My husband and I went in July with our 1 year old and stayed 3 days and 3 nights.

Overall we would recommend this hotel to a friend with the comments to be very prepared with the hotel info for the taxi written in chinese if possible and the time of year to visit.

What we enjoyed:

The property is well kept and beautiful, with paths that weave around the landscape, the beach is picture perfect, the pools have a lot to offer, from lounging at the swim-up bar to water polo to water slides to little nooks to hang out with friends and a special little kiddy pool with a kiddy sand beach that our 1 year old really enjoyed. The price of our room was reasonable. Definitely get the beach or garden view as there is construction on the Mtn view side.

We liked the location - it was 20min taxi to-from the airport & the main town and 25 min from the Cultural Center. We liked the cultural center, but definitely get the trolley that takes your for tours. We tried to walk it with the map and nearly got heat exhaustion.

The service was good - everyone was attentive, and helpful. And no one smelled like one person had written.

What didn't go well:
We didn't know this hotel is known as Kempinski Hotel & not Narada. They haven't changed any signage to Narada yet. So our taxi driver was totally lost even though he said he knew where it was. It was un-nerving to be driving aimlessly in a strange country where you don't know the language with a strange taxi driver at 10:00 at night with a 1 year old on your lap. That was absolutely not fun at all!! We booked through a booking agency rather than the hotel so we didn't have the direct line of the hotel, only the booking agent who didn't answer the phone. We began to get concerned we had found a bogus agency... BIG lesson learned.

We would agree that the food cost at the hotel is on the expensive side for China, but not more expensive than an average western restaurant. The breakfast buffet is big and is included with the room so it is lunch and dinner you are buying.

We went in July and it was hotter than hot. So Hot. The sun was intense. My advice is to be selective with the time of year you go. When you are inside or in the pool you don't notice, but trying to get out to do stuff off the property is a sweaty experience.

A trip spending a long weekend in the Kempinski Sanya Resort is definitely worth it.
The facilities (room & environment) are nice and well maintained.
A bigger variety and preparation quality of food selection would have made our stay perfect.

We had a great deal at Kempinski for a Deluxe Ocean View Room with breakfast for myself & my toddler. The room was really spacious and the balcony overlooked the garden,pool and sea. Breakfast was ample - there was something for everyone.

The highlight was the kids pool with sandy beach. Our kids loved it! The meander pool was one of a kind and the slides were also a favourite among the adults & kids!

Service staff were friendly but I would have expected more flexibility when it came to F&B. We wanted to have dinner at Paulaner and the waiter said he could only accomodate our party of 8 adults + 4 children in 2 tables. The restaurant was empty at the time we arrived and only 1 table was reserved. He refused to put 2 tables together and only when my friend suggested that we speak to the F&B manager did he agree. At the end we did have a good dinner but it would have been nicer without having to discuss for 15 minutes over something so trivial. Beer ordered at any other restaurants in the hotel was delivered from Paulaner hence it stood at 2 counters before it actually reached our table. Having an outside temperature of 27-30 degrees, cool beer doesn't stay cool for too long.

Food in general was quite expensive. As for room service there were not too many choices for the kids and for the money also not too much on the plate.

All in all, a good hotel to relax for a few days with kids. The beach is really nice and was empty when we were there. There were hammocks and sunbeds with shades all over. The beachbar was also really nice to sit at the beachfront and enjoy a snack or cocktail.

One last note perhaps on the location of the hotel. It's very close to the airport so you can practically see/hear the airplanes landing. It didn't bother us too much cause the kids were facinated to see how low the planes flew. But for those of you who are disturbed by such noises/sights, please reconsider your stay here.

we stayed at the kempinski sanya just after christmass this year when we arrived the room allocated was not as booked when we asked for a change we where told no other rooms where available after a time they found one that had not been prepared we checked it and agreed to move after it was cleaned.
when we returned to the room my girlfriend went to use the toilet which colapsed when she sat on it cutting and bruising her quite badley.
Since the hotel has denied any responsabilty for this and offered no compensation so if you use this company beware they do not care about there guests health