Qualia vs. Hayman (Barrier reef area, Australia)
 

Anyone been to both recently?

Hayman looks to have the better beach and pool, but Qualia looks like the all around better product.

I'd rather Qualia (for reasons I won't get into here)...but I currently have a rez at Hayman.

Any recent feedback (besides the 2014 reviews I've read, obviously)?

THX

Hi pricesquire

I stayed at Qualia in January this year, and then at Hayman for Valentines day and both my partner and I thought that Qualia is better than Hayman.
We stayed at the beach villa, and although the room is amazing, the fact that it lacked privacy was its downfall. I can't say much about the other rooms, but walking around the resort, despite the renovations, the exterior buildings looked outdated.
Feel free to msg me if you have any questions :)

Thanks bud!

Did you end up making a decision on this, Mr. Price? If so, do you mind sharing what you decided on and why?

Any updates on this ?
Or updated views ? Or recent stays ?

Looking at staying at one of these this coming August.

Qualia all the way

I haven't stayed at Hayman, but we went through the same evaluation, before settling on Qualia. We were there at the end of March and had a truly memorable holiday. The resort was fantastic, as were the several excursions we did. When booking, I was a little concerned about the potential service levels at Qualia, but I must say the service for the most part was truly exceptional. For sure, absolutely the best check in experience we've ever had. I guess the main reasons to choose Hayman would be if travelling with kids or a sandy beach is important. I was very happy we chose Qualia, and would make the same choice again if wereto head back to this part of Australia.

Been to both within the last 15 months. Qualia.

Qualia is currently offering Stay 4, Pay 3. They've dropped the F&B credit from Virtuoso bookings. Annoyingly, they quoted my TA $600 to reserve a specific villa. Of course, I asked for Villa 6 but they said it has been booked out for a year.

Hayman has opened as an Intercon but I've been told it's like a 4 star resort. They do have beach villas, however at $2,500 a night for a mega resort I truly wonder who will pay this price.

They also have 3-4 bedroom villas that go for the A$6-8k a night range.

Not sure I'd describe a resort with 168 keys as "mega" but I do agree that Hayman these days seems to be more 4 star than lux/5 star

Food was always an issue at Hayman, seems to be improving under IC.
qualia has benefit of access of things to do, places to eat, etc. on Hamilton Island.
quaila is for 16yo+, Hayman extremely popular with families.
Qualia is definitely supreme offering, and you'd only do Windward.

Re booking, get TAs to check with strong Aus wholesalers for rates at Hayman unless you are chasing IHG points/status for some reason. Can be much lower than published rates direct (festive season is really quite a difference). quaila book via Virtuoso, my parent agent has negotiated some additional benefits just given volume we put through as a group.

So it turns out my TA SojournsOf managed to get Villa 6 reserved for me by contacting the owners directly.

While it sounds pedantic, room choice and location can make or break a stay. Extremely excited for what will be a postcard perfect stay!

Please review! Have wanted to stay here on our eventual trip to Australia!

The QLD border is closed. The TR won’t happen until the new year, I’m afraid.

When I investigated this before my GBR trip, I decided that Hayman is too big and too much of an ugly modern building. I was also trying to avoid any resort that was likely to be overrun by kids.

My short list was Bedara (adults only very small luxury all inclusive, over a thousand USD per person per night, including French champagne 24/7) and Green Island (also small, on its own island but does get some dive boats that stop on day trips--between about 10 and 4, located about an hour by hydrofoil from Cairns with the resort hotel's own private check in lounge at the pier). I decided on Green Island because of the easy access, reputation for good food (I was very happy with the meals I had, including the possibility of discussing special fish orders for the day's dinner with the chef at breakfast), and easy activities (small underwater glass aquarium to see fish in the wild, free daily glass bottom boat tours, free snorkeling equipment, etc. with scuba lessons in one of the swimming pools in the mornings, small zoo on the island, boardwalk nature path on the island with is about two miles in diameter). It's a coral island (unlike most) so you don't need to go far to see the coral and in fact, it's a provincial/national park, with free nature lectures by park rangers. My junior suite (IIRC their most common room category) had a luxurious bathroom and lots of dark wood, Queensland tropical style. The hotel buildings were designed to blend into the dunes. I was very pleased with the choice and I thought it was fairly priced, although I don't remember what I paid.