Spent 4 nights here recently after a pleasant stay at the IC. The hotels coordinated the move -- IC club staff told us when our Regent room was ready, we packed up and took a golf cart. Regent club manager plus a bunch of others awaited us. We were offered check-in at the club lounge or in our room. So Nicolas, it appears that your complaints about the cumbersome check-in process were taken seriously. We chose in-room check-in and were transported to a small garden villa with a plunge pool.

It's no doubt appreciated that the hotel makes an effort to upgrade Diamonds, but as some others have said, the garden villas are luxuriously furnished, but ultimately nothing to write home about. The pool is too small to be of use, especially in a resort that has a beautiful beach and numerous great pools. Our suite had no direct sunlight, which meant that the small pool was unpleasantly cold. We hopped in just once, just so we could say we'd done it. We spent zero time in our "garden." I found the view depressing -- fenced in by concrete walls, the garden isn't particularly pretty, and the lack of sunlight is a serious downer -- it often felt like the skies were overcast when we got up in the morning, and we had to leave the villa to see that it was actually perfectly sunny. We also had some problems with bugs in the villa, which I assume wouldn't be quite as bad in the main building. So count me among those who'd turn down the upgrade and pick a high floor view room in the main building next time.

We had a beautiful welcome amenity waiting for us: a bottle of wine, a fruit arrangement, and some delicious pastries. My only gripe here would be that we didn't eat one of the pastries, and it remained in the room for 3 days. Loved the 3pcs of laundry amenity and free minibar, and they kept bringing ridculous amounts of Acqua di Parma. Not posting any villa pictures here, because you can see it all in Nicolas' post above.

The club lounge is fantastic. Free-flowing champagne all day (brut or rose), premium spirits, tasty mixed drinks, great snacks -- a daily selection in the afternoon and evening, plus an all day on-demand menu. The waygu pho was delicious, as were the garlic prawns. Foie gras, scallops, truffles -- all good stuff, too. My only minor complaint here would be that afternoon tea had the exact same items 4 days in a row. The club infinity pool is fabulous, and we spent a lot of time here. In fact, I found it challenging to decide what to do -- the beach was great, we felt guilty for not using our plunge pool, the main pool looked appealing (but we never used it), but in the end, the club pool was it for us. Strangely, the lounge wasn't at all busy. In fact, a few days after NYE, which I assume is still a busy travel time, the club only had the merest smattering of guests. We were alone for hours at the pool, and during evening happening hour, we were joined by no more than 3-4 other couples. The loungers by the infinity pool did fill up somewhat from 3pm to sunset, but with guests of the rooftop bar (which also has access to the pool), not with club guests. The club charge is $150++ pppn, which seems reasonable considering what's on offer (not sure if any of the villas include club access). In any case, it's spectacular value for lounge pass holders.

Breakfast at the main restaurant (free for all guests, apparently) was good, but perhaps the least amazing part of the stay. The beach, pool, gym, pretty much everywhere we went, felt 80% empty. But the restaurant breakfast was busy. You can pick from a menu, and there's also a huge buffet. It was all very good, but had more of a "very good Asian hotel" feeling, as compared to the over-the-top nice feeling of everything else. We ended up taking breakfast at the club lounge most mornings, where the food was outstanding and we were usually the only guests.

Overall, I am inclined to say this is perhaps the best hotel in Asia one can redeem points for at this moment. It's spectacular value for lounge pass holders who redeem points, especially with Chase 4th night free and 10% points discount. Buy points at .5cpp during a promo, stay here for less than $200 a night. What's not to like ... apart from the slight voice in the back of one's head, whispering, "this is too good to last." As long as it does, we'll be back!