Pleasant View Resort — Hotel in Thandwe District

Where to begin? Let’s start with the misleading professional photos which give the impression of a nice décor. What a joke. There is a cheap wooden table and a few rattan chairs like you would find in a backpacker’s hostel. Ditto for the bathroom (see photos). I had a more-expensive second floor beachfront room and the view is fine, but walk back into the room and ask yourself, “Can I really be paying $147 per night (weekend rate) for this?”. By coincidence that is what I was paying at the 5-star Sule Shangri-La in Yangon. Ha, ha the jokes on me. Well, at least the lofty ceiling comes with overhead fans to provide a cooling breeze that tells you that you’re relaxing at the beach. Ha, ha, only kidding. The 20-foot high ceilings are there all right, but they seem to have forgotten the fans. Turn on the air con or sweat—up to you. Based on the room by itself, this is a 2-star hotel. Maybe you could give it an extra star for location which would bring it up to three. That’s it. |||| We had dinner at Sandoway Resort which is nearby and, although it was the most expensive meal of the trip, I was impressed by the upscale ambiance and service. It’s definitely worth considering if you are looking at hotels.|||| How to pass your time? Well, that’s a good question. You can sit outside or go for a swim, and there is a cute little islet with a restaurant/bar that is good for sunset cocktails. That pretty much covers it except that you can rent a boat with a local helmsman for ½ day for $20. He will take you a short distance to an island—but not to a beach—where you can snorkel and look at the rocks on the bottom. Apparently, there are no fish—at least none that I could see. Pretty much a waste of time unless you wish to entertain someone who has never used a snorkel. Tip: have your first timer practice on the beach before departing—learning on the boat is problematic. After that your friendly helmsman will offer to take you to the “lighthouse.” Just say no. There is no lighthouse—just a small island with a little refreshment stand. For the privilege of landing at this idyllic vacation spot each member of your party will fork over 2,000 Kyat. There may be a beach somewhere for the next stop, but I found the whole thing so lackluster that I just said “back to the hotel.”|||| Overall, this is primarily a destination for those who are happy sitting around their hotel. No beach bars, no little villages. There are a some small restaurants along the main road and that’s about it for local color.||Well, such is travel. Some days work better...

The resort has nice atmosphere with a great view to the water, if you are staying at the water view. We were there for two nights and they offered turn down and mosquito spray service both nights. It is fairly pricy but most nice resort in this area are pricy. It has a nice swimming pool n friendly staffs.

I gave 3 instead of 4 or 5 because of two issues. Breakfast was disappointing bc it lacks local food. Breakfast included chin style fried rice, Koran style fried rice noodles, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, omelet station, assorted pastries, and juice bar. The only "local" item was fish ball soup for one day and rice noodles soup for the second. I wish they offered more local flavor bc the region is known for their unique taste.

Second issue is at the check out. They went to the room for inspection before guest leaves, which was fine. They came back n said we stained the towels. I requested the description of the stained. They said their housekeeping tried to want n the stain would not come out. After I raised more questions on the stained n request for a manager, they brought the towels to me. It has MAKE UP stain. Ok, I am not sure which hotel charges $20 to replace a towel for a makeup stain. They said they are going to try n wash it again while we wait to leave to catch a flight. After more confrontation with the staffs, I told them to I needed to go n they can call.my travel agent later. I also requested them to bring me bleach so I can show them how to wash properly.

This seem ridiculous that either they don't know or have proper detergent to remove makeup stain or they were just trying to rip me off. Either way, this is...

We have just returned from beautiful Ngapali Beach where we stayed at PVR for 6 nights in a sea front bungalow. We loved the fantastic location and the great sea view. Our room was clean, spacious, nicely furnished and had comfy beds. Each evening the beds were turned down and lights were turned on so that we didn’t come back to a dark room. Staff were so friendly and remembered the small things like who wanted tea or who preferred coffee and where we preferred to sit in the dining area. The resort is an easy walk to plenty of restaurants and a laundry very close which was really cheap. If you want something tailor made head to May’s shop which is opposite the Amata hotel. She will sew you what you request for a very cheap price and have it ready the following day. The sea is so warm and there’s no current so it was beautiful to swim in. Breakfast was always good with a delicious soup every day to try. The restaurant on the islet was nice though more pricey and be aware that you can’t charge the bill to your room. You need to pay for it separately. Go for a walk early morning and watch the fishermen bringing in their haul. If you walk along the beach towards town you’ll come across a little beach shelter where the girls cook wonderful seafood for a cheap price. We loved our stay at PVR and even though our last 3 days were somewhat chaotic and noisy thanks to a big group of very loud, disrespectful Chinese who took over the resort, we’d...