Fairways & Bluewater Boracay — Hotel in Malay

Don’t believe the rating. Avoid it at all costs.

Facilities and Amenities The resort's facilities and amenities are in dire need of maintenance. The shuttle service is a prime example: if you’re fortunate, you might ride in a decent extended golf cart, which is quite pleasant. However, the reality for most guests is being crammed into an old truck’s closed trunk, complete with a claustrophobic low ceiling and a general sense of disrepair (see attached photos).

My room was noisy, a wardrobe that was just a big empty box with 5 hangers with no drawers or shelves - there’s not much one can do with that -, my bathroom had a wobbly toilet seat, a dribbly shower, and no hand towels were provided during my entire 7-night stay. The room service number was always busy and never picked up, so we had to call the reception and wait 30 minutes until the restaurant called us back. However, the housekeeping was neat.

The gym had three pieces of equipment out of order for the duration of my visit, leaving only one treadmill functional over the course of the week, which was challenging considering it was always busy. Additionally, when we attempted to use the hot tub on our second day, we were informed that the water was not hot—quite ironic for a hot tub.

Food With all due respect to the kitchen staff, breakfast was subpar. Guests faced limited options, long lines, and a lack of assistance in finding seating—essentially, you’re on your own during peak times. Cold baked beans, a toaster that required three rounds to achieve a slightly brown toast, no milk were just a few of the issues we encountered.

I was surprised to discover that all three restaurants I tried offered nearly identical menus. It would have been nice to see each venue showcase its unique flair. If you enjoy pizza, you’re in luck! A humorous note: their sweet potato chips turned out to be regular potato chips with sugar. At that point, I could only laugh.

Overall, the food was average, desserts were disappointing, and the wines were barely drinkable. I highly recommend venturing to the main beach for better meal options.

Inconsistent Service Quality A simple beer order at the swim-up bar turned into a 20-minute wait as I watched the bartender clean glasses before finally retrieving the beer. This scenario repeated itself on multiple occasions.

One morning, we ordered coffee, only to be told they didn’t have the size we requested—what a surprise! After settling for any size, we were informed that only soy milk was available. After wandering around, we found another coffee spot, which led me to wonder why the first place didn’t suggest it. Good service isn’t just about making everything available, but offering options and solutions. Similarly, when I inquired about a driving range I had seen advertised, I was told it no longer existed. However, I later discovered a golf simulator on the games floor, which no one had thought to mention.

The golf clubhouse emerged as the best option for food. Although there were still some mix-ups with payment logistics, the quality of the food was good enough to replace breakfast at the resort.

Another frustrating aspect was the payment system at the clubhouse. Many items and services had to be paid for in cash and charged separately, without precious communication. This is quite off-putting for guests on holiday. It would be great to accept credit card payments for golf charges or at least provide an ATM in the clubhouse. I found myself suggesting alternatives to the staff, which is not something guests should have to do while on vacation.

Lastly, serving rusty beers (see pics) is unacceptable for a resort that claims to stand for excellence. This is not reflective of the standards one would expect, especially given that the golf course is the resort's best asset and is well-maintained.

Conclusion If you’re here for the golf, go for it but stay anywhere else. If you’re not here for the golf, just stay...

The resort has easy access to a beautiful beach. For that, we loved our stay here. Other than that, things were just okay, not that spectacular..

I felt like the whole resort was built in back in the 90s and stuck in there. Buildings remain kind of out of style. Things work for sure, but nothing fantastic that stands out as modern and amazing.

The breakfast buffet was absolutely horrible... 😢. Yes for people who stay there for a few days, it is manageable but for us who stayed for more than a week, it was unbearable. The quality of food is below average. They only give you either watermelon or pineapple for fruits. It is so weird to me this is in the tropical region, yet no variety for fruits.. Not even a mango or a passion fruits.. Hotels or Airbnb in Bali do much better in this regard. (or in Thailand or Maldives..).

The rooms are okay. Just standard amenities and standard bedding.

The cleaning staff are not that proactive. So unless you ask them to change each item, they don't. They don't look at the shampoo or conditioner running out and they just leave it empty. You have to ask for it by calling.

The staff who answered calls from our room was kind of rude. She didn't listen till the end and just kept saying that the cleaning staff would stop by. And of course, they would show up not knowing what was the request.

Many staff were lined up against the wall in the reception area to greet you. That is fine except it was a bit weired because at a time there were like 20 of them lined up Why did they need to stand there and did nothing? It was like they had to wait by wearing a smile to be called upon for some tasks.

The breakfast was horrible (just cheaply made and you can tell..), we decided to go get normal breakfast outside of the resort. Of course, for all other meals were had at other restaurants outside of the resort.

We chose this resort purely on the budget and we were in a hurry. So we knew the level of service to be had.

The only thing that was decent was the beach. And yet, it was bizzar to see a wedding ceremony going on sometimes and the staff would shoosh us off so we or other guests who have nothing to do with the wedding wouldn't be in there wedding photos or videos. A bit strange and rude to the guests.

If I were having a wedding on a beach, I would not even choose a beach like this. I would choose a private beach with private access for my guests only..

They had a wedding set up with the huge board of team building event for some companies or so next to it. Apparently there was a team buolding event prepared and a huge sign was built there. Like I said, it is a mix of all kinds of things without consistent themes and for me, it was a bit weird..

But hey, each to their own..

We at least enjoyed snorkeling. You can see a turtle if you look harder 😊. We also saw sea horses, sea snakes, in addition to other tropical fish. Dancing baby fish werr delightful to see. I loved them! There are lots of razor fish and so much fun to see them.

Be careful if you don't swim well - there are A LOT of...

We stayed at Fairways and Bluewater Boracay for a week and we had such a great time there. Let's start with the positives:1) After getting a room change, we were able to enjoy our room and the view. The cleaners did a good job cleaning up the room every day and providing whatever we needed. 2) We loved that they had so many amenities on the property. Honestly, there's so much available that you don't even need to leave the hotel. But we would recommend you get out and explore the island and support the locals.3) The staff was very kind and respectful. Always greeting us at any time of the day. So that was lovely. 4) The breakfast was good. We enjoyed eating breakfast at the hotel. They had quite a very good variety. 5) The property is really big so thankfully there are shuttle buses that take guest from their building to the gate or wherever else you would like to go on the property. We also thought it was nice of them to provide a shuttle bus from the hotel to DMall. 6) The hotel also has a private beach, which is nice. I'd recommend wearing beach shoes in the water. My partner didn't have and he got injured in the water so be aware of that. On to the negatives: 1) Before our trip we tried contacting the hotel to ask questions multiple times and we were faced with so many challenges. We had to ask trip.com customer service to assist us and the response from the hotel would be very basic and not satisfactory. I would recommend updating your email and number because they're both incorrect, especially for first-time guests on the island of Boracay. 2) We would've booked our hotel a month in advance and would've left specific requests for our rooms so that the hotel could prepare for us, well. Once we arrived, they took us to our room and the hotel was certainly not prepared. That made us feel very ignored in terms of our requests. We had to ask for a room change, luckily we were able to get it but our 1st-day experience at the hotel was not good. 3) There is a policy for stained sheets and pillows at the hotel. But funny enough some of their sheets and pillows have stains on them! So before you sleep on the bed, take pictures of everything so that they do not accuse you. Thankfully, we did that so we weren't charged for what was already there. 4) On our checkout day, the lady at the front desk tried to have us pay for the soap dispenser that was in the room. Why would a guest take the soap dispenser 🙄😒. Luckily, I was very firm in letting her know the dispenser was in the room and we had no reason to take it. Literally, a minute later, another guest was checking out and they asked them the same question. Implying that the guest would've also taken the soap dispenser from their room. Please stop trying to get a payout from your guest. The hotel is already expensive, we paid a lot of money to stay there, so we don't need to be accused...