Lihim Resorts, El Nido — Hotel in El Nido

Lihim looks great in photos. We stayed here for a week for a family vacation. The tours offered by Lihim were fun and beautiful, and going into town was nice for variety. The butler service is much appreciated, and Ellie and Mars were kind and responsive. We enjoyed watching the sunset from our villa and going around El Nido by boat.

However, there were multiple substantive issues during the course of our stay, and for safety reasons, I cannot recommend staying here for anyone.

First, the resort is not accessible and you can only get to/from your villa by car. Anytime you want to go to the breakfast, dock, gym, etc. you need to call the butlers to arrange a car pickup as everything is built into a cliffside and it is very steep. There are stairs that can be used, but they are not well-maintained and require care and attention going up and down. More lighting to get to/from the villas from the car drop off points are needed to see well at night. We travelled with fit but elderly parents, and thankfully they were okay but moments on the trip pushed their limits.

Second, the deck and pathways are not maintained. There used to be a furnincular but it is not currently available to guests. There are parts where the railings of our villa and the stairs to/from car drop off to the villa were wobbly. This made us nervous given how steep the resort is. There were also several instances where maintenance was doing a repair on the furnicular and left a bridgeway area exposed so an inattentive guest walking to their villa could easily trip and fall into the gap where the walkway should be. Each time, we had to request help. As a group we started to call out to each other to check, and were grateful nothing happened, especially at night where the stairs' visibility is poor. We also had maintenance issues (no running water) for our villa the first night of our stay.

Third, the dock to take the boat for any tour (including to the private beach) is not stable and is a floating dock. On our first day, the swells up and down made it very challenging to walk on the dock safely to return to the resort after the tour, and there were moments where you basically had to squat and hold the ground with your hands to not fall. They were making some improvements while we were there but I am not sure if that issue has been entirely repaired.

Fourth, the food was terrible. The breakfast was alright, but food at Gana was barely edible - the only item our group enjoyed off the menu was the grilled cheese, and even still the bread was very sweet and there wasn't enough cheese. The food at Henri's was acceptable but nothing incredible. Service at Gana was very slow - one night, we waited over an hour for our dishes (served cold) and the waiter never offered us any water refresh or anything in the meantime - later, after it was clear we were very upset, they gave us a complimentary cocktail. We had to stand up, walk over, and talk to the waiter after multiple attempts of flagging them down.

Fifth, any option to take an excursion is expensive. We found the tours very overpriced, but because you need to take a car to leave your villa (including to go into town), you are basically locked into very high rates for the tours.

Lastly, we got into a car accident as we were checking out of our villa. The driver was not able to make the necessary three point turn and ended up hitting the concrete barricade that prevented us from diving into the ravine. We were very shaken and the guest in the passenger seat got bruised knees from the impact. We later found out it was our driver's first day. The hotel apologized but it felt very shallow, especially since we had had issues over the course of our stay (no running water, poor service, and the floating dock incident). We received some compensation of our incidentals, but given that we were paying $1,000 per night for our villa, I think there was more they could have done given that we almost died.

Given our experience, we cannot recommend this resort and would strongly recommend not...

Visited in Dec 2024 with my partner. Stayed in one of the premium villas towards the top of the resort

The good: Incredible views across the bay Huge room, very comfortable bed, interior cleaned well Lovely spa treatments Staff were pleasant

The not so good: Location - While the views are good, the location to get anywhere else outside of the hotel is poor. The boat only operates during daylight hours and outside of this it is a 15 minute car ride to get elsewhere due to the long, steep, potholed driveway which was not a luxury experience.

Upkeep of exterior & grounds - While our room's interior was nice, the outdoor bathroom was tired, tatty and looked in need of some TLC with broken bamboo and exposed wiring. Our pool area had broken timbers and exposed nails and the pool glass was grubby (see pictures)

In the grounds, the vegetation was overgrown with debris on the floors and broken railings. Whilst I get it is a tropical forest, we saw better examples on our trip that managed to maintain in a sympathetic way and look nicer. There was random apparatus discarded around the grounds, for example gardening tools along the pathways and an abandoned SUV just outside the steps to Henris.

The funiculaire was not operational and seems to have been broken for a long time. In a resort of this calibre it should have been fixed.

Tours- The team really push the tours, and the concept of the Lihim journey visiting different sites over the course of a stay. However, we were really disappointed. Hyag 'Beach Club' is not a beach club, it is a building site. We were dropped by boat at a dirty beach for 3 hours with a cool box containing 1 bottle of water each. We were offered none of the promised equipment, snorkels, kayaks etc - there was just one broken paddle board and a constant sound of construction. There was no shower, the toilet had no running water or soap and no light so you could not shut the door. We went to the bay with the other beach lounge on a subsequent tour through our next hotel and it was also a building site. The photos we were shown before attending were not accurate of either Beach excursion. It feels like Lihim is getting way ahead of itself and should focus on its core offering before branching out. Tours should certainly not be taking place to areas of construction. We did complain about this at the time and were credited a round of drinks.

Service - While the staff were numerous, it felt like additional training would be of benefit for a luxury resort. For example staff at Henri's were constantly messing around behind the bar and the music playing was loud EDM interspersed with spotify adverts which felt not at all premium and a very odd vibe for a sunset drink Compared to other resorts of this rating there was little to no anticipation of guest needs. For example the water cooler in our room was broken so I asked that the fridge be kept stocked with cold bottled water. I had to ask for it to be refilled several times throughout the stay. Another example, the sun loungers by the pool in our room had no cushions or towels when the team knew we were spending the day there and it took almost an hour for one of the team to bring some. At the end of the day no one came to take away the cushions or used towels, it rained overnight and I was then told there were no spare, dry cushions for the following day.

Overall we had a nice stay at Lihim and enjoyed the surrounding activities of El Nido. However there are definitely areas for substantial improvement that need to be addressed to bring the hotel up to its advertised standard. Lihim definitely didn't live up to the expectations set by its own marketing materials, the star rating or the prices. We did not feel that it was value for money in its current state and would certainly not return. There are many other amazing resorts in the area with better amenities and better understanding of 5 star levels of service. It feels like Lihim has lost its way a bit...

LONG REVIEW: The resort has a great concept of providing premium-level experience in El Nido Town but unfortunately is poorly executed and cannot yet hold a candle to other premium resorts (islands) in El Nido.

The GOOD The resort is undoubtedly beautiful. Well-designed facilities, comfortable rooms, spacious toilet and baths, and thoughtful space planning that incorporates local design and embraces the terrain of the area. The Butler service is great to assist you with arrangements you want to make. “Some” of the staff provide 5-star level service. Private island tour has a nice well equipped, nicely furnished party boat and exclusive lounges on a couple of islands where they serve meals.

The SO SO Food is mediocre at best. Restaurants in town have better food at half the price. Good luck if you have dietary restrictions (in our case, we have vegans in our party) Location is so-so. Not exactly a nice beachfront, and you have a 15 min walk through muddy roads to reach the town. If you happen to be there when sea travel is restricted, access to better beaches in the islands is nil. They offer inland tours but you would have to take a bumpy ride through a narrow dirt road until you are able to transfer to a van, which makes the travel time longer. While some of the staff are hospitable, the service level is inconsistent and mostly kept to a minimum aka you will need to ask to get something. For example, the restaurant staff mostly lacks the expected level of guest needs anticipation for a premium resort, ie approaching guests for seating, offering refreshments (coffee/ water/ tea) or the menu wo being asked, refilling water and clearing out plates, service with a smile. Most of the staff seem to be just going about their tasks to get them done, and some seem too tired to smile or greet guests. While the island tour had a nice boat, the guides/ staff are not organized/ well versed in terms of providing information of where you will be going and the activities that can be done, or offering the amenities available - again you would have to ask. They had full face snorkeling masks in the boat but they only offered the traditional ones, plus lifevest are the styro and cloth tie type. I’ve tried the tours offered by 3rd parties (Ape Tours) and they are a better experience - has better food, and engaging, knowledgeable guides.

The UGLY My parents received a butler who was not service oriented. The resort seems to have a theme of poor training or poor hiring. Too many technical issues including.... Multiple broken pieces of equipment such as the rower in the gym and the rower that was on our veranda. Boats broke down too. Escalator not working because the operator is on leave. And our room is around the equivalent of 6 flights of stairs Even some services unavailable - No Yoga because the Yoga instructor is on leave. Other promises in the marketing materials that we did not receive. Like a personal mini pool that was there but was too dirty to be used (when we asked, there was again an issue). Or light snacks in the room Worst of all NO WATER in the room for 2 nights. My wife had to take a bath in the spa (again 6 flights of stairs going down and back up) Found out later that an accident caused water pipe issues. unfortunately, they don’t have proper communications or good crisis management to inform guests. We only find out when we notify them about it. They didn’t communicate what facilities are available (unlike other premium resorts). For example, they were charging for use of the tennis court, but it was all self-service.

It could have been a good resort but overall was a lackluster experience for what we expected and...