Mövenpick Resort & Spa Boracay — Hotel in Malay

We spent 7 nights at Movenpick Resort & Spa Boracay to celebrate our wedding vow renewal, and the entire experience was truly memorable for our family.

For the first four nights, we stayed in the Sol Marina Villa, which was absolutely exceptional. The villa is incredibly spacious, with two bedrooms, two full bathrooms with bathtubs, a large living and dining area, and a kitchen with a full-size refrigerator and microwave. Outside, it features a private infinity pool with an attached Jacuzzi, an outdoor shower, and a gated entrance. Although the villa is located at the far corner of the resort near the beach, it’s surrounded by lush trees that provide plenty of privacy, and it's still an easy walk to the main pool area and lobby.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a dedicated guest services concierge and transported to the villa via e-trike. Inside, we were welcomed with a charcuterie board of meats and cheeses, a bowl of fresh fruit, a bottle of sparkling wine, and towel animals on the beds that our kids loved. There was also a thoughtful welcome message. As a family of six, we had more than enough space and comfort.

For the second half of our stay, we moved to the Sol Marina Beach Suite. While I originally thought it had direct beach access, it actually offers a nice beach view from its balconies. Though not as large as the villa, the suite still had two bedrooms, two full bathrooms with bathtubs, a living room, and a dining area. One of the bedrooms had smaller beds than those in the villa, but it was still spacious enough for our family.

The highlights of the resort are the large pool and the quiet private beach. The beach is peaceful, clean, and free from the vendors you’ll find on White Beach. While the sand isn’t quite as fine, it’s still beautiful. The pool is massive and never felt crowded, even when most of the chairs were occupied. We spent a lot of time enjoying both areas.

The daily breakfast buffet had a good variety of options. The three on-site restaurants offered enough variety for the first few nights, though for longer stays you may want to explore food options outside the resort. The food prices are on the higher end by Boracay standards, but they reflect the quality. A nice bonus was the complimentary daily chocolate hour with a chocolate fountain and selection of pastries and desserts. You can also order from the restaurant menus through in-room dining, though the wait time can be a bit long.

The resort also has other amenities like a pub with TVs and a billiards table, and a beach club with DJ and live performances on the weekend. There are daily scheduled activities available for both adults and children, but you can also just relax by the pool or beach. The kids' activity club is a great option if parents want some alone time. The gym is small relative to the resort size and can get busy in the mornings.

We didn’t try the spa services, but they looked very nice and consistent with the upscale atmosphere of the resort. Prices seemed to reflect the resort’s high-end positioning.

We arranged our vow renewal ceremony through the resort. Since we were planning it from the U.S., communication had its challenges, but the staff did their best to make the process smooth. On the day of the ceremony, the weather didn’t cooperate, which forced a change in venue, but the staff acted quickly and set up an alternative space. Despite the last-minute change, the ceremony and reception went smoothly, and everyone had a great time.

During our stay, we also went on a land tour and visited several other beaches on the island. The resort’s location on the north side made getting around fairly easy.

If you’re visiting during the rainy season, be prepared for unpredictable weather. We had some windy and rainy days, but still managed to enjoy the pool and beach whenever the weather cleared.

Overall, our family had an amazing experience at Movenpick Boracay. The service, amenities, and setting made it a perfect place to celebrate a special occasion, and we would definitely...

A hotel to avoid

We booked a week’s stay early January at the Movenpick Boracay, based on the 5-star rating and location on the beach.

The room-type booked was not available upon check-in. In fact, no room was available by 15:00, the stipulated check-in time. After a 2-hour wait we were taken to a room (lower category). The balcony had not been cleaned in a very long time, no chairs on the balcony, no bar fridge and no seating in the room. After escalating the matter the Guest Relations Manager the 2 single beds in the room were put together in the middle of the room, as the center console is fixed and could not be moved. We slept in the middle of the room for the night, with pillows falling off the back, etc. We were promised a different room the next day, which meant we could not unpack and had to move again. In fairness, we received an apology and bottle of wine to apologize, but this is in no way what one would expect of a Movenpick hotel or a 5-star hotel. And no offer of a reduced rate for the sub-standard room… On that point, when commenting on the poor standards we were very quickly told that the resort is not a 5-star (despite it being indicated as such on online platforms), but a 4-star ‘premium’. It seems poor standards are acceptable in 4-star ‘premium’ hotels… Breakfast was an experience similar to that of a soup kitchen in some feeding scheme. Not only did you have to queue for everything, but the norm was for things to have run out and not being available for extended periods, until replenished again. It’s clear that whoever manages the restaurants has inadequate management skills to plan and manage a large resort’s facilities. Cappuccino and espresso were available at an extra charge, again quite a surprise for a resort charging top-end rates. While the resort has loungers on the beach, these were never once available during our 1-week stay. The hotel has a clearly ineffective system of people being able to ‘reserve’ loungers first thing in the morning by putting a towel on it, but with actual use not being required to prevent other people from using it. The end result is that many loungers stand uncopied with a towel on it for the day, while other guests do not have loungers to use. In general, the management of the hotel seems to be severely lacking or at best, rather poor. No manager is ever seen, unless one insists on meeting with them. Frontline staff are left to fend for themselves and face irate guests. Basic quality assurance does not happen – during the entire week we never saw a supervisor or manager check on the quality of the cleaning of housekeeping staff. The provision of towels etc. was erratic and often required a specific request to replace towels removed from the bathroom. Cleaning was sub-standard. Poor management is also evident in the pool bar and restaurants, with many menu items being continuously ‘unavailable’ during our stay. Here I’m not referring to exclusive items that may be problematic to source, but basics such as chicken and tuna that were unavailable on a number of days… and that with a fully booked resort. It almost felt as if people were surprised that the resort was full – clearly the ability to cater for a full resort is not one of the management’s skills. Bottled water was unavailable for 4 continuous days! Ultimately the responsibility for such poor management should rest with the GM – if a GM is in place, he too was never seen. No walk-abouts, no interaction with guests to check on their experience, just total absence. But given all the issues, it makes sense that the GM would rather stay within the safety of a nice office. The resort caters for weddings. However, if a wedding takes place certain areas become blocked to paying guests – how can this be fair? At peak season rates?

Considering the cost of the resort, the experience was a huge disappointment.

On the positive, the service and frontline staff are very friendly and while the food offerings are poor and of poor quality, the chocolate...

WORST HOLIDAY. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

I stayed in this hotel for 5 days and 4 nights. My family and I got assigned to a connecting room.

On our last night, around 7PM, we arrived in our room and my sister-in-law and I were talking. The next door neighbour started knocking violently on our connecting door and slamming their door. It was 7PM and we were not being obnoxious. Around 9PM, I was playing with my five-year-old nephew and we were laughing, the next room neighbour violently knocked our door again. I called the guest service about the incident. Kim assured me that she would escalate it to the duty manager but an hour later I called and someone else answered and had no idea about my case. It got escalated to the duty manager, Jade. Nothing was done. No acknowledgement. NONE. NADA. Perhaps because we’re local tourists not foreign tourists unlike the people next door. The preferential treatment over foreign tourists is quite apparent which is quite baffling. Unfortunately, my supposedly fun holiday with my family got ruined with how this incident was handled. I honestly wished I stayed somewhere else. One of the worst holidays I had. Was I supposed to whisper in my room? We were not even moving furniture.

I had stayed in other hotels in Boracay and the walls are not paper thin. The linens and rooms (in other hotels) always smell fresh and the utensils are immaculate, Movenpick fails at these things. It was our first time in Mövenpick as our friend suggested it. We wanted privacy and the private beach front offered a lot of privacy. The hotel though didn’t feel like anything close to a five-star hotel and I’ve stayed in many five star hotels. The staff prefer foreigner tourists and not proactive. Only a very few stood out.

Other comments:

The sand isn’t as fine as it is in Station 1. It’s coarse and has a lot of corals. Station 1 has way better sand.

The food was nothing remarkable. I understand that it’s a bit pricey so we expected more. We ate at Brezza, Sol Marina, and the Market. Only the Truffle Mushroom Pasta was good. The Salpicao was horrendous, the meat wasn’t fresh. It tasted like it’s been frozen for a long time. The sisig was served burnt. The others were forgettable.

The breakfast buffet was underwhelming. The bread/pastry area, you can skip it altogether. The croissants taste like store bought croissants. The Aglio Olio was so dry. The only thing that I liked was the Ube Champorado.

It’s far from everything. Yes, you get the privacy but nothing’s going on. Barely any shows at night or whatsoever. If you like to have drinks, nice food, or party, better stay somewhere else.

The shuttle going to DMall and back is on time and leaves within 10 minutes but the services are too infrequent and gets full easily in the morning.

The chocolate hour was nothing special. You won’t miss a lot if you skip it. It’s their way for you to buy their overpriced drinks.

The bamboo-looking straws felt like plastic straws. I thought they were being eco-friendly or something.

I got offered a membership at the front desk while trying to get my key card. It’s good but I was tired from traveling and could not think straight. It could’ve waited until I got settled in my room.

I had food delivered from other restaurants and they made us sign a waiver. Well, maybe offer better food then so guests won’t have to get it somewhere else.

Verdict: Stay somewhere else if you want a nice holiday unless you want to stay in an area that has a semi-private beach. After the very poor handling of the incident, service, the food, the location, I don’t think I would come back nor suggest it to friends. I would heavily suggest to avoid it altogether and spend your money somewhere else. Definitely doesn’t feel like a five-star resort more like a disgustingly overpriced three-star resort who discriminates local tourists. I’ve stayed at better hotels and resorts. I’m never coming back. Avoid...