For
once I will start by with the conclusion after staying at the island
for 6 days and driving around I have come to the conclusion that
Salinda Phu Quoc Island Resort and Spa has to be the best resort and
hotel on the island. But this does not mean that it is perfect in the
following review I will give my view of what is great and what is not so
great.
We booked the resort as it looked like the best resort on Phu Quoc and
because it was brand new it was actually not open yet when we booked
it. You can read more about our stay at the island in this
Phu Quoc trip report.
We
were picked up from the airport by the resort (it was complimentary) and
the drive to the hotel only took like 10 minutes. The lobby area is
quite impressive as the car took us up a ramp to the lobby and there is
a large fountain in the middle. We were offered to sit in a sofa while
they fixed the check in and we were also offered a cold towel and 4
different shots of fruit juice. We got room number 205 and this is a
standard room with a hill view. As the resort seemed quite empty we were
almost a bit disappointed that we were not upgraded to a better room.
We
were a bit surprised to see that we had been given a twin bed and not a
king-size bed as far as I can tell from the booking process it is not
really possible to choose this and I think it can create a bit of
confusion from arriving guests. The first night we spent on our separate
queens size beds but the next day when we mentioned this in the
reception they turned the two beds into a huge XXL kingsize beds that
was firm but very comfortable and the pillows came in various sizes and
firmness.
The
room itself looked modern on entry after all it is only a few weeks
since it opened. There were large white tiles on the floor and the walls
were painted in light colors. One of the walls had vague marks on the
walls and it looked like water or moisture had been running down the
wall at some stage. Behind the bed there were some colorful mosaic vases
and they were a nice touch to the neutral colors on the walls in the
room.
The
room featured a 40ish inch flat screen TV that included a lot of
channels in good quality and the TV also include info about the island,
weather forecast etc. The TV did seem to be vulnerable to bad weather so
when the weather turned bad the TV image/sound and internet would be bad
but I guess that is something that is expected on an island. The desk
below the TV included a water boiler with coffee and tea but also a
fridge for various drinks there were also a lot of bottles of liquor
on the desk that were for sale. As usual the prices of beer and soft
drinks were quite horrendous compared to prices at the local grocery
store. One example is a 333 beer that you can buy at the liqueur store
for 10.000 VND (50 US Cent) while it costs 75.000 USD in the hotel
minibar (3.50 USD).
The
room has a balcony with a couple of chairs and a small table but also
a rack that could be used to hang up e.g. wet swimwear.
There are lots of sockets for electricity and most of them had an
international socket and that is convenient as you normally need to
charge various gadgets when traveling. The only challenge was that some
of the appliances that we used (e.g. an iron) had a Vietnamese plug so
we had to use an adapter to get it into the international sockets. The
wifi was free and it was an open network and hence it was not necessary
to enter a username and password and that is very convenient. There was
also good coverage in the room, pool, restaurant etc excellent in
other words.
The room also featured an orange lounge sofa and there was a small table
on each side of the bed. The wardrobe was standard in size but only
include 4-5 hangers and that is not enough of course, But we sent some
items to pressing and they were returned the same day. The wardrobe also
contains a safe but no iron and ironing board. When we asked for one it
took quite some time to get it and it was not a very high end iron.
The
bathroom is also quite beautiful with tiles, a large shower corner and a
number of amenities by the sink. I would have liked to see more space
around the sink to put down the toiletry bags and it would have been
great with more shelves and hooks - there was actually only one hook in
the bathroom. The shower features either a large rain forest shower head
or a hand held shower head with various settings. In the shower there
was a shampoo, bath gel and conditioner in containers that would be
refilled the products seemed to be of good quality. Again I would have
liked to see more space for various products like razor, shave cream
etc. We got two bottles of water everyday but they did not seem too
fuzzy about this and we got more when they did the turndown service at
night.
Outside
the resort can boast about a large pool, pool bar and beach front
access. We had lunch in the pool bar and had great fish and chips and
there was even a live band to keep us company. The staff was polite and
ready to take our order at any time. The pool is large and there are
lots of sun beds that you can use and you can even find sun beds on the
beach.
The entertainment area of the hotel contains a spa, a gym, baby sitting
facilities, business center and a great bar called Salinda lounge with a
grand piano and with live music from time to time. Unfortunately we were
quite alone in the bar most of the time. The Salinda lounge also
featured a cigar room where you could buy and smoke cigars.
There are also two pool tables in this area. On the beach you can rent a
two man kayak for 10 USD for 30 minutes and there are bikes that you can
loan for free.
The
breakfast was great it is not totally over the top but it contains a
good selection of all that you need. Good and fresh orange juice, a
variety of coffee (try the Vietnamese coffee it is excellent) but also
cereal, bread, an egg station, a noodle station and fruit. There were
some issues during breakfast e.g. there were not signs on all the
dishes to start with, some communication problems etc but in general the
breakfast was excellent.
The location of the hotel might not be perfect. It is located about 5 km
outside the town and night market. But it is very easy to get a taxi in
the area and they all ran on meter.
Conclusion
As
I said to start with, it is hard to not give this resort 5 out of 5
stars as it seems to be the most complete, modern resort on the island
it actually seems to be in a league of its own. And I guess that they
are taking a bit of advantage of this. One of the things I find annoying
is that because you pay a lot of the room (I think we paid 400 USD per
night) it means that you can also pay a lot of the food and drinks at
the resort. But it feels a bit like a rip off when you have to pay
75.000 VND for a coke that you can get for 20.000 VND at the bar across
the road or even less at the local grocery store.
We had dinner one night at the restaurant and we were basically alone
there. I ordered a chicken dish (chicken breast fillet with basil
polenta) but when I got the food served it was a different chicken dish
that was served (chicken breast, mushroom and spring onion). Im not
sure who this happened but I assume that it was communication problems.
All in all a beautiful but
expensive resort with a great pool, beach access, restaurant, bar etc.
If money is not an issue I dont think you have to look any further for
a resort in Phu Quoc. You can read more about Salinda Phu Quoc Island
Resort and Spa on
their homepage. Feel free to get in touch with me on
gardkarlsen@hotmail.com if you have any questions.

 |