First thing you do - check all reviews online for truthfulness. About 90% of all existing reviews of this place on TA are written by accounts that have one posting. Draw your conclusions accordingly.
At the hotel check-in was friendly, room (Beach Villa with plunge pool) was clean, functional, nothing posh. Fixtures worn out, water pressure soso..the place was run as Hilton before and so the setup still makes sense, but the new owners probably never ran a 5star under competition before. When you take a closer look you will see things are worn out.
Food was a straightforward disaster except the onsite Japanese place. Breakfast did mange to go south every day and the wine list is a bummer..staff is non attentive nor trained, good half forgets orders and the food is cheapest wholesale (we went to other places and were able to get the quality we were looking for at half price, still overpriced but at spot). They seemingly try to make 10x margin on everything they sell to you. Food quality is at best 3star. To be fair staff is trying their best but probably it´s worth considering to hire ONE international senior chef into the team if 90% of guests are international.
The "Pina Colada" i got at 8pm looked exactly same at 8am next day, with the foam still there, talk about no preservatives added :-))
I am feeling sad for those who saved to make such trip. I just lost a week i could have spend in NYC or elsewhere. Go Four Seasons and sleep well. That said, Good Bye and Good Luck.
Mainan anak