HawaiiO

Anyone tried a Banyan Tree hotel/resort?

Is it worth it?

Thanks!

Ericka

As with all the hotel groups, some are better than others. Is there a specific property you are looking at?

daumueller

In general, very good. Will be at the mayakoba Next week.

HawaiiO

Thinking of Banyan tree in Lijiang, China.

The photos look amazing.

daumueller

Havent been to china yet.
Banyan Tree is expensive but very good (about the same level As ghm hotels)

DurandilToss

I had tried the Banyan Tree Sanya at China where it is an all pool villa resort. Everything there is nice with good interiors, excellent service, cookies for turn down service as well as a turtle soft toy as a souvenir to bring back home. The only downside we encountered during our trip there was that as it was during the raining season when we went there, the outdoor bathtub was not well maintained at all and you could see some algae stuck to it (have the slippery kind of feel) and is definitely too dirty to soak yourself in there. But then again, It might be much better there during non-rainy seasons.

worldiswide

Stayed at the banyan tree linjiang a couple of years ago. The rooms are like little houses with a bedroom sitting area and large kind of open bathroom. There is a hot tub within the grounds of each house. Our party of four thought they were very nice. Yunnan is an up and coming tourist destination in china as the Chinese want this area to be thought of as Tibet so although the rooms were very nice tourist infrastructure and service standards will be lower than large cities in china. Nice gift shop that combined thai and chinese influences and
a nice spa We did a package of two banyan tree resorts I. Yunnan. Lijian and ringha which

are about four hours apart. Ringha is much more remote and the hotel rooms are recreated Tibetan village. They were very interesting but may not be everyone's idea of luxury.

These hotels enhance the destination but are not the destination

damaxer91

We stayed at the Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru in the Maldives a couple of years back and would never even think of returning. We felt like more attention was given to the "environment" than the guests and the villas were in dire need of refurbishment. Service was below average considering the price and we were ready to leave after 2 nights. Luckily we had only booked 3.

hailstorm

Some thoughts on Banyan Tree Bintan. In a nutshell: nice, but not worth the price.

vuittonsofstyle

I do not consider Banyan Tree to be a luxury hotel brand. It offers good 4-stars on the whole. I think GHM are somewhat better. I have yet to have a great experience at a Banyan Tree.

FlyerEC

Agree , too much hype - yes, those photo shoots are good though
Will definitely pass

Wait for an Aman or Como.. GHM

Kagehitokiri

there was a period of great reports for mayakoba

some property sizes are good/great

xracer

On average, I've had very good experiences at BT resorts (better than most of my experiences at Aman resorts). However, I've not been to the exact resort that you are asking about (Lijiang), so cannot offer comments on that specific property.

paul2

I Can't help you with Banyan Tree Lijiang but I will comment on one particular experience.
Some years ago, as a wedding gift, I offered to organise and pay for a close friends honeymoon. They chose Thailand as the destination and I offered hotel suggestions including Banyan Tree Phuket and Amanpuri. They loved the pictures of the pool villas at Banyan Tree and I organised it for them even though they had stayed previously at Amanpuri.
I was in touch with them, from time to time, while they were there and realised they were disappointed with the hotel. The service was poor, tacky plastic gifts were left bedside at evening turndown, food was awful.
They were delighted with this honeymoon gift and weren't complaining but I wanted it to be perfect so I arranged for them to move to Amanpuri for the remainder of the holiday and they loved it.

Perhaps Banyan Tree are doing better in China but I need to be convinced that they are more than a 4 star hotel group.

Ozchinois

I'm a great fan of BT having stayed at BKK, Phuket, Hangzhou, Ungasan, Vabbinfaru and Samui. I have also stayed at GHM hotels and experienced great service. Unlike the rest here, my first Aman experience was disappointing. I will give them another chance perhaps in April when I am in Beijing. I think the BT properties in Thailand and Bali offer better service than those in China.
BTW the gifts left on the bed are usually little handmade cloth turtles, plastic starfish or other local craft and it is part of their effort to raise funds for the environment if you so choose to donate USD$2. I much prefer such gifts to chocolate.