Sheraton Denarau Villas

I did not want to pick this hotel in past trips to Fiji but this time I had to book last minute fairly quickly without much research and we ended up in this hotel. First of all it's a misnomer, they are not villas, they are big suites (2 bedrooms). Our room was the equivalent to three regular size hotel rooms side by side: bedroom 1, then living / dining area in the middle, and bedroom 2. For me a villa means a stand-alone unit and no wall shared with neighbors but this is not what it was. Typically I am not a big fan of staying in Sheraton brand for such resort unless there are no alternatives (like Sheraton Samoa) but Fiji has options so I would not naturally be drawn to this brand. The second problem is they have two hotels at this location: Sheraton Fiji Golf Resort and Sheraton Denarau Villas. Heck there is even a third (Westin) but it's closed for renovations except their fitness gym. Guests at Sheraton have to walk to Westin for the gym. All hotels share the same facilities so that's not always great for guests due to potential crowding: same check-in area, same restaurant for breakfast. I don't like the concept especially if I am staying at the more expensive hotel. And for such a gigantic resort you combine with another big resort, I thought the restaurant would be a huge chaos. To my surprise, it was not. The restaurant is so big that you can have a table somewhat in peace. Big restaurant, like, very big. So big that the fruit station or omelet station (among other things) is repeated elsewhere within the same restaurant to avoid guests walking too much. Surprisingly, service was better than at InterContinental where we stayed immediately prior to Sheraton. Even the little touches were more noticeable at Sheraton, for example they stopped by one morning and said thanks for your loyalty, do you want Mimosas on the house. It's the kind of special Bonvoy Ambassador Elite attention that makes me appreciate Marriott chain, even in a non-luxury hotel like here. Anyway back to the hotel, another reason I would normally not choose this hotel is that I like to maximize my chances of valuable upgrades and this cannot be it. If you book Denarau Villas then all rooms are the same except ground floor or first floor, garden view or pool side. The cash value of those upgrades is not so material. And if booking on Sheraton Fiji Golf Resort side (small rooms), I am assuming they cannot upgrade to Denarau Villas because it's a different hotel so it limits upgrades by design. That is one of the reasons why I did not choose to stay here before, for me upgrades are important to provide value for the money. But for people who want to be sure they will have lots of space available then this hotel can be a good fit. In my opinion the most interesting feature of the hotel was not the rooms or breakfast. Upon arrival our room was not ready so they told us we could go wait in the air conditioned Fiji Airways lounge. We went there. Then while waiting I asked staff who are they and what are they doing at the hotel. This is actually an airline check-in counter! If leaving NAN with FJ then hotel guests can check-in here, get boarding pass, they tag luggage and later their FJ truck will come pick luggage. So you take taxi with carry-on and you go straight to security screening. This has to be the nicest check-in process I have ever seen anywhere.

Ordered room service, burger and club sandwich. An hour and a half later it had not arrived so called the lobby who were going to follow up as they could see the order. 2 hours tick around and still hadn’t arrived so called the lobby again who were going to follow up, so advised them there was no point in delivering.

The bula hospitality

How long it took to get to the main road

Staff was amazing and really helpful. Loved that the villas had separate pools to the main Sheraton Hotel. Buggies can take you to the hotel especially for the elders

临近游泳池的房间，超级方便，特别是适合有孩子的家庭，自助早餐非常丰富，晚餐live music ，无敌了！👍

浴室里防水胶需要换新的，而且需要做的防水胶很美观，厨房的柜门需要修整，因为细节注定成败，Room dinner 后放在外面的餐盘没有人即时清理，是第二天house keeping 的时候清理的，最后如果所有的抽屉换成自关闭抽屉滑轨，我认为，以上可以改进的话，那么在Denarau island 你们就会是独一无二的

Staff went beyond to make us feel comfortable and welcomed. Found out it was my birthday and Belle and Rayella? (front desk with Garden View rooms) had my room decorated and special treat when we returned in the evening for my birthday. The pools and temperature of pools were superb. The help was outstanding. We will definitely return again and stay at the Sheraton the whole time on our return.

It was excellent.

직원들은 친절했습니다.

시설이 오래되어서 불편했습니다. 라운지는 앉아 있는데 허리가 아플정도로 꺼져 있었구 구석구석 먼지가 많았습니다.

I highly recommend this hotel whether you have Marriott status or not. They treat everyone like family and distinguished guests and with a Marriott Platinum you get a few extra notable perks. Reservation: We booked nearly 2 months in advance through the Marriott Bonvoy app. Good thing we locked in early: I monitored the prices and saw they creeped up slowly as we got to our stay. We booked a package with ocean view and unlimited golf and daily breakfast package for 2 adults. No surprises with the reservation, and they were able to connect me with the Sheraton Golf course and reserve our tee times by email. Check in: As we got out of the car to check in, they played the traditional drums and warm welcome. Bell boy helped hold our bags as we were whisked to check in. Not sure if I was the only Asian female name checking in at the time, but they knew who I was immediately greeted me by name, brought us to the manager on duty to check us in right away and offered us champagne. Warmly thanked us for our Marriott loyalty and being Platinum, upgraded our ocean view to “ocean front room” (fully unobstructed view of the sunset). They explains that since I would’ve gotten breakfast included because of my Marriott status, they offered us points instead. There is a credit card hold when you check in but it gets returned to you upon checkout. After a seamless check in, the bell boy brought us to our room in a golf cart and took our bags in. Room: Our room was absolutely stunning. Very modern with beautiful light fixtures, nice ceiling fan, espresso machine and convenient charge ports by your bed on both sides. If you are from North America and didn’t bring a Type I adapter, no fear because you can connect with a USB/Thunderbolt port to charge your devices. The balcony has a chair and table, great for morning coffee. There was also a drying rack. Property & Location: I really appreciate the water filling stations and ice dispensers throughout the property- the other 2 hotels we stayed during our time at Fiji did not have this and to me, it is such a basic necessity! There were not too many large pools, but a good amount and size given the number of rooms on site. There were chairs at the beach to use, a cute chapel on one side of the resort and a children’s play area at the other side. Rooms were spread out and only had 2 storeys every room felt like a small villa. Through the many tours we booked during our stay, we saw many other properties in Denarau island and Nadi proper while picking up/dropping off other tourists. Hands down, the Sheraton had the biggest luxurious appeal for the lobby looking in. The Denarau marina is about a 30min walk from the hotel. We opted to use the Bula bus that went in a loop around the island every 10-15min and costed $12 FJD for a day pass per adult. The Sheraton hotel does not have a gym or spa on site- you would need to walk 8-10min or get a shuttle to the Westin next door (a sister property that was actually closed for renovation during our stay). Gym & Spa: This part is the only negative thing I have for the Sheraton. As you walk to the Westin gym & spa, you see a lot of construction and a deserted path to get to the back to access the gym and spa. That whole area felt very uninviting - like it did not appeal to me at all to want to drop money and get a spa day there. The gym did not have access to WiFi, so I wasn’t able to watch one of my work out videos. I think it was only a matter of time before they would renovate the gym, which made me wonder, what would they offer to guests for a work out during that time. But overall, equipment were fine. I got my work out in and golfed for the rest of my visit for my workout. Marriott Status Perks: On our first day, after a warm check in, we went for a late afternoon round of golf. When we returned, we were surprised to find a bottle of champagne with a plate of treats and a welcome letter. We also received an invite for a cocktail hour the next day (which I found was only offered to Marriott elite members staying there twice a week). The cocktail hour was from 5:30pm - 6:30pm and we wished we got there before 5:30pm instead of 6pm. All the seats were taken and it felt quite cramped. Nonetheless, we really enjoyed the event, there were passed hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, wine, beer. We mingled with others Marriott elite members from around the world and the hotel management. Though the invite showed the event was supposed to be at Tatavu, we had the cocktail hour that day at Cellar & Barrel since Tatavu was booked up for a private event (could be why it felt a bit cramped). Extra shout out to Yasmine who took care during our time there. When you have breakfast, as an elite member, they also offer mimosas and seat you in a more comfortable area. Restaurant: We had buffet breakfast daily at Island 619. We really enjoyed the 3 egg omelette, dosa, juice bar and custom coffees there. The salad options were a bit limited but that is just me, who was probably a rabbit in my previous life. We also had fried chicken one night at Sega Na Leqa, which was really good. But overall, I would recommend getting on the Bula bus to dine at the marina with more options and a view. One item to note: if you didn’t opt for breakfast and want a budget option, the lobby offered take away boxes of pastries and self serve coffee until the buffet opens. I believe this is intended for guests that have to leave early in the morning as it goes away after buffet breakfast opens. Summary: We stayed at 2 other properties during our 1 week and Fiji and Sheraton comes in 1st place with a 5 out of 5. I highly recommend this place for a traveler that is willing to splurge a bit for the location and relax in a resort that is upper middle end luxury. All the staff members there were amazing and really worked the extra mile to make you feel like family.