Banyan Tree Sanya Resort Spa

What People are saying

High praises for Banyan Tree in Sanya, Hainan, China.

Philip Hon 25/04/2017 21:39

This is my 7th time spent in Sanya, but the first at Banyan Tree.
The villa was secluded. At 3 AM on the attached beach, we enjoyed total privacy.
The staff is professional. I would like to make a special mention of Peter Fu. He offered a discount for an upgrade to a villa: we acceptes it. It turns out that the property had 2 stories: vast at 5300 sq ft. The next morning, Peter gladly changed it to the villa included our original agreed package. This villa was also extremely roomy: 4700 sq ft. Peter personally drove the golf cart and took over the moving.
He spoke good English. (I found out later that he studied in it to our original agreed package. Thos villa was also extremely roomy: 4700 sq ft. Peter personally drove the golf cart and took over the moving.
He spoke good English. (I found out later that he studied in Australia.) I also found out that he is a manager-in-training! I am sure that he would be in high places in no time.
The only restaurant at first brush appeared very quiet, but the staff is great; I appreciated the service from Dragon Li, and his assistant, Shelley. She was very attentive. And, she was only a trainee . I highly recommend seafood BBQ prepared and served right in your own villa.

Not quite a Banyan Tree resort

971josleebjon 19/04/2017 11:15

We would usually be happy to see that the hotel is less crowded so we could have more tranquil environment to enjoy a romantic getaway. We trusted the Bayan Tree Brand and went ahead to book the hotel without reading reviews. But when the hotel that has 100 rooms that has nobody around it felt like a ghost town andit felt kind of weird.

Really nice trip!

siusum820on 06/04/2017 09:43

I very enjoy staying in Banyan Tree Sanya, their services is really good especially the front desk gave us lots of support. We got upgrade to the Deluxe Villa, the room is really nice and pool is big. Their food is good, much better then I expected. They are very caring to their guest, one day front desk called and ask how is my stay in hotel? is everything ok? and I just told him the bed is a bit soft cause my back is not so good. And they immediately arranged the staffs to add the wood board under my bed in order to make it harder. It really impress me. All their staff is very kind and polite. I really have a good time and will stay in Banyan tree again if I go to Sanya next time!!!

Mixed feeling

Jean Hon 05/01/2017 18:36

f you have already planned your vacation to Hainan, needless to describe the Hawaii of Asia.
That said, what about the Banyan Tree?
Overall it was a very polarised experience, that left us with mixed feelings.

On the positive side, let’s start with the property in itself, which is small in the good way, less than 50 villas set in lush gardens and ponds. All is in very good condition, gardens are well taken care of and the villas are indeed very private, as would be expected. This is definitely a strong point of the resort, as it is differentiated from other mega resorts. True to some other reviews, devil is in details and some details would need improvement (in our villa we had a “steam room” control pad… but no steam room; the jacuzzi did not work when “on” button was pressed… but once decided to work on its own will, blew some asthmatic bubbles and never stopped for the entire week). All those were rather minor… and up to that point, the place is definitely nice.

There is a beach, as noted by others forget about swimming as the water is very shallow. Also, no picture shows that the views are a bit obstructed, namely by a gigantic skeleton of a future hotel on the right side. But one can live with this…

The real weak points of the place are service and food.

Service: everyone is really nice and trying; but it seemed to us that there is a real lack of management, communication and direction. Few really speak good English, and globally we often had the impression people did not really know what to do, or how to do it. For instance in the thai restaurant there was just one waitress, but she barely had anything on hand (no glasses, drinks, etc…) and was running all the time. One lunch was literally served in 2 halves, my partner had his dish, had to eat it and mine arrived when he was finished.
Which leads to think that there is a strange space planning here: only one kitchen for the entire place (or so it seems), so if you order from the beach, be prepared to watch some buggies coming around to deliver the food. Also it seems there is just one bar stocked… on the beach. The thai restaurant seems to have been placed in a corridor; and is barely intimate. All this gives an impression of confusion. The main dining room looks rather like a school cantina, namely in the morning when packed.

Food: this was really the weakest point… breakfast first is below 5 star average. Not only does the room lack any atmosphere, but generally it is far from other Banyan Tree properties standards. The thai restaurant is OK but overpriced. The Chinese option is the best for dinner, though the atmosphere of the restaurant is sad (same room as breakfast). In all fairness we had dinner in the villa (hot pot), which was exceptional. For me the issue of food is that it is too expensive for what it is, and not at the level of such a property.

There are some options around, the Intercontinental being probably the best (though nothing exceptional!).

Overall the place leaves us with strange feeling. On the one hand one can not deny that many people there were indeed very nice, tried their best, the resort is definitely lovely; but… food is really an issue for that kind of price and it totally lacks the atmosphere you could have in any other tropical hideaways.

Is it expensive? Count around 800e / day if you wish to treat yourself to a bigger villa and eat a bit
Worth going? Not sure

Not great by international standards

clairehQ1731SGon 25/12/2016 07:19

For a Banyan Tree, which is normally awesome, this one is not great by international standards. The villas are very nice, but the rest of the hotel is small, which makes the facilities limited. Staff level of English is very poor - even ordering room service in English is a challenge (we spoke to 3 people to order a salad, pizza and water.... and they had to call us back). Also western food is really not of a good standard, so it helps if you enjoy Chinese food!