Mandarin Bay Resort & Spa — Hotel in Malay

This resort has a fantastic location, right on the beachfront of Station 2, making it easy to enjoy both the beach and the pool.

I stayed in Room 302 for 3 nights. The room was spacious, the bed was firm and comfortable, and the TV allowed mobile phone connectivity and Netflix streaming. Soundproofing was excellent, ensuring a good sleep except for the loud music from the Dinner buffet. All staff were very friendly and helpful. Despite these positives, I’m unsure whether I would choose to stay here again.

*First, the management isn't well-organised. I emailed them to book an airport transfer, but I didn’t receive a response for 3–4 days. The landline number listed on their website was unreachable, and I had to call the mobile number more than 10 times before finally getting through to the resort. Even considering their "soft opening" phase, this level of disorganisation is unacceptable.

*Housekeeping & Room Maintenance One of the biggest disappointments was housekeeping. While the overall room cleanliness was average, the bathroom and shower area were a major letdown. -The toilet kept running after flushing, requiring multiple flushes. -The shower had black mold on the floor, dirty tile grouts, and the drain was clogged from the first day. I assumed it would be cleaned the next day, so I didn't request extra cleaning, but it wasn’t cleaned at all, so I had to request cleaning to be able to use the shower. -The shower booth’s glass door was too small, causing water to splash outside. -The showerhead was mounted too high with no angle adjustment, uncomfortable to use. -The bathtub plug didn’t work, unusable. -A towel rack was broken. -The refrigerator was incredibly loud, making a noise like a Siberian windstorm, so I had to unplug it for all 3 days.

*Breakfast & Dinning -Breakfast was average. However, there were very few fruit options, and coffee or tea had to be requested didn't offer first. Coffee from the large thermal container was terrible. It would have been much better if there is a self-service coffee machine like other resorts. -The dinner buffet was another major disappointment, food selection was quite limited. -The barbecue station was overcrowded, making it difficult to get any meat dishes. -I got the unlimited drinks, but even after requesting the same drink from two different staff members, no one brought it. After ordering from a third staff member and mentioning that the Coke Zero tasted terrible, I was shocked when they simply replied, "Because it's Coke Zero." I usually drink Coke Zero, but I have never tasted one as flat and watered-down as this. When I pointed this out, the staff member just walked away without responding. -I left dinner in 30 mins, but I heard the "Happy Birthday" song over 8 times, couldn't enjoy it at all.

*Pool & Beach Facilities The pool wasn’t really big and not enough sunbeds. There was no separate kids pool, so most of the guests were families with children, making it difficult to relax. I barely used the pool for this reason. At the beach, the number of sunbeds was limited, unless you arrived before 9am, they were all taken. The resort offered free beach mats, but they weren’t very practical unless you planned to sunbathe.

*Airport Transfer The airport transfer was convenient but inefficient. It wasn’t a private transfer, which I expected, but after meeting the resort staff at the airport, I had to wait over 20 mins for other guests to arrive. On departure day, my flight was at 2pm, but I was forced to leave the resort at 11am and arrived at the airport around 11:30am. Since the airport was small and lacked facilities and no WiFi, I had to wait for nearly two hours. This was probably another guest had an earlier flight than mine.

The resort’s beachfront location is excellent, but due to the high number of families with children, it’s not ideal for those seeking a quiet, relaxing holiday. The management, housekeeping, and dining experience all fell short of expectations, making it difficult to justify a...

I have stayed in several hotels and resorts already and I must say that Mandarin Bay Resort and Spa is my new favorite.

Date of Stay : September 27-29 (2 Nights)

Airport Transfer We booked our airport transfer with them and everything went smoothly. Upon arriving at the airport, one of their staff is already waiting for us. The van used to pick us up was new and spacious. The AC was already running to ensure that it would already be cold when we got in. No more queuing was needed at the welcome center. I think everything was already prearranged when we got there so we went directly to the boat that would transfer us. Upon arriving at the port, their staff was already waiting and then guided us to our van. All throughout this, their staff would help you with your baggage. So just like that, we were transferred from the airport to our hotel. Needless to say, the transfer was hassle-free.

Reception Upon our arrival at our hotel, we feel very welcomed, as we were greeted by every staff member we came across. Ms. Rose quickly guided us to a vacant spot where we can have a seat and relax while they check our booking details. We were handed cold towels and welcome drinks. We really appreciated this as it surely helped us cool off the morning heat. I also really appreciated the fact that I only have to go to the actual Reception desk once and only for a few minutes. Most of the check-in procedure was done while the guest is sitting and relaxing at their lounge. Since we arrived way too early for their standard check-in, they offered to keep our luggage instead while we roamed around. When we returned to be checked in, they kept on updating us if our room was already available. Ms. Roshan also kept on checking on us to see if we were comfortable while we were waiting.

Rooms Rooms are spacious and up-to-date. The AC was already turned on so it was really comfortable when we went in. I was even surprised that our room has a bathtub. Our room has a balcony with a great view outside. Smart TV is available, although you have to use your own account to be able to use Netflix. My daughter instead used it to watch Youtube clips.

Facilities My daughter really loved the pool. Whenever we had some spare time, she would insist on taking a dip at the pool. Pool towels are always available and they also provided various kinds of floaters for the guests. You can even borrow a beach mat and beach toys for the kids. It seems that every small detail was given thought so guests can really enjoy the stay at Mandarin Bay. I think they also have a small gym and aside from their main restaurant (La Fiesta), they also have a newly opened Italian restaurant. I also saw a Chinese and a Japanese restaurant being constructed.

Breakfast For me, there was enough variety of food choices available. Even my daughter, whom is a picky eater did not have a problem with the food choices. I think they tend to switch viands and other food choices each day, since during our 2nd visit there was always something new to try. You should give their Ube Champorado a try. I hope they would consider serving Egg Benedict as one of their standard menu items.

Service / Hospitality I believe aside from being somehow a new establishment, I think their service or rather their staff is their most commendable asset. All staff are very professional, friendly and approachable. Ms. Rose, Mr. Rock, Ms. Roshan and all of their staff are very commendable. I really felt welcomed and enjoyed my vacation. I would not hesitate to stay with Mandarin Bay again.

You should also give their dinner buffet a try. I enjoyed all the food but I would recommend their roast beef and seafood section.

The only thing that they missed was when they forgot to setup a birthday greeting for my daughter (I communicated this thru their FB Page Messenger) instead of their usual welcome banner displayed on the TV. But that is a very small detail and we still enjoyed...

Please make sure to communicate effectively to your customers.

June 2 we booked reservations from agoda for 3pax and requested to have airport transfers. June 3 agoda sent confirmation email but no information about the airport transfers eventhough it was clearly in the note that my aunt have a cancer and is undergoing chemo so obviously we want to make sure she gets to travel smoothly as she wishes to see Boracay and I specifically booked the Mandarin as it shows 5 star and nice facilities. Started sending email and contacting Mandarin Bay and Spa just to secure our airport and hotal transportation, sent them emails and tried to call their number which is always unnatended and facebook messenger which only replied once a day and would not directly confirm my request till a day before our flight which is 5th of June after so many call attempts.

Come 5th of June when we thought everything went smoothly we never got a proper welcome like whats stated on socmed with free drinks and cold towel, we thought ah okay maybe its just because we arrived around 8am we let it pass and since my aunt was tired there was no airconditioned waiting area we ask if we can do early check in the front counter staff Ira or Aira i forgot her name she said she will check. So we decided just to eat in La fiesta came back to the lobby before lunch time and asked again, thats when we learned they charge 1k per hr for early check in (which was not disclosed ahead) but will check us in at 2pm so we decided to just roam around and shop in D Mall. We returned back at 2pm and waited when we finally approach they had us waiting again because they failed to prepare it while we were out, also they kept asking if we will just be staying for 1day and even asked me to resend our Agoda booking which clearly stated 2nights June 6-8 and in fact they also have our transportation request and flight details.

June 7 afternoon while tired from our land tour our keys got locked out and could not enter our room. I had to go back to check the counter and found out they thought we were checking our and even the airport transfers was scheduled that day instead of the 8th so they had to fix it AGAIN as it appears NO ONE FIXED IT.

8th of June called them around 9am and asked if they could prepare our transportation and transpo bill so we can settle it down by 10am the lady just said okay. And tadaaaa after 5mins a guy called asking us to ready in 15Minutes as the transportation was scheduled at 9:15am which means we only have 10mins to prepare with my aunt who is not as healthy as me and my cousin to move aroudn was forced to make run around and pack gets stressed out as we are and they even kept asking if we were not told AS OBVIOUSLY WE were NOT or else we could have prepared ahead considering we are traveling with a cancer patient. we asked to prepare our so called "private transporation at 10am since we barely had enough time" but was told "iiwas po kayo" if we can not go down at 9:30am at max. So we rushed everything and settled the bill at 9:30 as we followdd their instructions, ONLY TO BE TOLD to wait again as they had to rechecj everything and found out tht the transporation will wait.

Like the heck, 5 star experience is ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE AND UNNACEPTABLE. The stress we experience of how unorganised their people are is absolutely horrendous. We tried our bezt to still enjoy everything for my aunt but the last straw was the transportation and ho wwe needed to rush. NO EMAIL WAS SENT REGARDING IT NO ONE TOLD US ABOUT IT WHEN WE ARRIVED TILL WE GOT LOCKED OUT THE NEXT DAY TILL OUR VERY LAST DAY. And the funny thing is no one knew who should inform us? Thankfully my aunt chose to be happy despite being dragged to exhaustion from rushing to meet our...