Spa and Beach Vacation Guru

Reviewed by Spa-Beach-Vacation.com

Shuttle Bus Service

After staying for 2 nights in Bangkok Holiday Inn Ploenchit, we checked out on the 1 Jan 2005 and took a cab to Grand Hyatt Erawan, where we would be taking Hyatt's 10 am shuttle bus to Hyatt Hua Hin. On arrival at Grand Hyatt Erawan, we left our luggages to the bell boy and gave specific instructions to him that 2 of the bags contains fragile items and would need them to take care when handling them. The bell boy asked us to wait at the Hyatt lobby for the shuttle bus to Hua Hin. After waiting for 10 minutes at the Hyatt lobby, we decided to wait at the entrance instead. Shortly after, the Hua Hin shuttle “bus‿ arrived without anyone informing us. We only noticed the “bus‿ when we saw our luggages being moved towards one of the cars. Quickly, we walked over and enquire why will our luggages were being moved. Only at that point will we informed that the Hua Hin shuttle has arrived. We were then asked to board a MPV and looking at the seats that was left, it was really cramped. Another bell boy than asked us to take the BMW parked some distance in front instead. When we walked over to the BMW, we noticed that there were already 2 men sitting at the back seats and it does not look like it could seat another person. We were quite unhappy and commented that the back seats would not be able to accommodate another 2 person. The bell boy replied that as today is the first day of Hyatt's new shuttle service company, Hyatt cannot be blamed for these inconveniences. Both of us were very shocked with this reply. Fortunately, one of the passengers volunteered to sit in front so that there's sufficient space for 2 women and 1 man. Despite all these hiccups, we were soon on our way to Hua Hin.

Front Desk

After 3 hours, we finally reached Hyatt Hua Hin. I queued at the front desk to perform the usual check in procedure. After a few minutes, it was my turn. I handed the hotel voucher and my passport to the front desk officer. She politely requested that I made myself comfortable at the seats at the lobby while she get the required check in completed. I went over to where my friend was seated and waited. We were each served with a glass of fruit punch. While still drinking the fruit punch, the front desk officer came over and request that I signed the check in documents.

She informed that we would need to wait for 50 minutes before the room is ready for. Considering that we had 50 minutes to wait, we were expecting her to introduce us to the facilities available at Hyatt Hua Hin. Disappointingly, we received none. We therefore requested for a resort map so that we can do the exploring ourselves.

Food

Since we have 50 minutes before we can check in, we decided that we should have lunch first. We looked around the resort and noted that there are 3 restaurants available, Mediterranean, Thai and a vista. We decided to settle for the cafe near the poolside and overlooking the turquiose blue sea. Looking through the menu, we noticed that the prices for food were quite reasonable, ranging from 200 baht for a bowl of noodles to 360 baht for sphagetti.I ordered a bowl of Wanton noodles (220 baht), my friend ordered Phad Thai (200 baht) and a glass of thai ice tea (90 baht) and the bill come out to 606 baht (including 10% tax and 7% VAT). Not too expensive, considering that this is 5 star resort.

Both my Wanton noodles and the Phad Thai were both delicious but the ice tea is not great. For the next 3 days at Hua Hin, we had our lunch at this restaurant. All meals that we had were really tasty and affordable, unlike some of the resorts that we had been to which charged exorbitantly.

Rooms

After our lunch, it was about time for us get the room keys from the front desk. We went back, took the room keys and was brought to the room by one of the hotel staff. Upon reaching the room, the staff gave us a brief introduction of the room's amenities. Overall, the room was fairly comfortable. However, considering that Hyatt Hua Hin is a 5 star beach resort, the room is definitely not 5 star and not luxurious. If you are expecting a luxurious experience, consider other beach resort such as Evason. There's no carpeting in the room. That's fine considering that it is a beach resort. However, the bathroom's wall tiles definitely need changing as it looked cheap. The toilet could also be bigger and the bathing area (where there's a standing shower) had no door. One of the most outstanding feature of the room is that the bathtub. Opening the sliding door inside the room allows you a view into the room. With a balcony that faces the garden, we do not have much complaints at all about the room.

Service

As a whole, the service of Hyatt Hua Hin leaves us much to be desired. From the minute that we step in this resort, no one wishes us happy new year. Having been in many hotels and resorts in Thailand where we had been treated with smiles and greetings from every staff we met, be it the chamber maid, the gardener and even the security guard. Here, zero greetings, not even a simple 'good morning'. When we made a call to reserve for massage, the voices that we here from the other end was that of a uninterested and unattentive person. We had to repeat what we want many times before the message got through. Most of the staff in this resort could not speak or even understand English, which is puzzling and extremely frustrating. We wanted to take a shuttle bus to Hua Hin night bazaar. When we enquired about the pickup point for the return shuttle to Hyatt, the person in charge of the shuttle service was totally unable to comprehend us. In the end, she had to ask a bell boy to be the translator. On top of the lack of service, the resort's staff seem to have a habit of not communicating to the guest. For example, on the 3 occasions that we waited for the shuttle bus to night bazaar, no one would inform us when the shuttle bus is ready for boarding. When we got down the shuttle bus to the night bazaar, the driver will simply drop passengers without informing on the location for the pick up. The same thing happened when we waited for the shuttle back to Bangkok. This is something that must be improved upon.