Shangri-La Yanuca Island, Fiji — Hotel in Western

READ TO END FOR UPDATE* Very unhappy with my stay and I would caution anyone looking to book a stay at this extremely sketchy hotel. I stayed in room 579 (reef wing) last week and a member of staff unlocked my room door and attempted to come in at 11pm. (My partner and I were watching tv, heard a knock and before we could even respond, we heard the door open). We had the latch over the door so it stopped it from fully opening. Upon realising the room was not empty, the man said “sorry, thought this room was vacant” and swiftly shut the door again. I immediately jumped out of bed to see what was going on and I opened the door, looked down the hallway and saw a big Fijian man in a green shirt walking swiftly away. He was holding a key with a lanyard and nothing else. I immediately felt extremely on edge and scared for my safety knowing that staff had access to our rooms and the only thing standing in the way from him fully entering our room was that little latch I had put on. Next morning I went downstairs spoke with Jone at the Reef wing reception to review CCTV. He confirmed it was a “mistake” or “miscommunication” about room vacancy and offered me free dinner later in the day. While he was giving this silly excuse he could hardly look me in the eye, fiddling with his pen. When I asked who was this man, Jone just said “oh just a member of staff”. No name, no role, no nothing. Because he was wearing a green shirt, I can rule out the possibility he was a cleaner or anything of the sort. There are many issues with this poor excuse, namely- why would anyone be checking if a room was vacant at 11pm?! Nobody is checking in at that time so there is genuinely zero need to check anything. The ONLY options are nefarious: either, this man was trying to enter a “vacant” room in order to steal stuff, entering the room to assault us, or to do other suspicious things like possibly setting up cameras etc. When we had dinner, we ordered 1 drink each: coke and sprite. The next day when we went to check out, Jone made us pay for these 2 drinks. I even clarified- sorry I thought we were getting dinner covered by you? And he still insisted I pay for these drinks. I wasn’t even going to eat dinner that night because I didn’t want anymore of my money being spent in this sketchy hotel. Despite that, I just paid the bill and got out of there. After I left, I decided to call up the security once again, and repeated this situation. I was NOT happy with how it was handled and the rubbish excuse that was given initially by Jone. The “head of security” whom I was on the phone with sounded surprised of this story (despite me being assured by Jone that this had been dealt with by security). The man on the phone told me he would find out some more details on this issue and get back to me. This was around 3 days ago now and I have not gotten a phone call back from anyone. Because of this, I can only assume something nefarious is going on with leadership at this hotel (perhaps cover ups for stealing) and I would like the $12 FJD to be refunded back onto my card. This entire incident has tainted my view on Fiji, the standard of hotel the Shangri-La even is, and has made me very angry knowing they took hundreds of dollars from my account for the cost of the stay and further mocked me by forcing me to cough up $12 for 2 soft drinks I only ordered because Jone told me my dinner would be paid for.

UPDATE:

Owner has replied with a lie. I would like to confirm that NOBODY has called me. Nobody has called to apologise, to return the money, to offer an explanation. Do NOT reply to a review if you are going to LIE. Absolutely shameful and I will be escalating this by continuing to comment on social media posts sharing my experience. You will absolutely not lie to people on google acting as though this...

We had a fairly good time, not amazing like excepted. One pool was practically un-useable because of how many children there were. Food was mediocre. Breakfast buffet was the best out of everything, never had anything that blew my mind. All drinks took forever, even if you just ordered a soda (which is canned by the way). I even received a latte I ordered before we stood up to get food and didn’t get it until 5 minutes after we were all finished eating. I didn’t have any alcoholic beverages, as I am pregnant, but my husband said they were okay. Some things that were added to meals were not included. For example, at the Beach Bar the Cesear salad comes with olives, but that is not listed on the menu. You find out once the meal arrives. Maybe that’s a normal thing in Fiji, but makes me nervous for people will possible allergies. Have had the most issues at the Beach Bar. Ordered a ceaser salad, only to be given a tuna salad then had to wait another 20-25 minutes for a replacement. Very seafood heavy, beware if you’re not much into seafood.

In terms of food service, not very quick and they don’t really check up on you. They come to you to order your drinks and food, when you’re done eating, and when you pay/charge to the room. Which some people do like and that could also be a Fiji thing that we aren’t aware of !

Also, we were allotted $180FJD for dinner as part of our package, we were told on day one that this included alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages only to find out that it does not cover it. We found out when we were settling our bill at checkout.

A plus is that all staff are VERY warm and welcoming. The nicest staff I’ve encountered from a resort, just wish the food was up to par and the rooms were a little nicer. Also, walls are super thin! Heard our neighbors yelling at each-other and their children most nights. Doesn’t give much in terms of privacy.

The housekeeping staff was a joy, but the reviews of inconsistent timings of cleaning is accurate. Sometimes she’d come at 10AM others we would get back to the room at 4PM and it wasn’t cleaned yet.

All kids here seem to have a blast, which is great if you’re bringing kids. However, if you’re looking for a quiet kid-free environment, this is not the place for you. There is an adult only section that we wish we would have gotten, unsure how it is since the sides are separated.

Location is beautiful. A little far from Nadi, about an hour and fifteen minute drive, but both excursions we did offered pickup from our resort for an additional fee.

There are some shops on site, which is super convenient, slightly overpriced but worth the convenience ! There is a hair/beauty salon, wine & beer liquor type store, a mini market and a sort of retail shop! Also an ice cream shop!

The spa was good! Very nice workers and had a good time there. Golf course was a little short, according to my husband, not sure what that means but thought I’d include it! Club rentals aren’t great, but do the job. No golf carts though, but they provide the clubs on wheels for easy pushing.

Our flight landed very early in the morning and we arrived well before check in. We didn’t get our room right away, but we were given a free Buffett breakfast and were able to store and use the facilities ! That was nice and a plus!

Overall, not sure if I’d recommend for a honeymoon, but maybe for...

Fantastic place to stay with the most lovely and generous staff, working hard while children run around all over the place.

A few things of extra info that you won't find online easily:

It's very child friendly, although most of the activities are for 4yo+ children (eg. waterpark 7yo+, kids club 4yo+ unless parent/babysitter present, daily games at the pool). There's also a playground that is mostly unused as everyone is at the pool! For a child friendly place, there are no change tables anywhere. There's a Lounge area at the Italian restaurant (kids allowed) which has board games and somewhere to rest (esp good if waiting for your room or to leave). The only public shower is open poolside. Rooms are well soundproofed from the walls. You can hear people if they walk outside the door, but considering how many children are in the resort, we heard nothing overnight. Italian and Indian restaurants are adults only. There are 3 breakfast buffets - Italian (adults only, didn't go), Takali (smaller, quieter, peaceful area, has a few extra Asian dishes) and Lagoon (large with everyone, multi-cuisine) The restaurants have regular weekly themed nights (eg. Lagoon has middle eastern buffet on Tues, spice night Fri; or the Beach Grill does a big BBQ 2x/week but need to book in advance or go later eg. 7pm after many of the families have left), so there is still variety within the same buffet during the week. I've never eaten so much at a buffet before. Buffet highlights were large pork ribs (Beach BBQ night), breakfast (bacon, chicken congee, smoked salmon, or nasi lemak and Laksa (Takali), or fresh dosas (Lagoon)) Lagoon dinner (freshly roasted whole chicken, lamb on rice for Middle Eastern Tues night) Coffee is FJD6 (not included in buffets). They do have a machine included. Both of these are not good (Melbourne standards). The closest restaurant off island is The Junction - book in advance for a lobster or crab. You can walk or the restaurant will pick you up/drop you off (or the hotel can drop you/pick you up to the bridge and you can walk across). Cash only. There is a shopping area onsite including a Kapati icecream shop (and you can avoid the Lagoon pool icecream stand) and some expensive shops (snacks, drinks, icecream/icypole sticks, sunscreen, souvenirs etc) The resort is fully card only. Cash is only for tips (if you want to) or if you go to The Junction. There are 2x ATMs onsite (Westpac FJD15 to withdraw, the other one is FJD10 to withdraw). There's snorkelling off the beach (small fish and ok coral). There's a watersports centre Hydro Sports onsite including SSI scuba that does boatdives straight from the resort (FJD207 for first dive) Watersport centre you can also hire a snorkel for free 1h/person/day and FJD35/h after that. You can also buy snorkel gear including kid sizes. Beaches are clean and water is lovely. Lagoon beach is sand and busy with clumps of reef as you get further out (there's music constantly playing from the pool area), Takali beach is very gradual and shallow and quiet, but lots of coral/rocks up to the beach so need reef shoes.

Would...