InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa by IHG — Hotel in Viti Levu

My 25 year old daughter and I just spent 5 nights in a two bedroom plunge pool villa with Club Lounge access.

There are lots of things to like about this resort. The staff are friendly. The outlook is beautiful and the property grounds are well maintained. The music on offer at the bar and the fire dancing show was entertaining.

However, the big letdown for us is the food. I travel extensively both for work and pleasure, and I’ve never stayed at a hotel where the food has been so bland. It really is not up to a five star resort quality, nor the expectations of travellers who are staying somewhere at the price point we have paid (over $2,000 Australian dollars per night). The fancy dining option, Navo, was good for dinner one night. And the chicken wings in the bar were tasty. But almost every other meal we had was flavourless. We tried ordering simple things we thought would be hard to get wrong, such as a beef curry. Zero flavour, and extremely tough meat. I can honestly say the food at my local cafes is much better. The high tea and canopies that are offered in the club lounge are bland, poor quality and almost inedible (although on one night they had a couple of reasonable options so perhaps it varies).

The breakfast buffet really is not up to what you would expect in a five star resort that claims to have world class dining options. Again, even the pastries were bland, the fruit often had little flavour, the “freshly squeezed juice” was literally poured into decanters from cardboard boxes.

Because the resort is isolated, unfortunately if these are the only eating options it really does start to become a huge letdown. This was exasperated because it rained almost non-stop for the five days we were here.

There’s nothing the resort can do about the weather, but I do feel they could try to offer more (free) options for adult guests. The only free rainy day activities that were on offer with things like family games and musical chairs. It’s quite boring here when it rains, especially given the gym is very small given the size of the resort and was crowded. When I suggested to the hotel manager the lack of options for adult guests when it rains was disappointing, they sent a staff member to discuss this with me. She offered to take me on a walk to show me the herb garden. This really didn’t seem that appealing.

Options might include things like bingo, a movie night, cooking classes, yoga?

Even Guests who are staying in the premium rooms with the club experience (over $2,000 a night) have to pay to visit the sauna and hot tub which is at the day spa. There was a fee of $33 per person for 45 minutes using those facilities. I think this is outrageous and I’ve never stayed at a resort where you’ve had to pay to use a hot tub or a sauna. We did pay though given it was raining and there was nothing else to do. The hot tub heater was broken ( which another irate guest said he had notified them about the day previous and they had not yet fixed) so we had to sit in cold bubbles while they actually toured a group through who were hoping to hire it for a hens night. When I complained about this, the spa manager didn’t charge us ( the staff are lovely - which actually makes things even more awkward because what’s on offer isn’t great, and you feel mean pointing this out. But it is just not good enough for a 5 star resort).

The spa treatments themselves were good though and we enjoyed that experience which was nice in the rain as you felt cocooned in a quiet environment.

I’ve tried to be fair here and point out the things that worked, but there’s no getting past the fact that eating here really was a huge letdown and the resort needs to improve what it offers for adult guests when it rains.

Edited to add now I've seen response - I thought I was fair here. Sadly, the response has made me further disillusioned as much of it is simply not true. Eg: It wasn't "a lady" it was a loud group of three. There was no yoga classes ( I asked - REPEATEDLY). The activities you mention such as a cooking class all required...

After staying at the Sheraton Denarau Villas last year we thought we’d try the Intercontinental this year. We didn’t want to travel to any islands after the flight as we have three young children and we had heard from many people that the Intercontinental is the best resort on the main island.

Unfortunately we were so disappointed with the Intercontinental after experiencing the Sheraton last year. If you have kids you are not allowed to access the best parts of the resort - the best pool or the best restaurant (both on the beach). These facilities are adults only at the Intercontinental. At the Sheraton you have full access to all the restaurants and all the pools. If you have kids you only have access to one pool at the Intercontinental, at the Sheraton you have access to three great pools with kids. We are also Club Intercontinental members so did have access to the club lounge with its pool but the children are just not made to feel welcomed there as you are expected to keep them quiet.

The food is also much better at the Sheraton. There is only one kids menu across all the restaurants at the Intercontinental and after a week my kids were completely sick of it.

Service is not great anywhere in Fiji but I was expecting it to be better at the Intercontinental given the price tag and the reputation but we were very disappointed. Yes everyone is very friendly but things just do not get done. You have to ask for and order things multiple times before you get it and it’s very frustrating when you’re on holidays and trying to relax. Orders consistently came out wrong and by the 6th day it was getting very frustrating. The service poolside at the family pool was basically non existent. If you wanted to order anything you had to get up and find a staff member. They do have QR codes next to the sun lounges to order from but they rarely worked and then you often had to follow the order up. Really not what you’re expecting on a resort holiday at this price point.

The Intercontinental attempt to cater for both childless couple and families and unfortunately just doesn’t end up doing either very well. We felt as though we needed to keep our children quiet and out of the way as there were a lot of childless couples around. We even offered to move rooms on our second day as the couple below us complained multiple times about our children making noise (they were walking around and getting ready at 5pm and 9am both times). Very disappointing when you’re on holidays with your children and the resort is marketed as being family friendly. Maybe a bit more thought needs to be put into keeping families separate from childless couples? It was a very upsetting experience and we felt it could have been handled much better by the hotel. We feel it was unreasonable for the hotel to ask us to try to keep our children quiet at those times. We were offered a complementary dinner in the main restaurant as compensation, yet this dinner was still on our bill at checkout. Another oversight that is just frustrating when you are expecting a resort of a much higher caliber.

The Intercontinental is an hours drive from the airport and you are therefore very isolated in comparison to the Sheraton. We liked the fact that the Sheraton was walking distance to many other resorts, restaurants and the Big Bula water park so you had options for when the kids got restless. The Intercontinental does have a nicer beach and this is what you get for the hours drive.

In summary, if you are traveling with children we would highly recommend you stay at the Sheraton Denarau Villas over the Intercontinental. You have access to many more facilities and are not made to feel as though your children are an imposition. In our opinion, you get nothing for the extra money you pay at the Intercontinental.

I did receive a generic questionnaire after our stay where I provided all of the above feedback. I never received any response and my feedback has not been added to the guest reviews on their website. It seems they only respond to guest concerns on...

We stayed here for 6 days for our 4th wedding anniversary. Honestly, There isn't much to do here compared to resorts in Bora Bora or Hawaii. If you want to relax and do nothing, This place is it.

Pros: Spectacular star gazing and sunset views. Cons: Not much activities on property. They will charge for a credit card fee of 3%? when you close your folio. There were some other fees I think towards the room when booking.

Room: Do yourself a favor and book the [beachfront room] on the "1st level" to gain immediate beach access. By staying on the 1st fl, We saved lots of time by avoiding detour walking. You can also see the ocean when you are sitting up on your bed through the balcony. This was so nice. The bathroom and closet is very spacious. Love the Pure Fiji toiletries. The only issue with the room was water running brown in the bathtub but it didn't really matter for us since we just used it for laundry. If it wasn't for this room, I would give this property 2-3 stars. Seriously, Our room did it all.

Restaurant: [Navo] restaurant was my favorite of all. Make reservation on your first day since it was hard for us to get a reservation here on the weekends. We were able to go here 2 nights in a row but we got food poisoned on our last day. The sunset view is spectacular so get there before the sunset and sit towards the water view. [Sanasana] Breakfast buffet selections were variety and fresh. However, We did get tired of it on our 3rd day. Plus, Don't go here for lunch. No one did except us. I figured it's bc people go here for themed buffets for dinner. [Toba grill] Is where everyone goes for lunch. It was a little too mediocre/subpar for us. You will see cute orange kitties here. [Kama] Lounge has good small plates. Go there once for Polynesian performance.

Reef Safari: The staff here is amazing. Snorkeling safari tour was fun (paid activity). Go on a sunny day. You can borrow boogie boards and other basic water sports equipment for free up to 1hr (I think). We almost did scuba diving BUT if you're not certified, They will take you to the same spot where they do the snorkeling tour. It did not make sense to do it unless you go somewhere deep.

Golf: Excellent property with beautiful ocean view. Well designed and well maintained. Courses can be difficult. Take some cash with you if you need to buy balls from the locals for cheaper price.

Spa: Make reservation early. It's impossible to get in on the day of rain obviously bc it's the only thing you can do in the resort. Facility is clean and tidy. Take swimsuits if you want to get in the hot tub.

Pool: The infinity pool is the only adult pool here unless you are the club member. The kids are not allowed here but they will try to slide in. Plenty of towels everywhere.

The only time you need cash is when you want to do the horseback riding with local tour guides or to get massages by local people in the shabby hut. This property is located on the public beach, So the locals are allowed on the beach (Not on the property). There are lots of solicitors here. You can exchange currency from the front desk if you don't have any Fijian money. There is a convenient store in the resort. Has some US products and lots of Aussie brands IDK.

Overall good experience. We were well rested. Never felt so rested after coming back from a remote vacation. But I do wonder what if we went to Six Sense Fiji instead (Same IHG resort but highest tier). I only found out about Six Sense Fiji after I booked the trip and it seemed nicer. Hoping to go there instead...