Howard Johnson Resort Sanya Bay

We visited for 4days over the labour holiday and overall it was a good stay. When we arrived we were greeted by the welcoming reception team and check in was nice and easy considering we don’t speak mandarin. We were taken to our room by Mindy (明玉) who was extremely helpful and professional. She speaks perfect English and was very helpful by pointing out where the restaurants are and giving us all the information we needed for a comfortable stay. We had to ask Mindy to help us with booking a reservation for the BBQ during our stay and she was more than happy to help us. Mindy is a credit to the hotel and our stay wouldn’t have been the same without her. We found that the hotel service and amenities do not meet the standard of other international hotels in Sanya and could be more diverse and open in their approach.

We had one of the best experiences in Sanya at Howard Johnson. This is the best hotel to stay in Sanya. Staff are very friendly, fluent english speakers and great amenities. The most family friendly environment and very well trained staff ever! Overall it was beyond expectation service! Thumbs up!👍

Stayed for 4 weeks between November & December 2018 Great hotel with very friendly and helpful staff, rooms were kept very clean with big fluffy towels changed every day. Pools in good and clean condition surrounded by palm trees and loads of poolside sun loungers. Different types of Restaurants in hotel catering for all. Great buffet BBQ, live entertainment and plenty of things for kids. Gentle walk through grounds to beach which stretches for a couple miles, clean sand and clear sea a paradise. Highly recommend another side of China..

Howard Johnson hotel has a very good view if you stay on the higher floors. There are like 3 swimming pools but it is always full of people. Not a place for you to relax with a good book and suntan around the pool though. There is a bus stop near the beach where there are buses that can take you to most tourist attractions if you are not in a hurry. As usual, Hainan Island is a very hot and humid place to visit in Summer - July to August. One must be prepared else you will get heat stroke. Overall the beach is nice with strong waves both in Sanya bay and Yalong bay.

There are several places to eat but they have the same menu. Limited selection. The facilities were nice though and good access to the beach. The views were great and staff were friendly and tried their best to speak English with us.

The hotel is really big and new with a lot of restaurant and different activities as fitness, karaoke, tennis... the room are clean and you can not hear your neighbour next in the room,they have everything inside hair dryer, little fridge, weight scale, kettle... bed is comfortable. A lot of choice for breakfasts from European food to Chinese food. If you go go to city center you can order taxi and pay around 15€ or take the bus near to the sea and it will take approximately 30-40 minutes depending of traffic. My only disappointment of this hotel is nobody speak English, at the reception most of them don’t speak expect a few word, usually they call the manager who is near by. They have also 2 restaurant inside of this hotel with menu translate in English, some bars and a other restaurant with buffet.

I had stayed at Howard Johnson for 5 days as a chaperon of school trip. The hotel was beautiful, clean and well maintained. The best part of this hotel were staff members, they were extraordinary kind and helpful. I am used to be one of very demanding and high maintenance guest even 5 stars there were little attitude for annoying guest;) but there I never got any attitude but a willful helping hand. The highlight was I lost my iphone at last moment of my departure. I track my phone at the hotel however I ran out of time, had to leave to Shanghai without my phone. I speak no Mandarin, tried to call or e-mail but couldn't reach to hotel, it was very struggling myself, then my home phone rang from those one of nice hotel receptionist, Nancy, fortunately she spoke almost perfect English, she had helped me for 3 hours to figure out how to send my phone back to Shanghai. Use hotel phone, my home phone, my spouse contact, back and forth, that was such complicated situation especially I could not explain my address in Mandarin, she could dump away this to our trip guide who could not reach at the moment. She made couple clever ideas, helped me right away. I really appreciate for this help also how she was willing to stepped in my trouble. Thank you so much!!

The view from the balcony is amazing.. It has its own beach area,which is very good..the breakfast is also nice,not a lot if western options though! But the service is great..definately recommended!!!

over rated

At first, the visitor will be impressed by the photos, the amenities and everything that the hotel can offer. Yes indeed it looks a very impressive resort...until the visitor arrives at the front desk. There the disappointments start and continue until the time one leaves, wishing he never came to this place. To be totally fair, indeed the hotel could have been an ideal resort, since it has "potential" such as close distance to the beach, exotic vegetation and architecture, many amenities, good food (e.g. the Caribbean BBQ),big swimming pools, playgrounds, good location near shops and means of transportation and many more. However, the disadvantages cancel all the positive aspects and all of them can be attributed to the human factor and especially the insufficient management. In order to be specific, some of the disadvantages are (but not limited to): a) Staff hardly (I mean really hardly) understands any foreign language apart from Chinese. In such cases you might ask for example for a little something in your breakfast or at the front desk and you will be ignored. b) Some of the staff at the front desk do not show manners and they are not tolerant especially with kids. c) Your struggle hard even for using your mastercard. Better to have rmb in cash in order to deal with them. d) Various rooms have problems. For example in our case the bathroom-toilet was "isolated" from the main room with the use of... a single, thin curtain. Moreover, due to humidity, moisture some fungus infection was noticed inbetween the tiles of the toilet. e) Cleanliness generally its not their strong point as well as their manners. Examples: I) When we arrived we wanted to drink some refreshment at the tables of the bar near reception. We noticed that in the near by tables, various people that didn't seem to be guests were barefoot with their feet on the tables where a little after or before someone would eat or drink something. II) Swimming pools are really germ nests. Open from early morning hours to very late night hours for a real vast crowd of swimmers and in consideration that have a low depth and the water is staying long under the strong sun...it is really a question whether can be satisfactorily cleaned. f) Safety...hmmmm lets say there are questions. We experienced damaged lights and exposed cables in one of the swimming pools. I didn't know the exact IP of the cables but the fact itself and the absence of maintenance was really frustrating. g) You can not enjoy your drink near the pool but you have to go to the bar. For unknown reasons no drinks, food or smoking (even drinks in plastic cups) are officially allowed near the pool. h) The whole system and "tastes" are "concentrated"/"focused" on Chinese Tourists. i) The beach of the hotel will not relax you. The sea doesn't seem nice for a swim. Many local sellers are coming to sell their goods, whilst a policeman was patrolling and there were warnings about the safety of your unattended stuff. Conclusively... the result was negative and the disappointment big.