Bauhinia Hotel – Phu Quoc, Vietnam

Posted on Aug 14, 2016 in Accommodation

If you value security, reliability and peace, Bauhinia will not suit you.

We never expected 5 star (or 4 star for that matter) but we found it noisy (both adjacent building noise and some staff with a total disregard for guests), unreliable (dangerous motorbikes, internet almost impossible, no hot water which was laughed off with a smile), not well maintained (extremely slippery common areas, pool area not cared for or has any stairs, air conditioner dumping water when it’s blocked) and frustrating. And it’s so sad because it has potential. It’s a quaint spot and there are some lovely people here so I don’t want to go on a rant and if you’re only staying one night, it may not matter but if you’re staying longer and/or your priorities are similar to ours, read on…

And the details:

So many problems and most could be so easily fixed but they seem to just brush them off with a smile.

Location would normally be a positive for a property not located on the beach – a short walk to the beach, restaurants, shops, etc. Unfortunately building work started at 6.00am every morning across the road (right outside our window) and while the Bauhinia management have no control over that, it would have been nice to know before we arrived. Apparently it will continue seven days per week until the new property opens in October/November (personally I can’t see them opening on time).

There also seems to be a workshop(?) located on the adjoining property and they like to use their grinder… a lot! I don’t expect that’s going away any time soon but I suppose that’s to be expected when staying in town.

Less acceptable to us, are the things that can be controlled by Bauhinia staff. One Saturday morning we were woken at 7.15am by a worker hammering into concrete in the room directly below us. Apparently the drain needed work but seriously, it couldn’t wait??

At 3.30am the next morning, (Sunday), we were woken by a smoke alarm going off on our floor. A staff member eventually came upstairs and turned it off. It didn’t appear that there was anyone in the room. No apologies. We later heard from another guest that the same thing had happened to them elsewhere on the property on a different night.

At 7.30am that same morning, I was woken by activity right outside our door so I stuck my head out to see a staff member standing on the railing installing a new drainpipe! He smiled hello as I asked politely if he might keep it down.

There was no hot water one evening when we went to shower so we told the guy at the front desk on our way out to dinner. He smiled. When we came back later that night, he said it should be back on… Same again the next night and the next…. It appears that they have the solar hot water heater covered with mesh (presumably so it doesn’t overheat) but they haven’t quite got it right because the hot water is gone by 6.00pm and they don’t seem too concerned!

We agreed to hire motorbikes, went upstairs to change and came back to find that they had given them to someone else so they suggested we walk down the street to find more. A few days later, thinking that we would do the right thing and hire internally, we again arranged to hire bikes and the arrangement was confirmed. At the agreed time, we went downstairs to head off and they hadn’t done anything with the bikes so we waited until they decided which ones they were going to give us, moved all their other bikes and then proceeded to check them. After 5 minutes and much cranking, they decided that one of them wasn’t going to start so one of the guys reluctantly pulled out another. As soon as we took off, doubt set in… no suspension on one, brakes almost non-existent on the other. We took them back and walked down the road to hire externally again.

Our room was large and reasonably clean. Sheets aren’t changed every day and I agree with that policy but when my cups drips on the bed at night and the next day the drip is at the foot of my husband’s side, I find that a little deceiptful and frankly, I don’t need my face sleeping where his dirty feet have been! Beds were comfortable and the air conditioner worked ok most of the time. There was one afternoon when it started pouring out water all over the floor and our bags. Apparently the drain was blocked. I believe a bit of preventative maintenance might have fixed it. None of the doors closed without force and the bathroom design means that the entire bathroom is wet whenever someone showers so to avoid wet feet in the middle of the night, we had to wipe the floor with towels after showering.

The window in the bathroom has no lock and is plenty big enough for a small adult to climb in (it’s the same for all of the rooms). On top of that, there is a safe but it’s not secured to anything… you could pick it up and walk away.

There are small ants everywhere – they do get on the beds at night and while that doesn’t freak me out, it might put some people off.

Common areas (paths, stairs, etc) are extremely slippery when wet. I’m not sure what they can do about the tiled areas (stairs, balconies, restaurants, etc) however the paths could easily be improved with a scrub. We looked at changing to a garden room in an attempt to minimize noise from the street but while they have a nice layout, they’re currently way too dark (cutting a few trees back would help). The pool is large and there are plenty of pool towels available but grounds around the pool haven’t seen attention for a while (long grass between the chairs, weeds in the garden, broken furniture). A large area of tiles in one corner of the pool is covered in algae and needs a scrub (it stayed that way for our entire stay). Umbrellas, cushions on lounges and on pool chairs (the couple that are available) are moldy.

Breakfast is pleasant, some options change every day and I particularly enjoyed the eggs cooked to order, stuffed tomatoes and fresh fruit. Lunch menu items were tasty and restaurant staff are friendly but opening the door for the cat to walk in and out of the kitchen is a bit much (a couple of staff did try to stop this practice but others obviously didn’t see a problem). There are a number of staff at Bauhinia who appear to be hard workers and genuinely try to look after guests but I don’t think others see any problem with the current practices.

In just a short time, management could make such a difference but I’m not sure what their target market is so maybe they feel that these problems are not important.

Visited: August 2016