Jasmine Ngapali Resort — Hotel in Thandwe District

Beautiful hotel, right on the beach. This place has so many plus points that it should be getting a totally positive review. However, there are some areas that need addressing by Management, and whilst this review may seem to criticize the Hotel, it is intended to be CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Based on its location and décor this hotel should be a top tier Ngapali Hotel. It is stunning and peaceful. Despite the ‘criticism’ we wish to return.||||Our visit did not get off to a good start in that we had made an advance reservation to be collected from the Airport by the Hotel. Despite waiting until the Airport (which is really small) had almost cleared there was no driver there. Not good when landing at a strange airport! In the circumstances we got a taxi to the resort and the situation was compounded by ‘arguments’ from hotel reception that the driver had been there. It transpired that he had been but had not stood with the Hotel board (as we had been told) until all ‘pick-up’ guests had arrived – he had identified one party he was collecting and then gone off to get his vehicle. How were we supposed to know? This wasn’t a good start. However, that instance over we soon settled into the resort and fell in love with how quiet it was and its location.||||The majority of the staff are absolutely lovely – kind and helpful and trying so hard to please. The breakfast staff on a morning are really pleasant and all the gardeners and cleaning and maintenance staff are also pleasant. The downside as other reviewers have commented is that most guest facing staff do not have sufficient command of English and in that respect the Hotel Management need to decide whether they wish to market themselves to Europeans or purely to Burmese speaking guests. If the hotel does wish to attract European guests its management does need to put in place a programme for its staff to learn more English. The Restaurant staff did try really hard to practice their English and it was good to see them trying and they were so lovely with it. There was not too much problem in the Restaurant as the Food and Beverage Manager, Naing speaks very good English. The main area where there was a problem was with Reception, with one or two of the receptionists not being ‘guest friendly’ and this was the area where lack of English was a problem. If a Hotel wishes to attract European guest there should in our opinion be at least one member of staff on reception at any one time who speaks reasonable English. Don’t get us wrong the majority of the receptionists are lovely and try hard, with their limited English, to please but some of the Reception staff need much more staff training in guest relations, as well as English.||||Food and Beverage Manager was extremely pleasant and helpful and the Restaurants and Bar, were well run, albeit that there were still one or two issues largely down to poor English but the staff in this area of the resort are trying very hard to improve under Naing’s guidance. Naing was really the only Manager around on a daily basis, to give any assistance, and he seems to have a genuine desire to improve service quality throughout. He wants feedback whether it is good or bad, which is to be commended. A hotel needs all feedback to be able to make changes for the better. We stayed at the Resort for 19 days and we did not see any active General Manager presence. We don’t even know who the General Manager was which is really unusual after a long stay in a resort.||||The Hotel do a daily shuttle to Thandwe which is really useful. There is a restaurant just outside the gates of the Hotel, which is good. There are also a number of Tuk Tuks outside the gates to go to other restaurants. We mainly used KoKyiMinHn who was very reliable and his Tuk Tuk was always clean. All other restaurants we went to were very good.||||Having said all the above the location and general ambience are such that we would return to this resort. We really loved our stay here and would like to return next year as we are sure that by then there will have been continued improvement with the Restaurant and Bar. We would sincerely hope that management will have addressed other issues.||||I have given service a four but this is given with reception excluded.||||If you are wanting a lovely hotel which is quiet and in a stunning location this is for you particularly if you can ignore the 'problems' which arise through...

We stayed at the end of October, beginning of November and we had just the most relaxing time. I have genuinely never seen a beach so naturally pristine and quiet - I don't know if it was the time of year or what but if we saw 2 other people on the beach at the same time as us that was rare. And it's not even a private beach! You could walk up and down the beach for miles if you wanted to, and its completely beautiful. We had a few days where the waves were quite strong so it wasn't great for anyone who isn't a strong swimmer but again I think that could have just been the time of year as it doesn't look like that's normally the case. Equally, there was hardly anyone else at the resort when we stayed either as it was the very beginning of the season for them I think, which made it feel like a very exclusive resort, just us and about 10 other people I'd say.||||The pool was spectacular, really comfy loungers, and the pool itself was clean and inviting - the perfect temperature for cooling off without being too cold. We were able to order food and drinks by the pool too making for a completely relaxing (and lazy!) holiday, just what we needed. And wow those beach sunsets watched from the pool were out of this world!||||Food and drink was excellent, really couldn't fault the quality at all, superb. And the menu was quite extensive with a mix of western and asian foods, and portions were really generous. Food isn't anywhere near as cheap here as is typical of Myanmar and other places we stayed, it's more like UK prices but you expect that from a resort as good as this. The only thing I would say is that it did take a while to come each time after ordering, but that's really not a big deal.||||The room was large, spacious and modern, and kept very clean for the duration of our stay. Great comfy big bed and the bathroom was also very new and well appointed. The rooms aren't very far from the pool at all, so no long walk to and from which is great. Oh and a lovely touch, the minibar contained a selection of soft drinks that were all complimentary and re-stocked each day - how wonderful!||||There doesn't seem to be much to do outside of the resort (though that didn't bother us as we were just there to relax) but those that want more things to do should be aware of that.||||Overall we have absolutely no complaints, we thought it was fantastic value for money for such a beautiful hotel and would recommend this fantastic resort to anyone - it really does live up to the beautiful pictures.||||We would offer the resort a few pieces of advice though just to take it that one step closer to absolutely perfect:||- Please stop using plastic straws in drinks and instead switch to paper straws or better re-usable bamboo straws or no straws at all to be more environmentally friendly.||- If someone orders room service or brings drinks back to their room, please ensure the empty plates and glasses are removed by housekeeping when they clean the room the next morning.||- The physical menu in the restaurant is currently just pieces of printed paper taped together at the edge which doesn't reflect the sophistication of the resort or the fantastic food itself. It also isn't very practical around the pool for drips and splashes getting it wet etc. I recommend that you upgrade the menus to sit in a proper menu-book-type-thing to look a little more professional (like the books with the hotel info sat in them in the rooms). Also, it would be helpful if each person at the table was given a food menu to peruse and not just one menu between all. I'd also advise (though this isn't an issue for us) that you carefully list the allergens within each meal as we noticed some came with nuts within that you wouldn't expect (delicious, don't get me wrong) but someone with a nut allergy wouldn't have had any clue they were there and they weren't listed on the menu.||||Please don't take the above as criticisms, just advice, and overall THANK YOU for a fantastic stay, we highly recommend your...

I don’t usually write reviews but felt compelled to leave one here to prevent others from the same disappointment we experienced. ||On the positive side, this is a gorgeous property. The beach is absolutely perfect and unspoiled. The pool is beautiful. The rooms are large and beach suites have amazing balconies with private plunge pools right on the beach. It is nice that the mini bar is complimentary. ||Unfortunately, the food and service bring it down. I had read a few comments like this but downplayed them thinking that we prefer to eat locally vs in the resort anyway. What I didn’t realize is that there are no other restaurants within walking distance and more importantly, that the food is not sanitary - everyone in our family got VERY sick. Keep in mind we had already been in Myanmar for over a week, including staying overnight in a local home stay in a small village and had zero tummy troubles until we ate at the Jasmine. I spoke to several other guests who had the same experience. This ruined 3 days of our vacation. ||On service, similar to another reviewer, we arrived at the airport expecting a pick up, searched thoroughly for 10 minutes, and finally gave up and took a cab. When we got to the reception desk, instead of apologizing, they argued with us that someone had been there. Having stayed at several hotels in Myanmar, - we missed the warmth and sincere desire to be helpful that we felt at all the other properties we visited. We did take the hotel transport on the return - it was a very outdated, very uncomfortable bus - far from a luxury experience. In retrospect, we would have preferred to pay the $5-10 it would have cost for a cab. ||It’s a shame. This hotel has all the building blocks to be a 5 star resort, but the experience fell far short of luxury. We heard similar things from several other guests, so I felt compelled to share...