1. Resort Golden Palm, Sanya

Resort Golden Palm is very close to the beach in Yalong Bay, Sanya. Note that for westerners, the beauty of this beach is strongly overrated, and a pacific island may be a more appropriate beach destination. Also Yalong Bay is far from most of the attractions in Sanya, except for the beach and a bevy of overpriced resorts.

The Resort Golden Palm had no trace of our booking, so we waited for a few tense minutes while they did some checking. Eventually the somewhat dour receptionist gave us a family suite overlooking the beach. This set of rooms was huge and very convenient, and a great deal for the price we paid. The poolside is very impressive, and there were some swings right next to the lake, which gave a very romantic atmosphere. So we enjoyed our stay very much. We ate at the resort several times and had no complaints about either the food or its price.

However, one day we requested in room breakfast by hanging the order slip on the doorknob well before the cut-off time. By the next day, when we reached the time for our breakfast, there was no sign of it, and the slip was still on the doorknob. We called the room service to complain, and to order the breakfast we wanted. One hour later, they delivered the food, but it was different to what we wanted, and much smaller than expected. My wife complained to them, and they told us they did not have the supplies, so substituted where necessary without informing us first. It was still quite tasty, but we recommend visitors go to the dining room for breakfast rather than requesting inroom service.

2. TravelChinaGuide

As usual, TravelChinaGuide provides sterling service. I have no complaints and no suggestion for improvement. I will continue to use TravelChinaGuide for all of my personal travel to China in the future.

Regards,

Matt.

Guest Name:Mr. Matthew HenricksenNationality : Australia Updated:2008-5-30

Dear TCG staffs:

Thanks very much for all your efforts with arranging our hotel stay in Sanya. Your professionalism and prompt response to our questions was greatly appreciated. We stayed at the Resort Golden Palm, Sanya March 19th-23rd.

While we enjoyed this 4-day portion of our 2 week trip to China, we definitely would not return to this hotel, nor would we recommend our friends to stay there. The resort itself is quite nice. The lobby and gardens are beautiful and well maintained. The interior of the hotel is showing signs of wear and needs some cosmetic upgrades (carpets, bedding, etc.). We were repeatedly disappointed with the attitude of the staff working in the hotel and the blatant disregard for providing anything beyond a mediocre level of customer service. It's remarkable for us to see how guests in the hotel are treated with suspicion of such acts as stealing from the guest room!

We feel that the most obvious areas of improvement include:

1. Provide full bar service at the pool-side. The large bar area adjacent to the pool appears abandoned and we would likely spend more time by the pool with a drink if there was actually a bar available.

2. Breakfast staff in the restaurant need to show more prompt, customer service attitude. We repeatedly noticed clean-up staff walk by our table when we had plenty of dirty dishes on our table.

3. Concierge staff should provide more accurate information regarding available recreational activities in the area (snorkeling, etc.)

We asked where we could go for snorkeling & scuba diving and we were told that we had to go to take a taxi to Dadonghai as this was not available near the hotel. We later discovered that there is a rental outlet just a short walk from the resort!

4. When my wife and kids wanted to try out the relaxation fish pool, they got into an argument with the attendants who repeatedly tried to overcharge for this service. This made for an upsetting experience.

It's a shame that these incidents overshadowed what would have otherwise been a perfect resort vacation. We encourage the General Manager of this hotel and his management staff to look critically at improving the staff attitude and the amenities within the resort.

Thanks,
David & Michelle Chandler

Guest Name:Mr. David ChandlerNationality : Updated:2008-4-16

The Sanya Resort Golden Palm is a nice hotel, placed in a good position (apart from most of the international hotels). It has an average size, so it is quiter than other very big hotels. The common facilities (restaurant, lounge) are in a very beautiful position, so you can enjoy eatnig or a drink with a superb view.

The beach is very close by (2 minute walking form the reception, but you have to cross a street).

The swimming pool is very very nice, very big, and an original shape in the middle of a luxurious garden. The nearby lake is also very nice.

Thanks to the nice position of the hotel, we think that every room can enjoy a real beautiful view (sea, lake or garden).

Generally speaking we were happy about our stay, although we made the following comments to the management:

1) The children indoor facility should be enlarged and improved (presently it is very small with limited opening hours)

2) The quality of the food is quite good but there is space for improvement.

3) The staff should improve the knowledge of English, if the hotel is interested in having foreign customers.

4) The checkout procedure should be revised (we spent 1 hour to check out because there was a mistake in their papers and they could not sort it out!!). We were going to miss our flight...

Hoping this will be helpful to you!
Paola de Antonellis

Guest Name:Mrs. Paola de AntonellisNationality : Italian Updated:2006-11-8

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