Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas — Hotel in Johor

25 Oct 2023: Dear Mr. Christian,

We appreciate your feedback and your willingness to address the issues at hand.

We have provided bank transaction documents that unequivocally show an unauthorized payment processed by your resort and subsequently refunded on the same day, as clearly indicated in the bank transaction report, concurrent with our alerting your staff member.

It's essential to underscore that we did not initiate the booking, yet a refund was processed by your resort even before a formal dispute was raised.

Throughout our correspondence, you have consistently denied any wrongdoing on the part of your staff members within your resort, which is a customary response.

However, we wish to reiterate that a bank statement is an immutable record of financial activities, and its data cannot be altered or added to retroactively.

Our financial bank records have demonstrated payment completion and refund activities taking place on the same day, October 8, 2023, which has been met with vehement denial.

Rather than providing a transaction date initiated by your resort, the denial has persisted in asserting that your staff was not responsible for any refund on October 8, 2023, despite evidence to the contrary.

While we understand your desire to protect your resort's reputation, we believe that if an error has occurred in your customer's booking, it is not a crime.

In such cases, an apology, a refund of charges, and a commitment to rectify the situation would be expected to facilitate a resolution.

There is no need, at arm's length, to continue denying any wrongdoing or breaches. The responsibility for the breaches is evident within the entity that holds the customer's credit card information, which is Anantara resort.

Instead, you provided a snippet of bank correspondence, which did not even include a formal refund request register from Anantara to the bank for the processing of a refund. Furthermore, you have persisted in asserting that the transaction date on my bank statement is flawed and that no refund activities had occurred in your resort on the 8/10/23.

Let this serve as a lesson for other guests that, without uncertainty, one should exercise caution when providing credit card information to staff responsible for reservations at Anantara, unless one is already at the resort and settling their bills.

The case is closed at our end.

Sincerely, Raf

24 Oct 2023: We would like express our profound disappointment with the unfortunate incident involving an unauthorized online booking and our experience with the representative at Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas. The subsequent response from their representatives left us deeply dissatisfied.

Regrettably, our experience was far from what one would anticipate from a distinguished establishment such as Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas. The staff we interacted with displayed indifference and a lack of cooperation, which was disheartening and contrary to the level of service we had hoped for. It was only after we reached out to Minor International that our concerns were acknowledged and addressed.

Encountering such a lack of empathy and a reluctance to assist in the face of a challenging situation was indeed disappointing. As guests, we believe it is imperative for a resort of your esteemed reputation to prioritize customer satisfaction and to handle issues promptly and professionally.

While we have managed to recover less than 93% of the total sum incurred, we sincerely hope that our feedback will be taken seriously. We urge you to use this incident as an opportunity to reassess and enhance the training and customer service standards, particularly in cases of unauthorized bookings.

Maintaining the prestige and trust that guests place in your resort is of utmost importance. Our experience serves as a stark reminder that there is always room for improvement, and we trust that the necessary measures will be taken to ensure a more positive experience for...

Pre-arrival service I requested for something special for my mum’s birthday and they offered a small cake and minimal bed decoration. Thank God and thank you to the team that made this happened. All via email.

Check in Check in: I was asked for my cc for deposit to secure any incidentals as per normal. The next day, FO told me when I went to get my room keys fixed, that they accidentally charged me rm3k to my cc. When they realised (after a day) they voided it. That’s all was said to me, nothing else.

On 2nd day, when I ordered some beverages by the pool, as usual, I charged to the room. The waiter came back to me and told me they can’t charge to the room because there’s no more deposit. I was furious. I told them to check with FO cause I had no problems on day 1 and didn’t see why the problem has occurred suddenly. They contacted FO and same thing, saying that I can’t charge to the room.

I contacted FO via the app and they said they’ve informed me that morning. I said you didn’t tell me that it will affect my expenditures of charging to the room. Apologised but still this affected my mood. I am here on my holiday and staying at a 5 star luxury resort, of course I expected the service to be exceptional. They asked if they can go to my room to get pre authorisation. I said I’m at the pool and obviously didn’t bring my cc along.

After much back and forth, they decided to ‘let it go’ and charge that rm60++ to the room. Later I went to reception and said this is completely unacceptable. Is it my fault that you guys made a mistake? Was I going to run away for that rm60++ after staying just for 1 night? Come on! They apologised… nevertheless but its so not expected of Anantara, a so called 5 star luxury resort.

Service Apart from Sofwan @ FO, Hairi @ Turmeric, staffs @ breakfast station (eggs & roti canai), other service team are really not expected for a 5 star hotel, especially F&B team.

Food was super slow @ Turmeric during our late lunch when we arrived. Thankfully the food was good! During breakfast, fan was not working outside. Changed us to another table and then suddenly the fan was switched off. When I asked to turn on, it took them forever. I went to search for the fan remote in one of the drawers and turned it on myself.

Furthermore, had to order 3x for hot water and that didn’t even come through. I personally went to get it myself and not let my mom wait for it any longer. My sis took the jug of water and refilled water for all us, as there was no staff around. If rooms are fully booked which the team knows in advanced, you definitely should have anticipated it and get extra hands.

Plus no one greeted us at all in the morning, except for the breakfast station employees mentioned above. Not attentive at all.

On our 3rd day, it rained and we had no choice to take shelter at the Infinity Bar restaurant. We were there for more than 1/2 an hour and no one bothered to serve us, let alone asked if we wanted to order anything. The guests next to us went to take menu on their own. After a long wait, someone came up to us and asked have we ordered something. The waiter came back with drinks menu only. Why did he assumed we wanted only drinks? It was lunch time! Again had to ask for food menu.

When the food arrived, there was no cutlery nor napkins. Again had to ask for it. Seriously surprising for such hotel name.

Room Apparently “cleaned” cup that was placed on the tray ready to be used… guess what?! It was dirty. It had lipstick mark on it! Come on, it’s a 5 star luxury resort, ain’t it?! Photo attached.

Summary In conclusion, me and my family are super disappointed. Paying premium but service was totally unacceptable and major disappointment! Will never ever come back here again! We’ve stayed at better 5 star hotels and not paying the amount Anantara is charging!...

Updated Review 13th October

Rating: 2 Stars

After posting my original review, I was contacted by a Manager, who offered as a gesture of goodwill to give me a special discounted room rate.

While I appreciate this gesture and have accepted the offer, I must note that it took posting a public review to receive any meaningful response.

Prior to this, I had tried to resolve the issue through other channels - via email and their chat app—but none of those efforts were successful in addressing the concern.

That said, I do want to acknowledge that the F&B staff of Turmeric, particularly during breakfast, were very warm and attentive. Their service added a positive touch to the overall experience, and I want to thank Hazeem, Najwa and Aleena for their hospitality.

This situation should not have required escalation to Google Review to get the attention it deserved. I hope the management takes this feedback seriously to improve communication and service recovery in the future, so other guests do not have to go through the same process.

Original Review:

Rating: 1 Star

I recently stayed at Anantara, hoping for a memorable experience as part of my wife's birthday celebration. We booked and paid for a deluxe sea view room, but were placed in a room on the 2nd floor, which had no clear sea view at all. Instead, the view was largely obstructed by trees and buildings, more like a garden view.

A proper sea view would likely be available only from a higher floor, such as the 3rd floor, so I find the description of this room highly misleading. I have attached a picture of the so-called "sea view" from our room. For anyone booking a sea view room, I highly recommend asking for a room on the 3rd floor to avoid the disappointment of an obstructed view.

Despite raising this issue with the management, the service recovery offered was disappointing. As my wife is a GHA Titanium member and repeat guest, we were offered late checkout and a future upgrade, but these benefits are already part of the membership if availability allows. When I pointed this out, the reception staff who called us simply agreed without offering any real compensation or acknowledgement of the misleading room category.

At the time of writing, I am still staying at the hotel, and despite raising these issues early in our stay, nothing has been done to resolve them satisfactorily. I find myself counting down the hours until checkout, which is not how anyone should feel when staying at a luxury property.

This experience has soured what should have been a special occasion, and I am deeply disappointed with how the situation was handled. I expected more from a luxury hotel that prides itself on excellent service.

The issue I raised is not about being given an upgrade. I completely understand that upgrades are subject to availability.

My concern is that I did not receive the sea view room that I paid for. The room I was assigned on the 2nd floor does not offer a proper sea view, but instead has an obstructed view, which does not match the description of a "deluxe sea view room" at all.

To be clear, I am not requesting an upgrade—I simply want the room I paid for to meet the expectation that was set. The room I received was more akin to a garden view room, and I feel that the room categorization and description were misleading.

I trust that GHA and Anantara management will take this feedback seriously and work towards ensuring this does not happen to future guests.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this property based on this stay, as the room descriptions were misleading and the service recovery did not adequately...