Crimson Resort and Spa Boracay — Hotel in Malay

We stayed at Crimson Resort and Spa in Boracay on January 2024. We booked this property as we wanted to have a quiet place to stay to get over jetlag and adjust to the local time.

We booked a seaview room which had a magnificent view of the beach. The room itself was pretty great. It was large, had a balcony and a living area, floor to ceiling windows, and a massive bathroom.

The facilities were also great. They had a large pool that had a really fun foam party on Saturdays. There was also a smaller pool on the second level of our building that offers a fantastic view of the sunset. They also offer free use of umbrellas, lounge couches, beach chairs, and kayaks for a fun/relaxing beach day.

Our stay also came with a free breakfast buffet at the restaurant which offered so many options from different cuisines. The food was pretty good although the best thing about it were the pastries. Room service on the other hand was ok, the food was pretty mediocre for the price. We honestly preferred going to D'Mall for dinner for tastier and more favorable options.

Service was also great. Everyone from the welcome center to the resort were so accommodating. Mariah, offered us refreshments as soon as we got to the welcome center and gave us a sincere farwwell. The wonderful MOD, Luz, checked us in. Raul and Rey gave us wonderful service at the restaurant every morning at breakfast. Darvin gave us a warm, friendly smile everytime we ordered at the beach. One of their lifeguards, I think his name was Jeff? (he said he was the only one who wasn't quite a regular at the resort yet at the time), saved my husband when he got on a damaged kayak and I feel really bad for forgetting his name because I can't thank him enough.

I also went to the spa on our last night. It was probably one of the best spa experiences I've ever had. They gave me the best ginger tea I've ever had. And since I was alone, they had me in a huge room where they usually do couples massages. I booked a package of 3 services, the scrub, a bath, and a massage. My therapist, I think her name was Clark (not sure but she had a male sounding name), was so incredibly thoughtful. The room was also very clean and had perfect ambiance. Price is pretty on par with places in the US.

Now you may be wondering why I only gave 4 stars. Here's why:

Although the service was amazing, It was getting to the point that it was making us a little uncomfortable. Everyone was so eager to serve that at times, it felt like our every move was being watched. This was a very minor thing though.

Another thing was the location. Station zero is a very nice, secluded part of Boracay. The only thing about it is that its pretty far from the other areas. If you're only going to be staying in the resort, then you're all set. But if you want to explore the island, they'll have to call you an e-trike, which has to go through their very long driveway, and will take you about 15 minutes to get you where you need to go. They do offer a shuttle to station 2, however, the times are very limited. I think they have a service at 4pm then the next one is at 8pm so if you wanted to spend all day at the beach, then get dinner after, its better to just get an e-trike which would cost you about $5-$6 each way.

Lastly, the resort kind of gave White Lotus elitist vibes. My husband and I made friends on our 3rd night so I invited them to hang out with us at the resort the next day not knowing that there was a $60 fee/person to use the premises. This was a mistake on my part, I should've known there was a fee. The thing that got to my nerves was that they treated my guests like second class citizens. I found out that my guests were told that "they will be charged even if they just touch the water at the pool/beach". I mean geez, I get it was just a warning but it could've been phrased better.

All in all, I would probably stay here again if I were to visit Boracay. The stay was actually pretty good if not for the last thing. I'll just have to make sure my guests are checked in with...

If you’re considering staying here and have low expectations, I’d recommend this hotel. But if you have high expectations, this hotel is not for you.

We stayed here for the last night of our honeymoon after visiting different hotels on this island to experience them all. I made the mistake of suggesting to my husband that we switch from the Shangri-La to this hotel because they had the same rating.

From the moment we arrived, the reception area was tiny, packed with people, and filled with the noise of screaming children, while we were handed a cold drink. While waiting for our room, we went to the beach hoping to sit on a lounge chair, only to find there were none available—something that never happened at our previous hotel. When we asked if they could bring out more chairs, they told us no, as they were all taken. The pool was also overcrowded, so we ended up taking towels and sitting on the sand, where we were constantly approached by people trying to sell us tours—just like on White Beach or any other non-private beach. It was super uncomfortable.

When we finally got our room, there was absolutely no honeymoon detail. We had left bottles of wine at other hotels, thinking we’d receive something similar here, only to regret it. My husband contacted the person who had messaged us on WhatsApp before our arrival to express our disappointment at not even receiving a simple welcome note. They offered us two cocktails, which we didn’t want at the time but planned to have later.

We went to the center of town and returned to find a small sign saying “Congratulations” and some pastries that were the same as the ones available at breakfast. Okay, fine. But speaking of breakfast—it was tiny compared to other hotels, and on top of that, we had to wait in line to get in.

Another issue is that they constantly host weddings, which take place right between the pool and the beach, making it impossible to have a peaceful moment since the hotel is so small. There are plenty of staff members, and they are friendly, but they don’t seem to know what they’re doing. Someone took my plate with my silverware, and I had to ask another staff member for new utensils because none were brought back to me. A better organizational structure would help them deliver the level of service expected from a true 5-star hotel.

The room itself was nice but lacked personality and didn’t reflect the island’s wild beauty like other hotels here do. On Saturday, they held a so-called “foam party” that we didn’t even know about—again, not the peaceful experience we were looking for. The room also didn’t have proper blackout curtains, so sunlight came in early in the morning.

Check-out is at 11 AM (while most hotels allow it until 12 PM). We asked if we could have the cocktails they had promised us while waiting for our airport transfer, only to be told that the cocktail bar only operates from 3 to 5 PM. Even though there was a bar open right by the pool and the beach, they refused to serve us anything there. They also asked if their previous “gesture” (the sign and pastries) wasn’t enough 💀.

Finally, as I sat on the beach writing this review, I realized they had already cut off our internet access—even though we hadn’t even left the hotel yet. 🤣 Now that I’ve arrived back in my home country, I’m finally able to send this.

5 stars? Where?

This is the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed at. I’m taking the time to write this review to help others avoid having a terrible experience at a so-called 5-star hotel that is far from it.

I’m giving it one star only because the staff members were kind and because of the farewell service before heading to the airport. Again, my rating is based on the fact that this hotel claims to be 5 stars and charges accordingly.

Also, I’ve noticed that whenever someone leaves a 1-star review, they reply with the same automated response saying they will “take this feedback to improve.” But clearly, they don’t improve—just copy-paste the same...

DO NOT STAY HERE! DEFINITELY NOT 5 STARS

I rarely feel the need to write negative reviews online but my wife and my experience at Crimson Resort was truly one of the worst ever. My wife and I had been traveling around Asia for a few weeks and thought we were saving the best for last... it ended up just being a nightmare.

To start, we booked a "deluxe hillview room" and were put into a dingy room on the ground floor that had just been painted the day before. The smell of paint was so strong, my wife and I were getting headaches after a few minutes and had to move room. The room we were moved to was better but the hallway still smelled of paint.

While we waited for the new room to be prepared, we took my father in law to one of the resort restaurants for his birthday lunch. The food was good. I told them to add the invoice to the bill and we would pay at checkout. A couple of hours later, we get a call from front desk saying the invoice can't be charged to the room. I let them know I would take care of the bill the next day (lots of time to handle as we were there for 3 nights). About an hour later, around 8pm while I'm having a shower and my wife is having what's supposed to be a relaxing bath, a very rude and obnoxious member of staff pounds on the door three separate times in the space of about two minutes, forcing me to get out of the shower after I yelled for him to wait. I was horrified at the cheekiness to see him standing there with a credit card machine looking for payment. I was furious and told him to add the invoice to the bill, as is customary in any normal resort/hotel anywhere in the world.

The first night was definitely the worst and left a very sour taste but there were plenty of other inconveniences such as: 1. staff are friendly but don't have a clue what they're doing. There's only 3 restaurants on the resort but staff members were sending us to the wrong restaurants. We asked another member of staff where the indigo pool was and she said she didn't know and had to get her supervisor. We told her it was fine and that we would look for it ourselves. Turned out the pool was down the hallway and around the corner. How could she not have known? 2. service is generally very poor. While we were having my father-in-law's birthday lunch, we ordered two more beers. After waiting 20 minutes (we were the only people in the restaurant at that point), I asked where the beers were. The server comes back with the wrong beers. She then comes back with the correct beers but doesn't bring any glasses with them. Very poor for a resort claiming to be 5 stars. 3. The gym has a very bad smell of dampness and there's pockets of damp smelling areas throughout the resort - yet another health and safety hazard in addition to rooms that stink of paint.

Based on other reviews I have read online, it appears the resort has purchased a disproportionate amount of 5 star reviews. All of the 1 star reviews I read raise a lot of the same issues I raise here, and they all seem to get the same auto response from the owner saying "we will take this into consideration... stay safe!" It's clear management couldn't care less about the guest experience.

The final bit of misery came as we were leaving the resort. We dealt with "Ram", a shockingly bad manager. We had been arguing over the customer service and I had said there was no way I was going to pay full price. She agreed to provide 5000 PHP discount (i.e. $100USD, a slap in the face when we spent at least $1200 there). While waiting for them to provide a taxi to the airport, her staff strongarms me into paying the full bill (otherwise, no taxi to the airport). I flag this issue (the disputed final bill amount) to her over the WhatsApp we had been communicating over during our stay, and surprise surprise, despite multiple messages, I am now being completely ignored.

Wish I could give less than 1 star....