One&Only Hayman Island Great Barrier Reef

Last month, I stayed at One&Only Hayman Island (3 nights). The resort has not been reviewed yet here on FT, and I want to share my impressions, the good and bad ones. Hayman Island has long been one of Australia’s leading hotels, and after a six month refurbishment of $80 million dollars by the One & Only Hotel, the resort reopened in July as the "One&Only Hayman Island Great Barrier Reef".

- Location, location, location! The hotel is located on its own private island, which is the northernmost of the Whitsunday Islands (off the coast of Queensland). The Whitsundays are internationally famous for their rugged, green-clad islands, blue waters and beautiful beaches, and Hayman Island is no exception to that.
- Transfer to the resort (from Hamilton Island Airport or the mainland) is in fact a sightseeing trip on itself, and done by yacht (50 minutes), helicopter (10 minutes) or waterplane (10 minutes). Most guest will arrive by yacht, and will be offered Champagne and canaps on route. We booked the yacht transfer, but were upgraded to a heli flight.
- Everything is brand-new (at least for now).
- Upon arrival, golf buggies are waiting to meet you and take you to the resort (about 600 meters from the harbour). A member of staff will then guide you on a short welcome tour of the large property and take care of the in-room check-in. We were welcomed by Ben and he did a great job!
- The resort has two large, exquisite pools. The enormous hexagonal, iconic Hayman pool mainly attracts adults, is filled with salt water and feels deliciously cold (although it has a separate, smaller and heated pool, filled with fresh water, in its center). On the eastern side of the resort, you will find a new, somewhat smaller but heated pool, filled with fresh water, that mainly caters to families with young children and offers nice ocean views (because of its beachfront setting). Lovely towels and ice buckets with bottles of cold water are provided to guests at both pools.
- The resort is located along a beautiful, palm fringed beach, with lots of sun loungers and umbrellas. The beach is composed of soft sand that does includes fragments of shell and coral. Like most Whitsunday beaches, it has a pale brown colour (in contrast to the famous and blinding white silica sands of Whitehaven Beach, which you can visit on a heli excursion).
- The refurbished rooms, suites & beach houses are amazing. During renovation, One&Only reduced the room inventory from 210 to 160 to be sure that room size met their high standards (minimum 54 sqm). All rooms & suites feature a private balcony, spacious en suite bathroom with separate shower, bath, double vanity and open-plan dressing room. The bed is one of the best that I have ever slept in! We were upgraded from a Hayman Lagoon Room to a gorgeous Hayman suite.
- Rooms & suites are located in three distinct areas of the resort, each different in style and ambiance, and each designed to take advantage of the breathtaking views of the island and its natural surroundings:
(1)The Hayman Wing is located on the tranquil eastern side of the resort, overlooking a serene lily lagoon and close to the family pool.
(2) The Pool Wing overlooks Hayman’s iconic hexagonal pool, with some suites offering direct swim-out access into the pool.
(3) The Beach Wing features a collection of uniquely designed villas for those in need of a beachfront setting.[/indent]- There is free WiFi throughout the resort.
- Although the staff looked very young, service at the resort is excellent (unlike a lot of Tripadvisor reviews, we did not experience any service issue during our 3 night stay). To give some examples: around the pool a staff member came by every day to clean sunglasses, and nightly turn down service included fortune cookies one night and Koko Black chocolates another night. For my birthday (which I did not mention, but they must have noticed it on my passport at check-in), I received a lemon cake and chocolate strawberries.
- The sport’s club on the beach offers varying watersports, such as complimentary catamaran sailing, windsurfing and paddleskiing. For the more adventurous, tube rides, jet skis and water skiing are available at an extra cost.
- The resort has several restaurants with extensive menus, so those staying longer than a few days will never be gastronomically bored. In all restaurants, food is great without being pretentious. Their signature restaurant Fire offers modern Australian cuisine, while Amici offers Italian dishes and Bamboo delicious Asian food (the wagyu beef is to die for!). Other food options include the Pacific restaurant, in-room dining and snacks by both pools.
- The Pacific restaurant, perched right by the sand and sea, not only offers great dining but is also the location of the daily generous Champagne breakfast buffet, with a barista, fresh pancakes, freshly baked pastries and eggs made to order.
- Both sunrise and sunset can be watched from the beach at Hayman Island (assuring some terrific moments of pure romance). For a full view of the sunset, walk to the beach bordering the eastern side of the resort (close to the Hayman wing).
- The resort has a nice spa.
- The resort has a new, large and state-of-the-art fitness centre with separate areas for cardio, weight training and stretching.
- The hotel is located in the heart of the Whitsundays and Great Barrier Reef, and takes advantage of this prime location: there are plenty of (expensive) excursions on offer ranging from hikes, helicopter ride to Whitheaven Beach, snorkel trips to the Great Barrier Reef, and sailing adventures around the other island.
- Hayman Island has plenty of wildlife: we saw several interesting bird species, as well as plenty of wallabies at dusk. In addition, the island is home to thousands of flying foxes (large fruit bats or macrobats): as the sun goes down, these bats leave their treetop camps and stream across the sky, creating an impressive and noisy spectacle!

One&Only Hayman is easily amongst the best beach and/or island resorts that I have visited so far. Simply put, it’s a brilliant resort and a no brainer when you travel to the Whitsunday Islands. While I would recommend it to everyone, there are some things you need to know and some areas where there is room for improvement:
- Pre-visit email communication with the resort was unacceptably slow. Response to our few, detailed questions often took many days. The resort should try to answer queries by email within 24 hours, as it may put off future guests.
- Inside our suite, internet connection was slow, from time to time non-existing.
- The beachfront scenery is pure paradise during high tide. But the beach is far from attractive at low tide (the sea almost completely disappears). It is fun though to watch the stingrays and other marine life in the shallow areas.
- While stuning on the inside after the $80 dollars refurbishment, the two main hotel wings are far from attractive from the outside. They date from the previous century and are an eyesore IMHO.
- The wildlife – especially birds – may annoy guests. Screeching cockatoos constantly do food raids at breakfast (and even inside rooms!). Staff does a good job of shooing them without showing their frustration.
- Marine stingers may be present in the waters of tropical Queensland year round, with the higher risk season during November to May. During this period, jellyfish are prevalent in the waters around the mainland, islands and have occasionally been found out on the reef (a protective suite must be worn when you enter the water).
- Excursions to the Reef and Whitsunday Island are all done by plane or heli (no boat), which may be problematic for those suffering from a fear of flying.
- Excursion are very expensive, and cost a couple of hundred dollars more as compared to the same type of excursions that depart from Airlie Beach on the mainland (sometimes with the same company). For example, a 2 hour trip to Whitheaven Beach will cost around 700 AUD per person.
- Bar 50 (the resort's main lounge) is soulless, as it is located in a very large and totally uninviting lounge area. Definitely lacks atmosphere (the resort needs to reassess this one).

For those who want to see more images:
- I uploaded a lot more photos here:http://theluxurytravelexpert.com/201...hayman-island/
- I also made a Youtube clip with my impressions of the resort:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUUpypnZeoc