Crowne Plaza Fiji Nadi Bay Resort & Spa by IHG — Hotel in Viti Levu

This resort really was a mixed bag! First and foremost, the staff are absolutely amazing! Every single one of them. They all really made our stay that much better. When we arrived at the Crown Plaza Fiji from our international flight, our room wasn't ready... Now, this has never happened to me before. Even if i have arrived in the middle of the night, my room has always been ready from international bookings. But they went over and above for us here, free drinks for us each, and they gave us a free room upgrade to one of the best beachfront rooms in the entire resort for waiting the two hours that we did! Thank you so much for this, it was really appreciated.

The room was amazing.... Rainfall shower, a beautiful bath, his and her's sinks, superking bed and very nice and modern. The only thing that wasn't good was that the tv was not smart at all. You could not even cast to the tv. In 2025, at a five-star resort, this was definitely a miss. Lots of people don't watch tv on their holiday, and i can understand that, but many people would like to watch tv in the middle of the night. And to not be able to curl up in Fiji and watch Netflix was a definite downer for us. But everything else about the room was perfect.

The pools and the gardens in the resort were perfection as well. All the plants were vibrant, amazing specimens all beautifully manicured and looked after. Beside the pools were plenty of sun loungers. If you scanned the QR code on the table next to you, you could order drinks and food, and they brought it straight to you, very useful.

When it came to the restaurants, i am afraid we were disappointed here. The food was very over-priced. All of it. A 300 gram sirloin steak and chips $140! Pizza prices at La Bottega start at $50, and a fish of the day meal will set you back $80! Room service was better pricing that La Bottega, but was still $40 for fish and chips with and extra $9 for delivery to your room. Cocktails start at $25 each and go up to $34 each. Beer is $14 a glass and a Pal's spritzer was $15. A bottle of water was between $10 and $25! You can walk 100 meters down the road to the supermarket and get a 1.5ltr water for $1.30 as it should be priced. Above this supermarket is the Olive Tree restaurant and takeaways. I can highly recommend all food here. Pizza starts at $21.50 here. All food is faily priced and very nice.

Now i will talk about the location of the resort.... Most importantly, the beach..... This beach is just plain awful. It is the worst beach i have seen in my life actually. Three or four pipes flow into the sea from the resort here. The water is brown and disgusting. The sand is dark brown and dangerous as you will find metal, glass and plastic all along the beach, especially if you walk to the rocks at the end of the beach. I definitely do not recommend swimming in the water, so a nice swim or a spot of snorkelling was out of the question here! Do not choose this resort for the beach at all. You can of course pay $380 for a couple to go to malamala island or something like that, but you seem to have to pay over and above for everything here. In Rarotonga you have the beautiful lagoon just meters from every resort along Muri Beach, but definitely not here. This meant we spent more time by the pool, which as i said before was still very, very nice.

The buffet breakfast was also very hit and miss..... Upsides were tea and coffee of your choice was included. Many breads to choose from but no bagels or English muffins. The chef will make you an omelette with your choice of ingredients, and will also fry or poach eggs to your liking. But there were downsides here too... The bacon was tasteless and had the consistency of cardboard. The sausages were just processed meat, not real sausages. Weirdly, there were different indian dishes with naan and roti.... For breakfast?? There were no crackers or pate, no smoked salmon, no oysters, no sushi... All of these were available at the Shangri-La resort in Fiji.

All in all the amazing staff saved this from being worse. Thank you...

Crowne Plaza Fiji presents itself as a premium resort, it looks the part on the surface, but the reality is our 5 night stay at over $3000 AUD fell far short of expectations. Crowne plaza certainly had big shoes to fill, especially with the high standard set by our previous stay at Sofitel, which excelled in every aspect and left little room for comparison. On arrival, the setting was pleasing to the eye, yet the charm ended at the facade. The staff and service were frankly, some of the poorest I’ve experienced at a so-called “premium” resort. Greetings were rare, smiles even rarer, and genuine hospitality seemed non-existent. Often felt like we were more of an inconvenience than valued guests. Most staff interactions gave the impression they’d rather be anywhere else. The pools closed at 6.30pm each day, far too early for a resort setting, stripping away any sense of relaxation killing any evening enjoyment. At one point, during my swim, several staff were carrying out pool maintenance at the same time, laughing and fooling around, one even blew snot onto the poolside floor. Another forgot about our towel request for hours, and one room service delivery was accompanied by an awkward expectation of a tip. It felt as if staff had been plucked from elsewhere, thrown into uniforms, and told to play resort worker without the faintest understanding of what hospitality means. Accommodation was equally disappointing. Instead of feeling like we’d arrived in fiji, our room was outdated and soulless, lacking any trace of fijian warmth or charm. The balcony view was dreary, the decor prehistoric, and the air conditioning unreliable. The one highlight was the marshmallow-soft pillows, though even that small win was overshadowed by absurd charges - like being billed for the tray our room service meal was delivered on. At a premium price point we paid, the experience felt more like budget travel dressed up in a resort costume. The housekeeping staff themselves were pleasant enough, but efficiency, organisation, and time management were absent.

Food and drinks were extortionately overpriced. If room service overshadows a resort’s restaurants, that may be a red flag. While the breakfast buffet - although offering scrambled eggs (a step above Sofitel’s spread) - it was bland and uninspired, it became clear why it was included free of charge. The fitness centre deserves a special mention for all the wrong reasons. It looked unfinished, more like a work in progress than a functioning facility. Minimal and outdated equipment, not even a basic cable machine available. No music😤, no towels, no bottled water, just a lonely water dispenser. Behind one cornered-off door, staff laughter and chatter echoed throughout the space, which was distracting and unprofessional. An embarrassing and frustrating excuse for a fitness centre.

Our overall stay at crowne plaza fiji was a soul-crushing regret. In nearly every aspect, it failed to deliver even basic standards of service, let alone anything resembling premium hospitality. Compared to sofitel resort, for only $500 more - the difference was night and day. Sofitel delivered genuine warmth, professional service, cultural richness, and overall excellence, where crowne plaza fell miserably short. This resort looks the part on the surface, but embodies none of the heart, warmth, or magic that should define true fijian hospitality. The lack of staff training, professionalism, and care is a disservice not only to paying guests but to fijian culture itself. We paid for a premium service - what crowne plaza offered us - felt hollow, careless, and overpriced. The hidden charges, unnecessary fees, felt more exploitative than premium. This resort needs far more than a glossy exterior, it needs investment in staff training, hospitality standards, and a return to the true essence of fijian service. The entire experience was holiday robbery💩. To top it off, we found more satisfaction connecting to the WiFi than connecting with staff or other guests. crowne plaza failed to deliver on nearly...

After arriving, we had wait half an hour for a porter.

The cool, modern, uncomfortable furniture is everywhere Armrests are 3cm wide on lounges & chairs. Padded arm rests would be soooo uncool.

The seats are low seats, and the tables are high. (Your dish is about nipple height.)

The sterile environment has barely a hint of the wonderful culture of Fiji. Nothing distinctly Fijian - everything is ultra modern.

The sound system is usually at 'nose bleed' volume (and consequently distorted).

During our six days, there was massive noise from the major constructions on both sides. (Starting at 8am.)

There's no reef, the water is brown with zero viso and the sand is a dirty brown at the 'beach'.

One can only walk about 500 meters either way on the 'beach' except at low tide. See pics.

It's is very isolated. It's not really close to anywhere.

The Resort charges $30 to $35 for a taxi to go anywhere near by (e.g. Airport, Nadi or Denarau).

The fare in a metered cab is less than $13.

Most of the (expensive) food was bordering on inedible.

We enjoyed 3 good meals in the six days we were captive there.

Everything at the resort is minimalist, thin, hard, geometric with sharp angles and corners. There's not a curve to be seen.

The view from our 'balcony' was a large drain grate set in the dirt and patchy grass with a sparse, low hedge, between us and the pool.

The noise of the planes taking off or flying over us to land was mostly masked by the loud music and the cacophony of construction. (Check out the short video.)

Two thirds of our vouchers were missing when we opened the envelope. (The Front Desk suggest one of their staff must have pilfered them!)

The Resort's policy is to make the beds without a cover on the quilt. (Just a sheet over the top.) This is totally disgusting! So the Resort expects its guests to sleep with a quilt against their body and face that may never have been laundered.

Our housekeeper remade our bed with a sheet above and below the quilt. (Hardly ideal but we accepted that workaround.)

Without exception, the staff were warmly welcoming, very friendly and genuinely trying to do everything possible to make our stay enjoyable.

I realise that many guests will have little experience and lower standards. And I see many reviewers rave about the beautiful pool. We'll, each to their own.

By comparison with dozens of resorts I've visited, this is a stark, geometric, soulless area where the blaring music makes it virtually impossible to listen to your own or concentrate on a book.

It was particularly disappointing in the week of the Paris Olympics that only an old, dumb television is provided.

The only news channel was the BBC and their news is sparse and on endless repeat.

We were provided no TV Guide and the TV didn't have an EPG. So we couldn't plan to watch anything.

Of course, if we were able to stream to a Smart TV, it wouldn't have been such an issue.

I can't imagine why but in all restaurants and public areas the fans are rotating at full blast all the time, regardless of the temperature.

Consequently, the luke warm dishes they usually serve were cold in no time (like us).

We always asked to be seated in a corner, away from the fans - or outside. Our pleas to turn the fans down (off would have been better) proved fruitless.

The shower is really dangerously slippery. A non-slip mat should definitely be provided. We used a hand towel on the floor which only partly solved the problem.

The lighting in the bathroom is not good for shaving.

There's a concertina mirror but when it's pulled forward, it casts a shadow over the face.

We had a technician visit twice to try to get the bar fridge working.

Eventually, when it was cooling (ever so slightly) he explained that the Resort has two types. This is the one that doesn't get very cold. It has no adjustment knob. (That was a first for me.)

All our laundry was returned waked but dumped in a bag - nothing pressed or even folded.

What a rip-off...