I was very much looking forward to this trip. However, I came home feeling disappointed and ripped off. Here's why.
Check In:
We arrived by cab. Walked straight through an army of perhaps 5-8 staff members at the entrance. No one paid any attention to us. No one guided us to the check-in counter. We weren't sure exactly where to go to check-in, so perhaps a sign would have helped. When we finally found our way, we were told by a staff member to have a seat on the sofa (I'm 6 months pregnant) and that he'd get us when the next receptionist was available to check us in. This did not happen. Several other guests who arrived after us jumped the queue and when we asked the staff whatever happened to the order of things, he just looked at us helplessly and promised that our turn was next. It was absolutely chaotic. Finally when it got to our turn, we were told that our room was not yet ready because the guest staying in the room before us, had not checked out. It was 1pm. We were told that we'd had to wait around and they'd give us a call on our mobile when the room was ready. We went for lunch at Fresh 8 and at 2pm, there was still no call. A pro-active wait staff went to check with the reception and found out that our room was ready. What happened to the promise of a call? We would have hung around like fools if we had not checked. No one directed us to our room nor did any porter offer to carry our bags for us. First impressions are the most important. Sadly, it all went downhill from here.
The room:
When we arrived in the room, there were no bath ropes (as the spa brochure indicated there would be in our rooms) and the blue slippers provided by the resort were still wet. We took a nap, only to be awoken by the sounds of a vacuum cleaner. The walls at the Ritz are incredibly thin, so we not only could hear our neighbours' kids yelling and crying, each time housekeeping came into their rooms to clean up, we could hear the banging of the vacuum cleaner against the wall. This happened on 2 out of the 3 days we were there.
Pool:
We had wanted to go for a swim. When we got to the pool side, we asked for towels, only to be told by the staff that there were no more towels. That was it. There was no offer from them to go get new towels, neither did they tell us when the new batch of towels would arrive. So my husband made them go get some new towels from the other towel station. The wait staff came back with two. When we laid them on the deck chair, we realized they were stained with brown muck. Clearly unhygienic. We returned them and politely asked for new ones. The wait staff again went to get 'new towels' from somewhere else and again, the towels were stained with brown dots. We must have stood by the pool for a good 15 minutes before proper 'clean' towels came.
Others:
When I booked our package with the travel agency, I had indicated that we were in Sanya to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The travel agency called 3 days before departure to ask when our wedding anniversary was as the hotel had wanted to do something special for us. During our stay at the Ritz, nothing special was arranged. My believe is to always under promise and over deliver.
I guess the above points are acceptable if the hotel was a Holiday Inn or Ramada. But this is the Ritz Carlton and I had paid good money to stay here. I have stayed at the Ritz Carlton chain of hotels all around the world, and was sorely disappointed with my experience in Sanya. If this hotel doesn't buck up, it will be the next Holiday Inn.
One dining outlet I must commend though - Sand. The standard of service there was impeccable. We found the wait staff working there to be genuinely happy and they made sure that our every need was looked after. This must be attributed to the manager, Ravi Kumar. Half way through dinner, it started storming and many guests who were seated outdoors had to be moved indoors. The staff proactively braved the lightning and heavy rain to make such arrangements. They truly deserve a pat on their back.