We just spent two weeks at the Ritz Carlton Yalong Bay. We had a tremendous time. The beach was very nice. We got a lot of exercise walking along the beach. We also walked into town most everyday to find a variety of restaurants and Starbucks. The staff at the hotel was polite and friendly. I want to offer special Thanks to Nancy who helped us throughout our entire stay. She did a very nice job of translating when we could not (my mandarin really should be better....). She notified us of upcoming events and helped us make reservations for Christmas and New Years Dinners.
We used the workout facility, which was nice, clean and had a lot of equipment. We did have a massage. We scheduled a couple’s massage. My husband’s started on time but mine was 20 minutes late due to traffic(?) So we did not start and end at the same time which was a bummer and delayed us getting to the beach. Overall, the massage was good but would expect better professionalism on timeliness. I was on my way out when they found me (I have a 15-minute wait limit when I schedule these types of things).
Sturdy, the waiter at the beach bar, was very polite and helpful. Boody (sp?) in the restaurant staff was extremely helpful as well. Our room attendant was xionjiu jian (sp?) She was phenomenal and followed up on everything we needed every day. She helped us with anything we needed including laundry and ice. She was always very pleasant and helpful. She spoke in mandarin, but we were able to use the translator (and my broken mandarin) to communicate. She truly made the stay worth returning.
The beach is nice, and weather was nice. we were able to lie on the beach except for one day when it was very windy. we stayed on our patio instead.
We went to the largest duty-free mall in the world. It was not for us. It is a mall. We took the shuttle from the hotel. We are glad we went early. It got very crowded around noon. Most of the items are delivered to you at the airport. Since I was looking for something to use at the beach, that was not helpful for me. In any case, we could have skipped the mall. We found a taxi and went back to the Ritz Carlton as fast as possible.
We had very good fresh fish at the restaurants in town. The steamed fish on the room service menu is superb. If you have WeChat, you can order from the in-room dining menu and pay very conveniently. That was easier than ordering on the phone (due to my poor mandarin skills). The Christmas Dinner at the beach restaurant was great and I got a picture with Santa. The New Year’s eve dinner in the Italian restaurant was also very good. We had purchased champagne from one of the stores in town. It was terrible, either spoiled or fake. We ended up purchasing a bottle from the hotel which was superb. Should have skipped trying to save money and just purchased from the hotel in the first place.
NOTE: Compared to Shanghai, there is a lot less English here. It did not bother us (I mean, we are in China) but be prepared if you do not speak Mandarin. We found people were very friendly. In the restaurants in town, other customers stepped in to help translate if needed. That was nice. Same thing happened on the bus. Very appreciated! Honestly, I need to study my mandarin!
We reserved the ocean view suite which had two rooms and 1.5 baths. This allowed us to call in to work if needed and not disturb others. Would be a good room for a family. The patio was large. Had a table and chairs but no lounge chair. We used the foot rests from the room, it worked fine.
Overall, we had a very enjoyable 2 week vacation and would return.

This hotel is amazing I loved it . Staff friendly , rooms clean , amenities amazing and restraints really good . It is totally worth staying here really nice . A lot of the staff don’t speak English but don’t worry about that you can get by . Really really great place .

After staying at many RC in China and around the world I would have to rate this one of the most disappointing when it comes to service.

Firstly, the grounds are impeccable, the location and beach amazing. The room and view is of high quality and no complaints.

My issues with this property:

1. Arriving at 8pm being told all restaurants are fully booked. As it’s a resort no nearby restaurants nearby and was informed at the club lounge we must return to the room to order on our phone and the delivery time is about one hour. “They are very busy tonight”

2. Television not working and at 11pm we had the engineer there and informed it could take 2 hours to fix. Was informed to wait until tomorrow. Thankfully after multiple calls to management they had it fixed at around midnight.

3. Beach bar official closing is 1900hrs. Tried to place order for BBQ and a drink at 1800hrs and informed they are closed due to shortage of staff. Again...after call to management they resolved it and put it down to a training issue l

4. First night in the lounge was not RC standard. Could not locate my room number or reservation. Served my wine in a beer tumbler and wasn’t interested in assisting in helping with my “room service” order and advised me to call on my own phone in my room...ok. Room key could not be replaced as it was after hours. (I lost one of mine)Staff in general were not engaged and felt more like a Holliday inn ballroom.

5. Alcohol in lounge strictly closes at 8pm. I vaguely recall it is usually at 10pm or later in other RC properties. I was advised that the hospital is very far from hotel and they want to be responsible and stop people drinking too late....hhhmmm?

6. 8pm and room still no turn down. After escalating I was informed they would ask housekeeping to expedite. This is too late, I’m sorry. Turn downs here mean the blinds are closed, that’s about it. No “turn down” of the bed in the 4 nights, no slippers by the bed or other evidence the service has been provided.

Overall the hotel, location and hard product cannot be faulted. The issue is the service and lack of training across multiple departments and the management recognizing this but fail to improve after reading earlier reviews

I must make a special shout out to following staff whom went the extra mile. kokok: she is amazing and made my stay less stressful and must be recognized. Nicole and Elaine from club lounge also very accommodating and deserve praise

I really hope RC Sanya can lift their game, I wouldn’t come back unless there was an obvious lift in service. There is an abundant amount of good quality hotels in Sanya and the price does not justify the service you get.

I almost exclusively stay in RC properties and know the minimum standards. On this occasion they have not been met. Perhaps it was due to the high occupancy, however as a guest this is a hotel issue.

Hope the management read this and make some corrective actions for future guests.

I am always available for further comments if needed :)