margarita girl

Quote:

Originally Posted by ftrichard

Great trip. Hope you're at LeM in SGN.

Yes I'm at LM SGN and I think I've found the source of all the garbage that washes up on the shores of Phu Quoc. I can see loads of garbage floating on the river from my 19th floor room here.

Thought I'd wrap up by confirming what Pseudo Nim said earlier. The Turquoise Suites are far superior to the villas. I had a chance to see one as my new friends invited me to see their villa one evening. It is gorgeous with very high ceilings, a huge ensuite and a long private swimming pool, but behind it was a forest (which means bugs). No view of the ocean whatsoever. Plus there is a dangerous step near the pool. I stepped closer to have a look at the pool and did not notice a step down and fell on my hands and knees. Scraped one knee and sprained a big toe (bruised and swollen now) but it could have been far worse if the deck had been cement or tile instead of wood!



Killer step especially at night!


On check-out day, Seven offered me a gift wrapped mug with Lamarck University on it. Nice gesture.

Overall, I really liked this property, and will likely return, even as a category 5. The staff was simply amazing and I loved the property itself.

luxk69

We came to this wonderful resort last year in February and were absolutely thrilled by the architecture, decor and friendliness of the staff. As my husband was gold member at that time, we were upgraded to the Lamarck suite, which we enjoyed thoroughly even though we were astonished that the living room had no TV and poor light, so essentially had no use. Our overall experience was fantastic and decided already back then that we would come back.
In July 2018, we booked our stay for March 2019 with redemption points before the merger and before the increase of the redemption rate, so well in advance, 8 months for 6 nights and another 3 nights with cash rate.
Now, on the 31th Jan 2019, we were informed by the hotel that they would be booked to full capacity from Thu 07- Sun 10th March due to a large wedding, though interrupting our stay, we have booked from 05-14Mar, they proposed 3 options.
"OPTION 1 : we can change your booking to a new set of dates in accordance to your preference at no cost. In addition, we would also like to extend a confirmed complimentary room upgrade for the entire duration of your new stay.
OPTION 2 : if you wish to cancel your booking , we will make a 100% refund of your Marriott Reward points and add an additional 10,000 points from our side.
OPTION 3 : If you wish to keep the dates , we will relocate you to another 5 star hotel at no additional cost only on the days of the event. "

We did not know that Marriott could unilaterally cancel a reservation that was booked well in advance! My husband is now platinum elite, we are returning guests and booked a long stay of total 9 days. I would expect the hotel to ask for volunteers first and not to choose a platinum guest.
After debating for 2 days, we chose for option 1, wanting to switch our 3 cancelled nights with the cash rate nights. As there is no similar 5 star hotel on the island. The closest we found is the La Veranda Resort by Sofitel with colonial architecture and decor but much less spectacular and less expensive. We have secured these 3 nights asap.
When I mentioned Marriott's Ultimate Reservation Guarantee, which would grant us additional 200usd+90,000 mrp as compensation when they cannot honor a guest's reservation, the hotel did not know anything about this and asked me to address this to their loyalty team.
The lurkers team is now intervening on our behalf.
We are extremely dissatisfied how the hotel treats walking guests, they should offer more compensation for the inconvenience, even the substitute hotel they offered was not clear yet. The least they could have offered were guaranteed turquoise suite for entire stay ( they offered only for 3 nights upon my request), dinner voucher or massage.. very poorly handled.
Will keep you posted after our return.
p.s. after 14 days, and after customer care intervention, the hotel has granted the ultimate reservation guarantee

ALGU

Thanks for your update on the best reservation guarantee. Is the compensation per night or for the entire stay? Either way, looks like a nice outcome from a poor situation.

Wish I replied sooner, on the walking tour activity last March, our guide took us to the Premier Village which can be accessed if you keep walking on the same road that connects the dorms/buildings. It looked quite nice and was told it was owned by the same parent company of the JW, so wanted to see if you could pitch that as your alternate accommodation.

luxk69

The compensation is for the entire stay.
We walked up to the Premier village with the activity team last year, as they had only a soft opening, they would not let us visit a room.
My understanding is, that even though it is the same Vietnamese owner as the JW, this one is under Accorhotel management. They don't have this beatiful French colonial style that I appreciate at the JW.
A new Sheraton will open next year after a 2 years delay, will see if we go there if we ever come back to Phu Quoc

luxk69

The compensation is for the entire stay.
We walked up to the Premier village with the activity team last year, as they had only a soft opening, they would not let us visit a room.
My understanding is, that even though it is the same Vietnamese owner as the JW, this one is under Accorhotel management. They don't have this beatiful French colonial style that I appreciate at the JW.
A new Sheraton will open next year after a 2 years delay, will see if we go there if we ever come back to Phu Quoc

cx865

It's almost been a year since I've planned this trip and we are still very excited to visit this property.
For those who have stayed recently, can you confirm that the 50% off breakfast for Gold Elite's still exist?

THR

Have booked for six nights over Christmas this year for 175,000 points... also interested to know whether Gold get 50% off breakfasts.

I only have Gold status so don't expect any upgrades - have a "Emerald Bay View" larger guest room, which seems good enough from the photos!

Now just to sort out flights. Seems Vietnam isn't the cheapest location to get to.

EDIT: Having reviewed in more detail, seems the 50% off doesn't happen now.

Too_Fly1

margarita girl

That's US$34 and very much inline with what high end resorts are charging for breakfast in Asia. The breakfast buffet is massive and nothing like what you would get in NA. On top of the "normal NA breakfast fare", there is a huge Vietnamese section and a Japanese section. It is more like a dinner than a breakfast.

And if you read my review from last month, you would have seen that you can forego the 1000 pt welcome amenity in exchange for the buffet breakfast (7 days worth in my case).

Too_Fly1

margarita girl

OK, I'm bewildered. All the high end hotels I've stayed at in France (mind you it was Paris), charge at least 45 Euros for a much smaller breakfast buffet (along the lines of a NA breakfast buffet).

I suggest you splurge on breakfast and skip lunch. That's what I did every day.

estnet

Well, Vietnam is Paris and the cost of food is not even close. If Gold can forgo 1000 pt as well as Plat then it's a good deal (even better if it's multiple nights), BUT even tho there are lots of choices I found the buffet food poorly prepared (with the exception of fresh fruit, coffee made to order, pastries (excellent) and fresh coconuts). UMMV
OTOH - you could take a taxi (or a 15ish minute walk to the main road and get bahn mi or other local foods (if you're into that and are willing to eat local) including amazing pho, etc. (the pho at the hotel tasted like boiled water to me) for about USD 1 or less. Very much less expensive - and often tastier - but definitely not 5 star. "You pays your money and takes your choices"

estnet

Oh - and I was surprised that when I went to a local restaurant for dinner where you choose your seafood and then they cook it - squid price per kilo was about the same as shrimp! Being from the US where squid is a lot cheaper than shrimp I thought it was a mistake - but no that's how it really is

ExpatSomchai

Hi Estnet how were the prices in the local restaurants and were there a variety to chose from?

SHLTP

The breakfast is expensive but wonderful. This is one of our favorite breakfasts in Asia for Marriott.

I have rarely had an.excellent buffet in Europe... Look at PDG.