Chinese, but the front desk staff spoke pretty good English. There seemed to be more scrutiny and background checks on our passports than other hotels we stayed at in China. So that took a while. Also the deposit is very high (about $1,250); higher than the cost of the 2 nights we spent there. Also usually hotels of this caliber would give you a welcome drink or have you sit - nothing like that here. Still, the rest of the experience was fine. The front desk helped book our dinners and gave us a quick overview of the hotel layout (which can be confusing at first). ||The Room - Very nice 10/10. It was large, clean, modern and comfortable. The AC/HVAC was good (good temp. and not too dry). We had a balcony and ocean view. The bathroom had a huge walk in shower with overhead rain spout, WC with Japanese style washlet, double sink vanity with chair, and separate bath tub in front of the balcony window. Amenities were good, all the basics included (no face skincare though). There was even a wardrobe space with plenty of storage and an iron. The mini fridge area included water, soft drinks, juice, beer, coffee/tea etc and some snacks. ||Food/Restaurants - 9/10 - Overall the food and service were excellent. We arrived and had Afternoon Tea at the Library bar area (very good, maybe too many sweets). The first night we had hotpot buffet at the main restaurant (delicious and great variety) and the second night we ate at the Tea House (very delicious, but we wish there was a chef's tasting. As a couple it's hard to order family style). Both mornings we had their breakfast buffet (very good, wonderful selection of both Chinese and Western options with made to order egg dishes, waffles/pancake/french toast). Yes, it was a bit expensive (more in line with prices in Stockholm or maybe NY or LA), but we expected as much since it's a resort. The quality and taste were worth it.||Pools - 9/10 - Very nice, clean and maintained. The main infinity pool is huge (like 130 meters wide). There's also a smaller indoor pool. Indoor Jacuzzis. And a family, child's pool with a small water slide and play area. It was never busy; we always found open lounge chairs, towels and bottles of water waiting for us. Sometimes there was a small food truck with snacks or ice cream. But other than that, it's a pretty simple area to just relax in. Please note that the vibe is very different than resorts in Europe, the US or Mexico...you won't find people day drinking; there's no bar by the pool/beach. Or maybe it was closed (there was a big circular concrete structure by the family pool that looked closed-just being used for storage...idk).||Beach - 7/10 - Good and bad. The sand is nice and fine. There are plenty of loungers. There's a lifeguard, roped area for swimming, and you can borrow inner tubes, surf boards and other equipment. The water temperature was pretty comfortable (even in late nov). The beach was clean...BUT - there is a lot of plastic garbage floating in the bay. At first it was fine, but then when the tide came in - it became disgusting. This is supposed to be one of the nicest beaches in China...hate to see what the other beaches are like. Apparently cargo ships just dump their garbage in the water further out...and the plastic makes it back to shore. So maybe just wear a wetsuit. ||Overall - great hotel. If you're in Sanya, this is probably the best resort as long as you're looking to just relax (no...

Just got back from a 2 night stay at this property and it has far exceeded my expectations as a long time Globalist and Hyatt hotel explorer in China.||||First, this hotel is magnificently built and maintained. It's massive and feels like an architectural design masterpiece. There are Instagram worthy photo spots almost everywhere you look inside, not to mention the natural beauty of the Sunny Bay and outdoor pool areas, which are stunning. Yes, this tends to attract the social media influencers (or "wang hong" in Chinese) who are not only hogging up the photo spots, but also typically bring 2-3 of their camera-men along, so the hotel at times will feel a little bit less private and crowded because of them. Not a huge deal as you can simply ignore them. Note: the hotel is still in a gated off private area of Sanya with its own private beach, so you're already shielded from 99% of the huge typical tourist crowds of the city.||||Second, if you search this hotel on Chinese social media and travel booking apps, you're going to see a TON of negative reviews and reports of incidents of bad service, poor room condition, awful experience, etc. Going into this stay, I was definitely concerned. But I quickly realized how exaggerated the negative reviews were, and now suspect foul play in many of the negative reviews written. Having lived in China for 10 years, here's my take on why so many negative reviews pop up for this property:||1) This is an expensive hotel by Chinese standards, so the typical Chinese guest who rarely stay at properties in this price range, are going to expect a heavenly palace-like experience for the money they paid.||2) Consumers in China are highly demanding of service people in general. Anything less than bend-the-knee type of service is going to offend them (ok I'm exaggerating here but it's not as far as you think from reality).||3) I wouldn't be surprised if some of the bad reviews originate from competitor properties. There are third-party contractors businesses can hire for cheap to generate this kind of bad press. And this type of malicious competition exists in almost every industry in China.||4) A big draw of this property is its architecture, you end up wondering how many staff hours and dollars are dedicated to just maintaining it on a daily basis. But this isn't going to impress most Chinese guests, who are used to seeing grand displays of infrastructure even in small...