We spent 7 nights here at the height of the summer holiday (June 30-July 7) and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. I could see why some people (especially those without children) would not be 100% satisfied with this place, but it was almost perfect for me, my wife, and three year old son.
We stayed in an “Executive Deluxe Suite - Oceanview,” room 1603. It was a corner suite and there were no other guestrooms on our section of the hallway, meaning it was always quiet. As you can see in my pics, it featured a massive outdoor space with a tub/plunge pool, and we used this daily. The living room was decent sized, the extra half bathroom was a nice surprise, and the actual bathroom, with the rain shower, big bathtub overlooking the ocean, and double sink was outstanding. We had panoramic ocean views throughout the suite. This is probably the best hotel room I’ve stayed in and I’ve been living internationally for almost ten years. The room service took a long time, however, and we once had to wait around 20 minutes to get another bottle of shampoo delivered even though we were right next to a housekeeping room and they had already cleaned our room twice that day without replacing our shampoo. Minor details, but these small touches are what differentiates four and five stars in my book.
We had access to the executive lounge on the 17th floor and took full advantage of the afternoon tea from 14:00-16:00 and happy hour from 17:00-19:00. While it did not have some of the premium features of other club lounges we’ve used in the past (late checkout, club-level checkout, breakfast, top shelf liquor, peace), it was adequate and provided ice a lot faster than calling down to the front desk. It got pretty packed the first couple of days we were there to the point that we couldn’t find any seats, but we learned our lesson and showed up right when it started. The food was fine; it didn’t blow our socks off. I liked the churros with Nutella and my son liked the candy. We also learned that there were made to order cold coffee drinks so we didn’t always have to use the machine. Happy hour was okay, but there weren’t many mixers (no juice!) so we were limited to either straight alcohol or whatever could be mixed with soda or coconut milk. I got creative and brought up a whole lime, mixed the juice with vodka, and topped it with ginger ale to make a Moscow Mule. I also drank straight Iohnnie Walker Black when I was too lazy. The lounge food could substitute for a light lunch or dinner, but it’s not really enough for a substantial meal. Other executive lounges I’ve been to have at least one hot food preparation station. That would make it a lot more worth it.
Breakfast was a madhouse every single day, which could be expected at a family hotel of this size. The noodle station was the best, followed by the egg station, followed by the Hainanese coconut milk dessert station. My wife liked the rou jia mou A LOT. The Western items were blah, but I was happy I could at least get some decent over easy eggs and a good baguette. There were plenty of cereals and baked good, dim sum, weird British stuff (baked beans!? Tomatoes!?), as well as fruits and salads. I would have liked more cured and smoked meats; I was very disappointed by this. At least give me some smoked salmon or prosciutto. Even salami would have been okay! Also, some of the coffee machines were broken at all times or out of milk, making the line for coffee almost always way longer than it should have been. There’s also your only opportunity to get free ice cream here; take advantage or you’ll be paying 58 kuai for a tiny container of Haggen Das (though scoops are only 32 RMB in the lobby).
The pool and beach areas were perfect and never too crowded. I thought it was lame that they charged for floats, but it was nice that sand toys were free to use at the beach. We almost always had to wait 15-30 minutes for towels so we brought some back to our room and used them repeatedly to avoid this inconvenience. We loved the kiddie area with sand that was perfect for a preschooler. The water slides were fine, but a little big for a three year old. He hit his head pretty hard one time. The pool bar was expensive but nice to have. The actual beach was big, clean, close, soft sanded, and generally uncrowded, though chairs were always scarce and there were constantly people trying to make us buy things.
The kids play areas weren’t bad. The small area by breakfast was good for post breakfast playing while the adults drank coffee and the bigger area with the trampoline and ball pit was great for a longer play. The arcade was fun for a little while. My son also fed the koi outside and enjoyed himself. The fitness center was minimal, but I don’t imagine a lot of people come here to exercise. I workout a lot and didn’t have the time or motivation to use it more than once. It has a decent amount of machines, but very few free weights.
We only ate dinner at the hotel on the first night and the outdoor barbecue one time. The western restaurant was expensive for what it was, but the pasta was passable and drinks were strong. The outdoor barbecue was pretty awesome, but would have been more awesome if it wasn’t so hot, which can’t really be avoided. There hot pot, which included a live seafood tank containing crabs, shrimp, and clams. This was so great. The were plenty of grilled meats, a huge buffet of hot pot ingredients, ma la crayfish, sashimi and sushi, cooked dishes, beer, wine, lots of deserts, and ice cream. It’s totally worth the 250RMB or so that they charge. There’s also live music! I would have stayed til closing time if I wasn’t sweating my face off and my son wasn’t going berserk.
Overall, we had an awesome week at the Pullman and would not hesitate to come back if we ever visit Sanya again. However, we probably wouldn’t have had QUITE as excellent of a time if we had a more basic room without vaulted ceilings, a view, or lounge access, were a couple without kids, or came expecting an ultra modern, tranquil, luxury experience. If you want that, go to The Edition. If you’re more into a Southeast Asian feel with occasional kid-related chaos, this is the place for you!
