Check-in:
We arrived at about 11.00am (via taxi) and waited for check-in at the desk. It was a rather busy & cramped area blocked somewaht by a large square object/seat(?) thingy that precluded queing properly when things got busy. After a few minutes one of the front desk staff came around to the front & approached us for check-in. We were told we had been upgraded from a standard Garden Deluxe to an Ocean Front Deluxe for our first night & then to an Ocean Suite for the remaining 4 nights. Very nice. Our room wasn't ready but we were told that we could wait in the Suites Lounge for the hour or so this would take. Very nice too. We were escorted there & offered a seat. We then requested coffee/water & it was provided ten minutes or so later by a somewhat distracted member of the Suites staff. After an hour or so of web browsing we left for a walk & some enjoy some lunch at the beach front retaurant - which was very good. Upon our return to the Suites Lounge just after 2.00pm we expected to recieve our keys. Interestingly, our request was met with surprise, & some confudsion, by the (different) agent who seemd unaware of our impending check-in. We were given trwo keys & sent on our way! No offer of directions or assistance with our (small amount) of luggage. We noted that our empty cups/glasses/plates from our snacks earlier remained untouched where we had left them some 1 1/2 hours earlier. Not so good.
Room:
The room itself was a good size and contained but a rather worn out looking range of furniture & fittings; an armchair, a desk, large bathroom, seperate bath/shower and a king bed. Everything seamed, well, old really. Not clean either;
* Bath & sink surrounds were heavily watermarked & full of dust;
* Glass wall between bath/bedroom was full of watermarks & smears;
* The wooden venetian covering the above window was covered in dust;
* The bed side tables were dusty & contained debris;
* We suffered an ant infestation that evening (yes, we are in the tropics but it added to our woes);
* Taps/shower caked in limescale;
* Curtains were different lenghts meaning that half the curtains were several cm short of the floor. They also didn't meet in the middle! Were we at Fawlty Towers?
Furthrmore the iron was missing from the room, the TV picture quality was dreadful (sorry, but I do like to catch up with the news!) and there was no welcome information regarding what was included in our stay. Breakfast arrangements? Suite Lounge details? Internet access etc etc etc - this was all absent. Attention to detail was not a strong point so far. Thank goodness we could move from this dreary, dated, broken room tomorrow. The view from the balcony was fabulous though
The Suite;
Next day we moved to the Conrad Suites section of the hotel. This followed a disocussion I had with the duty mananger about how dissapointed we were so far. We were not angling for any type of upgrade at all. We wanted a holiday! Equally we were not about to turn them down.
The suite was significantly better (no surprise there) than the previous room. Well over a thousand square feet of (reasonably) contemporary space. Huge bedroom and a very large combined kitchenette, dining area & living room. The balcony contained a day bed & table & chairs. The walk-in wardrobe led to a large bathroom with a double sink, TV at the foot of the bath, similar but much larger than the last one.
The only recurring problems in the Suites (which also applied to our previous rooms woes) were hosekeeping related;
* Damp/bad smelling towels provided on day two;
* Thread bare towels (one that actually had a hole!)
* Laundry (free at Suites) - despite requesting to be returned on hangars were folded (creased)
* Poor cleanlisness - tha day we arrived the rugs had not been cleaned (food debris anyone?)
* Bathrobes not replenished;
* Laundry lists not repleneished;
Upon escalation all issues swiftly dealt with but really, should it be like this? No, it shouldn't!
Resort Facilites:
The pool areas are huge & varied. A large central pool, a lagoon pool surrounding the resort & the private Suites-only pool provided superb choices. Excellent but with very chilly water! Two sand-filled pool areas were included at the lagoon pool for families. Sections where the pool is deeper than 1.2m would be welcome. There are ample loungers, salas (bales) & staff are very pro-active & attentive in providing towel service, iced water, cold towels & snack menus.
Spa:
We had a lovely beach front massage for $1/minute + 10 minutes free. Excellent.
Breakfast:
Suku restaurant is OK but busy & has a very average buffet IME. Avoid if a Diamond & use the Suites lounge (Rin Restaurant) for breakfast - excellent off-menu items (great eggs benedict) plus a similar buffet as Suku.
Suites Lounge:
Oustanding. Cocktails in the lounge (situated in the Conrad Suites section) are excellent and very free-flowing. Canapes were of high quality & much better than the deep-fried cr+p that ones sees at so many Exeutive lounges these days. No nasty buffet bun-fight either as the canapes are served pre-plated. Classy.
Afternoon Tea was served here too - again excellent, pre-plated & served on a cake stand, english style (...no it's not
High Tea either, that's something different...
)
Restaurants:
The hotel offers a modest range of dinner options. Eight Degrees South (beachfront) was very good. But nothing else took our fancy. Rin Japanese? No. SUKU, all-day dining style? No. Better offerings elsewhere.
Staff:
Generally, excellent. So helpful, freindly & willing. Suites staff were brilliant. Housekeeping, where ere you?!
Conclusion:
Overall we had a lovely holiday. The people made it for us-the staff could not have been more friendly. Plus the footprint/facilities of the Conrad are excellent. Frankly, the room quality is quite poor for a Conrad. We were shown a renovated (compared to our first Ocean King ) room & it was a basic makeover. New/made over furniture/painting & deep cleaning. That's it. Old bathrooms remain. The Ocean Suite we saw was lovely but still had old fixtures & fittings that were the same as all other rooms/suites. Housekeeping is the key downside here. This must improve.
Would we return? Yes, but only to a Suite
