Banyan Tree Seychelles - Welcome!
Jun 28, 2016, 10:30 am
#1
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Banyan Tree Seychelles - Welcome!
Banyan Tree Seychelles
Anse Intedance Mahe Island, SC
RecommendedLiked: LocationServiceFoodAmenitiesRoom
Welcome! (19 Photos)
Banyan Tree Seychelles
Check In
Because our flight had landed very early, we arrived at the hotel at 8:30 am. One of the best moments of our vacation was when a member of the staff led us toward the open-air lounge. We were greeted by this spectacular view:
As was to be expected at this hour, our villa wasn't yet ready. After we were given cocktails, someone drove us to a two-bedroom villa that we could use as a dayroom until our villa was ready for us. A wonderful offer, since we needed a shower and sleep after the long journey.
After a few hours of sleep, a buggy picked us up to take us to our villa.
SPA
My wife headed to the spa instead where she had a three-hour treatment which consisted of a massage, peeling and facial. The treatment room overlooked the green hills and the ocean, and was partly open, featuring an openair shower. The spa staff was very friendly and the treatment was perfect. It wasn't too pricey for a luxury hotel and worth every single penny.
Room
Our beach villa had its own huge pool and garden with jacuzzi and outdoor living room. As the name suggests, we were only steps away from the beach and could watch the sun set over the ocean from our own lounge chairs.
The actual villa was quite big and decorated in the style of the Seychelles. The toilet and the shower (also steamroom which is pretty useless on an island that is hot and has high humidity...) with glass walls so you could look into the garden. The villa had a high level of privacy. You could even go skinny dipping in the pool at night...
Our villa and garden
Bedroom (it wasn´t our honeymoon:))
Bathroom
Outdoor living room
Our own pool
Outdoor Jacuzzi
Local wildlife
Service
Another highlight of the hotel was the infinity pool (main pool) from which we had a spectacular view of the ocean and the beach. The pool bar offered delicious homemade icecream and cocktails.
The main pool
Icecream
Dining
The hotel has three restaurants, and they were all good. The Thai restaurant was our favorite. The main restaurant had internation cuisine; the menu was pretty standard but the dishes were tasty. The buffet restaurant opens only one day per week and it was really great. Everything was fresh and the servers filled the plates constantly. There was also a barbecue station on the patio where we sat, where a cook barbecued sea food and meat.
We also tried the room service once and it was one of the best room service dinner we ever had. The food was hot and fresh, looked delicious and tasted even better. One thing we noticed though, was that desserts don't seem to be the strong point of chefs in the Seychelles.
Roomservice meal
You could have breakfast on the terrace or in the restaurant. We chose to eat outside with a view of the ocean. The breakfast had a good selection of breads, danishes, fruit (especially perfect local papaya, mango, ananas and baby bananas), raw fish, iced teas, eggs, Asian dishes and more. You could also order several warm dishes.
Beach
The beach at the Banyan Tree is one of the biggest of the Seychelles. It looks absolutely stunning but sadly the waves are quite high, which is why we didn't go into the ocean, but other people didn't seem to mind and were even swimming with their kids. The beach was wonderful for walks, though, and to relax on lounge chairs.
Beach
Mar 15, 2017, 12:36 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SF
Programs: UA MM, AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTP, HH Dia
Posts: 1,132
recent stay
Thanks, offerendum, for the detailed report.
We just finished a 6 night stay at this hotel, and there were a few things I wanted to share with people considering a stay here.
Short Version:
Beach-- 5*
Food-- 4*
Management (communication, representation, website functionality)-- 1*
Location-- 4*
Housekeeping-- 3*
Spa-- 5*
Long version:
As a preface, my wife and I were on Mahe a year ago with our son and nanny in a family pool villa at the Constance Ephelia. We chose that resort, as it seemed to have a good setup for our family at the time, and we really enjoyed ourselves. That said, we weren't looking for a particularly quiet or romantic hotel last year.
Fast forward 11 months and my wife is in her second trimester with another kid on the way. We had a trip booked to the St Regis in the Maldives as a babymoon, but Zika happened-- or at least it popped up on the CDC radar for the Maldives and scared us out of that trip. Since we already had flights booked through Dubai, I asked my wife if she'd prefer to go back to the Seychelles or Mauritius, or scrap the trip and go somewhere else altogether. She chose the Seychelles.
So-- I initially booked the FS, as it seemed to be getting the best reviews on Mahe (and we didn't want to be off-island in case we needed to visit a doctor). Unfortunately, they had a much stricter cancellation policy than the Banyan Tree, and we ultimately were uncomfortable with losing our entire payment if we cancelled. So we ended up re-booking at the Banyan Tree. On to my thoughts...
Booking:
I don't think the Banyan Tree is part of Virtuoso, and they don't seem to have renewed their participation in FHR, so my 2 preferred methods of booking were gone. Additionally, none of the free night promotions on the hotel website have been extended, despite showing up there. I emailed reservations to see if they were still valid got an email back saying...
Dear ps9a,
Greetings from Banyan Tree Seychelles.
Thank you for your email.
The promotion for free nights offers and early bookers is still valid for the entire year thus we need to upload again on our website but it's available.
For the date requested we still have availability in all our villa categories.
Kindly advise if you have any villa preference in mind so I can send you a quote.
Await your prompt reply.
Kind regards,
Anyway, I emailed back our details and after a few days got but some quotes that didn't include any free nights. I ended up just booking through Expedia, as it was a lot faster and significantly cheaper that the rates they quoted me.
As far as I can tell, then have 4 types of 1 bedroom suites. In order of ascending price...
Ocean View Pool Villa
Intendance Bay View Pool Villa
Beachfront Pool Villa
Sanctuary Ocean View Pool Villa
Using the "expensive = good" heuristic and with the help of pictures and room description from their website, we chose the Sanctuary Ocean View Pool Villa...
An infinity pool overlooking every glorious inch of jade-green waters and forest-thickened hills, a spacious terrace from where you can absorb the staggering beauty of the ocean-kissed horizon and surreal skyscape. The villa's charm lies also in its uneven split-level design, with bedroom and living areas set on a different level from living pavilion and personal pool; each level is safely and seamlessly connected via walkways and stairs to allow you ample enjoyment of movement while taking the ocean breeze.
http://www.banyantree.com/en/em-seyc...iew-pool-villa
It ended up being marginally more expensive than the base level room we had booked and cancelled at the Four Seasons, but it seemed like a fantastic room from the pictures.
Pre-arrival communication consisted of 1 email with the option to book private dinners, set spa treatments, and transportation in advance through the website. However, it was sent from [email protected], an email one can't reply to, and there was no address provided in this email or currently on the website to communicate with any staff member ahead of arrival at the resort.
Check-in:
Our flight in was smooth and pleasant, our taxi was quick and we arrived at the resort, which is in a truly beautiful location. Staff were very friendly, we were checked in, had our credit-card pre-authorized, and were shortly on our way to our room.
Room:
We were driven by buggy to villa 303, which is a nice villa on a hill, with a view of surrounding foliage. From our pool, it was possible to see a very slight bit of ocean, through trees and bushes, but it was a major disappointment, and quite different from how this room was represented. For us, the view was a huge part of why we chose the Banyan Tree and our particular room over other hotels and other rooms within the Banyan Tree. So I asked our buggy driver if the room was indeed a Sanctuary Villa. He told us it was, showed us around, and drove back down the hill.
So... we started walking around the villa, checking out the view, and after maybe 15 minutes, I called back down and asked if we were definitely in the category of room we'd booked, to which they affirmed we were. After a few more minutes, I called back down to ask if there were any rooms with better views available. It turned out that there was a Beach Villa available, and it still needed to be cleaned, which would take an hour or so. The front desk also explained we wouldn't receive any refund if we voluntarily downgraded ourselves, as our room was pre-paid through Expedia. I wasn't really concerned with a refund... I just wanted to look at the ocean from our room and pool, since we'd flown halfway around the world (from SFO) to an island resort.
A few minutes later a buggy came up, collected us, and drove us to Beach Villa 202. In no logical version of a pricing model should villa 202 be cheaper than 303. It was bigger, had a bigger pool, did not require the use of a buggy to get anywhere, and had virtually unimpeded views of the beach and ocean. Unfortunately, it wasn't clean, so we asked to have it cleaned as quickly as possible (it wasn't very messy, so we were pretty optimistic on the timing), and we went back to our Sanctuary Villa to wait.
In the meantime, the guest relations manager (I believe that was her title), came up to our villa to apologize and said there was another Sanctuary Villa with a better view if we wanted it, but that it would take longer to clean. She explained that they didn't trim the foliage around the villas, as they are an eco-friendly resort. Presumably 303 at one time in its life had an ocean view. We declined to visit the other villa, since we really, really had zero interest in waiting any longer to settle into our room and unpack.
Anyway, 2.5 hours after we'd asked to have the Beach Villa cleaned, we were bored, hungry, and annoyed that our room was not ready. We asked for a buggy to bring us down to the lobby so we could find out how close it actually was to being clean. The front desk couldn't give us a definitive answer, but told us they'd comp our drinks in the bar while we waited, which was a nice gesture of limited value, given my wife is pregnant. We declined and just went downstairs to eat in the international restaurant. By the time we were done, the Beach Villa was ready, and we headed in and went to sleep.
Food:
Breakfast was fantastic. It was well-staffed, the service was great, there was a good variety of food, a fantastic station where they custom cut fresh fruit, and a nice, supplemental a la carte menu to order from.
The international restaurant was mediocre in our opinion. We only ate there the first night (when admittedly we were tired and annoyed with our room situation), and the menu seemed small and uninteresting.
Saffron, the Thai restaurant was good... we love Thai food, so that helped. Surprisingly, despite repeatedly asking to be burned, I wasn't able to get them to make any of the food any hotter than what would be served as "medium spicy" at a Thai restaurant in SF. But the food was tasty, well-presented, and the setting is quite relaxing by the pond on the far side of the resort.
We ate a few meals in the bar, because their "snack menu" there (which had pizza, burgers, steaks, etc) seemed more interesting and the atmosphere better at night than the international restaurant downstairs. The waiters/barstaff were consistently chatty, personable, and seemed pretty happy to be there. Also surprisingly, the burger was excellent.
Our favorite dinner restaurant (by a wide margin) was the Creole restaurant-- the curries there were fantastic, the local rice had some cool spicing that I'm not sure we'd tried before, we liked the tables looking out over the pool to the ocean, the waiters remembered us and our preferences, and it had a relaxed but upscale vibe. The pricing was a little odd... a lobster curry cost 3-4x the price of a chicken curry, but lobster tended to be pretty pricey at the resort... still ordered and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Housekeeping:
Hit or miss. The "please make up room" sign we were told to switch on outside our villa wasn't too effective. Calling usually was, though the front desk wasn't too speedy on picking up our calls, so occasionally we gave up and just tried our luck with the sign.
We had a bad experience ordering pillows our second day-- first day we just went to bed, but the second morning I called and asked for 4 extra pillows when they serviced our room. 2 came, which wasn't terrible, but we wanted 4. So... I called back before dinner and asked to have 2 more pillows with our turndown service. When we got back from dinner, apparently housekeeping had lost or misplaced their key to our room, so we didn't get turndown service and 2 pillows were in our front yard on a chair. If you've been to the Seychelles, the islands are not without bugs-- putting the 2 pillows they'd left outside on our bed that night didn't seem like a great option, so we just threw them on the couch, hoping that whatever might be living on/in them would decide to leave.
To their credit, our room was spotless after each cleaning, and we really appreciated that.
Beach:
Highlight of our trip for sure.... the views are phenomenal at the Banyan Tree, the water is warm, and the sand is soft. It's not crowded at all. We spent plenty of time at the beach in front of our villa without seeing another person, and we also enjoyed the rum shack at the other end of the resort. It was sporadically staffed, and water alternated between being free or chargeable, depending on the day, but it's located in a nice, swimmable part of the beach where you had a great view of the sunset. They also had umbrellas at the rum shack, which the chairs in front of the individual villas did not. Unless you're used to a lot of heat, and slather on some pretty potent sunscreen, the umbrellas are pretty valuable.
Additionally, we read a lot about the surf making the beach less appealing. They had a red flag up every day, regardless of the surf conditions, and there were definitely waves (which break very close to the shore, so no bodysurfing)-- they were strongest on our first morning there-- but it was never difficult to swim, and despite a bit of an undertow, didn't seem or feel dangerous. I think maybe we got lucky in this respect, but we were in the ocean every day and loved it.
Spa:
Phenomenal! We had a couple of 2.5 hour treatments (massage, scrub, facial) on 2 separate days, so spent a lot of time there, and could not have been happier with the service and quality of our treatments. It's tranquil, the 4 different masseuses we had were very experienced, and we left feeling fantastic each time.
Gym:
Mediocre... newish equipment, but not quite big enough to comfortably workout with more than one other person in there. None of the treadmills or bikes have functional TV, despite having the software loaded, and the flat screen on the wall is at your back if you are on any of these machines, so there's no possibility to distract yourself with TV while you exercise.
Location:
Entirely depends on what you feel like doing on the island. We've been to the Mahe previously, have driven around the island a couple of times (it's not too big), and generally have a good idea of where we'd like to go when we rent a car. We rented a car one day and went snorkeling at a couple of different beaches and picked up some local beers, a couple sodas, chips, and sunscreen at a convenience store. We weren't planning on leaving the resort for more than that day, so for us, the seclusion (hardly anyone outside of hotel guests shows up, even on the south end of the beach, which has public access) was an asset and well worth it for the quality of the beach.
If it's your first time to the island, prefer to eat dinners elsewhere (there really aren't any nearby options), or are the type of person/couple/family that prefers to spend a lot of your trip outside the resort, stay elsewhere.
Conclusion:
We had a fantastic trip, this hotel really is in an idyllic setting, and the beach is phenomenal.
That said, we left the resort thinking that a couple of kids out of college, after a couple of courses in hotel management, could probably do a better job running the resort than the current management team. Creating a functional, representative website-- updating expiration dates on their offers, giving accurate descriptions of their rooms, having links to contact the concierge, spa, dining, etc-- should be an immediate priority.
Next time we visit the Seychelles, we'll be on Praslin, but if we return to Mahe, we're gonna try to Four Seasons.
Please let me know if you have any questions, as we got back 2 days ago, and this is all very fresh on my mind.
We just finished a 6 night stay at this hotel, and there were a few things I wanted to share with people considering a stay here.
Short Version:
Beach-- 5*
Food-- 4*
Management (communication, representation, website functionality)-- 1*
Location-- 4*
Housekeeping-- 3*
Spa-- 5*
Long version:
As a preface, my wife and I were on Mahe a year ago with our son and nanny in a family pool villa at the Constance Ephelia. We chose that resort, as it seemed to have a good setup for our family at the time, and we really enjoyed ourselves. That said, we weren't looking for a particularly quiet or romantic hotel last year.
Fast forward 11 months and my wife is in her second trimester with another kid on the way. We had a trip booked to the St Regis in the Maldives as a babymoon, but Zika happened-- or at least it popped up on the CDC radar for the Maldives and scared us out of that trip. Since we already had flights booked through Dubai, I asked my wife if she'd prefer to go back to the Seychelles or Mauritius, or scrap the trip and go somewhere else altogether. She chose the Seychelles.
So-- I initially booked the FS, as it seemed to be getting the best reviews on Mahe (and we didn't want to be off-island in case we needed to visit a doctor). Unfortunately, they had a much stricter cancellation policy than the Banyan Tree, and we ultimately were uncomfortable with losing our entire payment if we cancelled. So we ended up re-booking at the Banyan Tree. On to my thoughts...
Booking:
I don't think the Banyan Tree is part of Virtuoso, and they don't seem to have renewed their participation in FHR, so my 2 preferred methods of booking were gone. Additionally, none of the free night promotions on the hotel website have been extended, despite showing up there. I emailed reservations to see if they were still valid got an email back saying...
Dear ps9a,
Greetings from Banyan Tree Seychelles.
Thank you for your email.
The promotion for free nights offers and early bookers is still valid for the entire year thus we need to upload again on our website but it's available.
For the date requested we still have availability in all our villa categories.
Kindly advise if you have any villa preference in mind so I can send you a quote.
Await your prompt reply.
Kind regards,
Anyway, I emailed back our details and after a few days got but some quotes that didn't include any free nights. I ended up just booking through Expedia, as it was a lot faster and significantly cheaper that the rates they quoted me.
As far as I can tell, then have 4 types of 1 bedroom suites. In order of ascending price...
Ocean View Pool Villa
Intendance Bay View Pool Villa
Beachfront Pool Villa
Sanctuary Ocean View Pool Villa
Using the "expensive = good" heuristic and with the help of pictures and room description from their website, we chose the Sanctuary Ocean View Pool Villa...
An infinity pool overlooking every glorious inch of jade-green waters and forest-thickened hills, a spacious terrace from where you can absorb the staggering beauty of the ocean-kissed horizon and surreal skyscape. The villa's charm lies also in its uneven split-level design, with bedroom and living areas set on a different level from living pavilion and personal pool; each level is safely and seamlessly connected via walkways and stairs to allow you ample enjoyment of movement while taking the ocean breeze.
http://www.banyantree.com/en/em-seyc...iew-pool-villa
It ended up being marginally more expensive than the base level room we had booked and cancelled at the Four Seasons, but it seemed like a fantastic room from the pictures.
Pre-arrival communication consisted of 1 email with the option to book private dinners, set spa treatments, and transportation in advance through the website. However, it was sent from [email protected], an email one can't reply to, and there was no address provided in this email or currently on the website to communicate with any staff member ahead of arrival at the resort.
Check-in:
Our flight in was smooth and pleasant, our taxi was quick and we arrived at the resort, which is in a truly beautiful location. Staff were very friendly, we were checked in, had our credit-card pre-authorized, and were shortly on our way to our room.
Room:
We were driven by buggy to villa 303, which is a nice villa on a hill, with a view of surrounding foliage. From our pool, it was possible to see a very slight bit of ocean, through trees and bushes, but it was a major disappointment, and quite different from how this room was represented. For us, the view was a huge part of why we chose the Banyan Tree and our particular room over other hotels and other rooms within the Banyan Tree. So I asked our buggy driver if the room was indeed a Sanctuary Villa. He told us it was, showed us around, and drove back down the hill.
So... we started walking around the villa, checking out the view, and after maybe 15 minutes, I called back down and asked if we were definitely in the category of room we'd booked, to which they affirmed we were. After a few more minutes, I called back down to ask if there were any rooms with better views available. It turned out that there was a Beach Villa available, and it still needed to be cleaned, which would take an hour or so. The front desk also explained we wouldn't receive any refund if we voluntarily downgraded ourselves, as our room was pre-paid through Expedia. I wasn't really concerned with a refund... I just wanted to look at the ocean from our room and pool, since we'd flown halfway around the world (from SFO) to an island resort.
A few minutes later a buggy came up, collected us, and drove us to Beach Villa 202. In no logical version of a pricing model should villa 202 be cheaper than 303. It was bigger, had a bigger pool, did not require the use of a buggy to get anywhere, and had virtually unimpeded views of the beach and ocean. Unfortunately, it wasn't clean, so we asked to have it cleaned as quickly as possible (it wasn't very messy, so we were pretty optimistic on the timing), and we went back to our Sanctuary Villa to wait.
In the meantime, the guest relations manager (I believe that was her title), came up to our villa to apologize and said there was another Sanctuary Villa with a better view if we wanted it, but that it would take longer to clean. She explained that they didn't trim the foliage around the villas, as they are an eco-friendly resort. Presumably 303 at one time in its life had an ocean view. We declined to visit the other villa, since we really, really had zero interest in waiting any longer to settle into our room and unpack.
Anyway, 2.5 hours after we'd asked to have the Beach Villa cleaned, we were bored, hungry, and annoyed that our room was not ready. We asked for a buggy to bring us down to the lobby so we could find out how close it actually was to being clean. The front desk couldn't give us a definitive answer, but told us they'd comp our drinks in the bar while we waited, which was a nice gesture of limited value, given my wife is pregnant. We declined and just went downstairs to eat in the international restaurant. By the time we were done, the Beach Villa was ready, and we headed in and went to sleep.
Food:
Breakfast was fantastic. It was well-staffed, the service was great, there was a good variety of food, a fantastic station where they custom cut fresh fruit, and a nice, supplemental a la carte menu to order from.
The international restaurant was mediocre in our opinion. We only ate there the first night (when admittedly we were tired and annoyed with our room situation), and the menu seemed small and uninteresting.
Saffron, the Thai restaurant was good... we love Thai food, so that helped. Surprisingly, despite repeatedly asking to be burned, I wasn't able to get them to make any of the food any hotter than what would be served as "medium spicy" at a Thai restaurant in SF. But the food was tasty, well-presented, and the setting is quite relaxing by the pond on the far side of the resort.
We ate a few meals in the bar, because their "snack menu" there (which had pizza, burgers, steaks, etc) seemed more interesting and the atmosphere better at night than the international restaurant downstairs. The waiters/barstaff were consistently chatty, personable, and seemed pretty happy to be there. Also surprisingly, the burger was excellent.
Our favorite dinner restaurant (by a wide margin) was the Creole restaurant-- the curries there were fantastic, the local rice had some cool spicing that I'm not sure we'd tried before, we liked the tables looking out over the pool to the ocean, the waiters remembered us and our preferences, and it had a relaxed but upscale vibe. The pricing was a little odd... a lobster curry cost 3-4x the price of a chicken curry, but lobster tended to be pretty pricey at the resort... still ordered and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Housekeeping:
Hit or miss. The "please make up room" sign we were told to switch on outside our villa wasn't too effective. Calling usually was, though the front desk wasn't too speedy on picking up our calls, so occasionally we gave up and just tried our luck with the sign.
We had a bad experience ordering pillows our second day-- first day we just went to bed, but the second morning I called and asked for 4 extra pillows when they serviced our room. 2 came, which wasn't terrible, but we wanted 4. So... I called back before dinner and asked to have 2 more pillows with our turndown service. When we got back from dinner, apparently housekeeping had lost or misplaced their key to our room, so we didn't get turndown service and 2 pillows were in our front yard on a chair. If you've been to the Seychelles, the islands are not without bugs-- putting the 2 pillows they'd left outside on our bed that night didn't seem like a great option, so we just threw them on the couch, hoping that whatever might be living on/in them would decide to leave.
To their credit, our room was spotless after each cleaning, and we really appreciated that.
Beach:
Highlight of our trip for sure.... the views are phenomenal at the Banyan Tree, the water is warm, and the sand is soft. It's not crowded at all. We spent plenty of time at the beach in front of our villa without seeing another person, and we also enjoyed the rum shack at the other end of the resort. It was sporadically staffed, and water alternated between being free or chargeable, depending on the day, but it's located in a nice, swimmable part of the beach where you had a great view of the sunset. They also had umbrellas at the rum shack, which the chairs in front of the individual villas did not. Unless you're used to a lot of heat, and slather on some pretty potent sunscreen, the umbrellas are pretty valuable.
Additionally, we read a lot about the surf making the beach less appealing. They had a red flag up every day, regardless of the surf conditions, and there were definitely waves (which break very close to the shore, so no bodysurfing)-- they were strongest on our first morning there-- but it was never difficult to swim, and despite a bit of an undertow, didn't seem or feel dangerous. I think maybe we got lucky in this respect, but we were in the ocean every day and loved it.
Spa:
Phenomenal! We had a couple of 2.5 hour treatments (massage, scrub, facial) on 2 separate days, so spent a lot of time there, and could not have been happier with the service and quality of our treatments. It's tranquil, the 4 different masseuses we had were very experienced, and we left feeling fantastic each time.
Gym:
Mediocre... newish equipment, but not quite big enough to comfortably workout with more than one other person in there. None of the treadmills or bikes have functional TV, despite having the software loaded, and the flat screen on the wall is at your back if you are on any of these machines, so there's no possibility to distract yourself with TV while you exercise.
Location:
Entirely depends on what you feel like doing on the island. We've been to the Mahe previously, have driven around the island a couple of times (it's not too big), and generally have a good idea of where we'd like to go when we rent a car. We rented a car one day and went snorkeling at a couple of different beaches and picked up some local beers, a couple sodas, chips, and sunscreen at a convenience store. We weren't planning on leaving the resort for more than that day, so for us, the seclusion (hardly anyone outside of hotel guests shows up, even on the south end of the beach, which has public access) was an asset and well worth it for the quality of the beach.
If it's your first time to the island, prefer to eat dinners elsewhere (there really aren't any nearby options), or are the type of person/couple/family that prefers to spend a lot of your trip outside the resort, stay elsewhere.
Conclusion:
We had a fantastic trip, this hotel really is in an idyllic setting, and the beach is phenomenal.
That said, we left the resort thinking that a couple of kids out of college, after a couple of courses in hotel management, could probably do a better job running the resort than the current management team. Creating a functional, representative website-- updating expiration dates on their offers, giving accurate descriptions of their rooms, having links to contact the concierge, spa, dining, etc-- should be an immediate priority.
Next time we visit the Seychelles, we'll be on Praslin, but if we return to Mahe, we're gonna try to Four Seasons.
Please let me know if you have any questions, as we got back 2 days ago, and this is all very fresh on my mind.
Last edited by ps9a; Mar 15, 2017 at 1:01 pm
Mar 15, 2017, 2:55 pm
#3
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Europe
Posts: 2,600
I am glad both of you enjoyed Banyan Tree. Thanks for the pictures, offerendum.
Somehow I have troubles putting this resort into the luxury category and I'm not entirely surprised both FHR and Virtuoso dropped them. Neither hard product nor the service seem stellar. Pictures suggest a solid 4* product, especially the furniture and architecture.
Somehow I have troubles putting this resort into the luxury category and I'm not entirely surprised both FHR and Virtuoso dropped them. Neither hard product nor the service seem stellar. Pictures suggest a solid 4* product, especially the furniture and architecture.
Mar 15, 2017, 5:05 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: UA 1K, AA Plat Pro, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,048
Interesting to hear the reviews of the resort. My wife and I stayed there at the beginning of our honeymoon back in 2014, and we had a mixed feeling.
I booked what is now referred to on the website as the "Intendance Bay View Pool Villa" but I think was called something different at the time. The main reason we stayed here instead of the FS, was because we wanted a jacuzzi, which the website promised. However, when we got there, it was clear that the jacuzzi did not get hot at all, which makes having it pointless IMHO. We called to have it fixed numerous times, but it was not until the new GM arrived that he explained it could not actually be fixed and apologized.
There was a GM transition during our stay with the new GM coming from the Acapulco property. He was very nice and spent time walking the grounds with us and explaining his vision of how he was going to run the show and wanted our feedback.
At the time, I remember the gym being a horrible disappointment. The closest thing I can compare it to was the Grand Hotel Europe in St Petersburg, if anyone has been there. We did each have a spa treatment, which was very good and the attendants seemed to have been flown in from Asia.
However, as mentioned above, the beach / ocean is stunning. The waves did not bother us, and the beach was empty almost the entire time. However, service at the beach was close to non-existent. The other highlight was the manager overseeing the breakfast buffet. He seemed to really enjoy working there and getting to know the guests. The only problem was he seemed to always want to get us drunk in the morning!
I booked what is now referred to on the website as the "Intendance Bay View Pool Villa" but I think was called something different at the time. The main reason we stayed here instead of the FS, was because we wanted a jacuzzi, which the website promised. However, when we got there, it was clear that the jacuzzi did not get hot at all, which makes having it pointless IMHO. We called to have it fixed numerous times, but it was not until the new GM arrived that he explained it could not actually be fixed and apologized.
There was a GM transition during our stay with the new GM coming from the Acapulco property. He was very nice and spent time walking the grounds with us and explaining his vision of how he was going to run the show and wanted our feedback.
At the time, I remember the gym being a horrible disappointment. The closest thing I can compare it to was the Grand Hotel Europe in St Petersburg, if anyone has been there. We did each have a spa treatment, which was very good and the attendants seemed to have been flown in from Asia.
However, as mentioned above, the beach / ocean is stunning. The waves did not bother us, and the beach was empty almost the entire time. However, service at the beach was close to non-existent. The other highlight was the manager overseeing the breakfast buffet. He seemed to really enjoy working there and getting to know the guests. The only problem was he seemed to always want to get us drunk in the morning!
Mar 15, 2017, 8:47 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SF
Programs: UA MM, AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTP, HH Dia
Posts: 1,132
The main reason we stayed here instead of the FS, was because we wanted a jacuzzi, which the website promised. However, when we got there, it was clear that the jacuzzi did not get hot at all, which makes having it pointless IMHO. We called to have it fixed numerous times, but it was not until the new GM arrived that he explained it could not actually be fixed and apologized.
Mar 16, 2017, 4:37 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Programs: Some
Posts: 11,520
I never had problems with the temperature of my Jacuzzi.
I don't think the Banyan Tree is part of Virtuoso, and they don't seem to have renewed their participation in FHR, so my 2 preferred methods of booking were gone. Additionally, none of the free night promotions on the hotel website have been extended, despite showing up there. I emailed reservations to see if they were still valid got an email back saying...
Using the "expensive = good" heuristic and with the help of pictures and room description from their website, we chose the Sanctuary Ocean View Pool Villa...
Spa:
Phenomenal! We had a couple of 2.5 hour treatments (massage, scrub, facial) on 2 separate days, so spent a lot of time there, and could not have been happier with the service and quality of our treatments. It's tranquil, the 4 different masseuses we had were very experienced, and we left feeling fantastic each time.
Using the "expensive = good" heuristic and with the help of pictures and room description from their website, we chose the Sanctuary Ocean View Pool Villa...
Spa:
Phenomenal! We had a couple of 2.5 hour treatments (massage, scrub, facial) on 2 separate days, so spent a lot of time there, and could not have been happier with the service and quality of our treatments. It's tranquil, the 4 different masseuses we had were very experienced, and we left feeling fantastic each time.
Regarding room the Beach Villas are the only way to go in my eyes. The Sanctury donīt even offer a proper shower and falls down a lot compared to the FS. Also a mystery to me why they should be more expensive.
The SPA was praised be my ex-wife over all other SPAs we visited over the years.
Be careful with Praslin. Nice island but not really great options on the luxury market.