More about Swiss Belhotel Golden Sands Resort
The best hotel of our trip!
by A TripAdvisor Member
I stayed at the Golden Sands, Hoi An for 3 nights commencing 23rd May 2006.
Other hotels I stayed in during our trip included the Hilton Opera, Hanoi, Victoria Sapa, Duxton Ho Chi Minh City and the Asia, Hue. The Golden Sands was undoubtedly the best stay of our trip.
The hotel is located approximately 3km out of the centre of town on the beach. Usually, we like to be in the centre. However, the setting of the hotel was really beautiful on the beach and a regular free shuttle ran into town, which meant that the distance was not a problem at all. In fact, it meant a good escape from the town setting that we'd become accustomed to throughout Vietnam.
Our rooms overlooked gardens, not the ocean (however both types of rooms are available for booking). The room had a simple sophistocation with timber floors, it had high sealings and was spotlessly clean. The hotel has an amazing 150M long swimming pool, which is set right against the beach and the rest of the hotel has a very stylish, open feel. There are 2 restaurants at the hotel, one with excellent Vietnamese cuisine and the other more western in style. Both very good.
The staff at the hotel were exceptional. We found that the vast majority of the hotel staff in Vietnam were extremely polite but quite reserved, as if very concerned about making any errors involving the finer points of service or language. However, we noted that the staff at the Golden Sands appeared more confident in their abilities than many other hotels and we assumed that they had been very well trained. We got to know several of the staff, who would readily initiate conversation with us, which we really enjoyed.
In addition to the above, we considered the value of the Golden Sands when booked via the internet to be excellent. Don't hesitate to book this hotel.
Good Times in Hoi An
by TripAdvisor Member Superfly2057
Stayed at Swissbelhotel in Mar06. Fairly new resort with good level of service. Staff were very friendly and helpful. The beach resort had great views of the South China Sea and a huge pool. Probably the longest in the whole of Hoi An/Danang. I went with a family and the kids enjoyed the pool and water slide facility. Overall a great place to stay with very personalized service and good helpful staff.
Perhaps there may be pockets of people who would have enjoyed some gym facilities and spa/massage facilities.
Golden Sands experience
by TripAdvisor Member KatjaK
We stayed at the Golden Sands Resort in July 2006 for two nights and unfortunately were not very impressed. The hotel is big and there is no personal feel to it. The room was ok but also lacked the final touch that you would expect in a 5-star resort. The ocean view room had a view of the swimming pool, which in itself was quite impressive. There was only one shop open in this huge hotel and it sold very bad quality, tacky souvenirs. The "bar" was set in the huge entrance hall and again, was quite bad both in athmosphere and in service. The wors bit was the breakfast which was served in the Sand's Kitchen restaurant: the place was absolutely packed with customers and we literally had to fight our way to get a table. The few poor waitresses were trying their best to keep the place running, but it was a impossible task. Tables were dirty, food really below 5-star standards. A horrible experience. We would never recommend this place. If you want to spend the same amount of money and spend your holiday at the beach, go to Victoria, which beats Golden Sands any time.
Unbridled 5-star luxury in Hoi An
by A TripAdvisor Member
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!! My fiance and i stayed here for 5 nights and still to this day have not stopped raving about the Golden Sand to family and friends. The rooms, all amenities, leisure activities, food and the service were all first class. My fiance is a wedding photographer and it has got to the stage where she should be on comission from the Golden Sands as she has been recommending it to all of her clients- in fact we are personally going back for our honeymoon in December. WELL DONE GOLDEN SAND!
Check out our photos of our 6 course private dinner on the beach with our own personal waiter.
Nice hotel but power outages disappointing
by TripAdvisor Member OzBlokePerth
Rooms and services were very good at this hotel, but constant power outages were very disappointing, especially during the hottest time of the year. Rooms were above average, but realtively low standard of workmanship made them look a little tatty for a 5-star hotel. Food in the restaursant left out sweating in the heat. Food was of high quality otherwise.
Room for improvement
by TripAdvisor Member huanannyc
This is definitely a good resort in the coming.
Since it only opened April last year (or so I was told), there wasn't much to research on about the resort. But upon a round of contacting the various resorts throughout hoi an, Golden Sand definitely have one the most friendly group of staff around. Anything that I requested (within reasonable means) or would like to arranged was done.
We stayed during August 4-5, and was lucky enough to get 11 beach front suites for the entire group. My group also had the opportunity to have a lunch at their international restaurant, Sands Kitchen.
The obvious touch ups are definitely needed, I was quite surprised that for a hotel that is only one year old or so there's so much wear and tear.
The rooms are nice for Vietnam, the wi-fi was very VERY shakey, might as well not get connected since you will just be wasting your time. The food is not amazing. Standard at best, I suggestion would be to go out of town to establishments such as Nam Long or Son.
Managerial staffs are their biggest asset, everything else needs to be improved. The restaurant being first then come the general staffs' English.
My best wishes to the establishment, and hope that it will become what it aspires to be.
Fabulous Hotel
by TripAdvisor Member Pernosco
My family and I stayed at the Golden Sands for four nights in July 2006. We wish we had stayed longer. This is a great hotel and it is hard to find any faults with it at all. The staff are wonderful and friendly - probably the friendliest staff that I have ever encountered anywhere in the world.
We had standard rooms. Although they were not large, they were more than adequate and nicely furnished. However, if I were to stay again for a longer period (and we definitely plan to return), I would probably trade up to a larger deluxe room.
The public areas are good and the food in the hotel is excellent. There are two restaurants (one serves Vietnamese food and the other serves international dishes). We ate in both and cannot fault either - the prices were not too bad either.
The pool area is fabulous with the longest pool (must be over 200 meters) I have ever seen. It is an infinity pool right on the edge of the beach.
Hoi An itself is worth visiting and there are many inexpensive but good, restaurants. Cheap taxis get you back and forth.
Definitely will be back. Well done Golden Sands.
Certainly Not a 5 ***** Resort
by TripAdvisor Member TAM_Ireland
Beach front hotel (although more like a motel in design), the Swiss Belhotel is more akin to a 3*** rather than a 5*****. It bore no comparison to the two other excellent five star hotels at which we stayed (The Metropole in Hanoi and La Residence in Hue.) As other reviewers have already commented the resort is not wearing very well and is already quite shabby in places. ( The maintenance men were busy at work on repairs at 8:15am one day directly under our room.)
The breakfast buffet is just average and only suites have a direct view of the ocean, which is not clear from their web site.
On the postive side, the resort has a fabulous pool (150 meters) which is maintained at a refreshing temperature - not something that can be taken for granted with outdoor pools in Vietnam because of the high temperatures. If the weather is sunny while you are staying here, the pool side is certainly one of the more refreshing and relaxing places to spend a day in Hoi An. If the weather is overcast, as was the case for most of our stay, as a hotel it really doesn't have a lot to offer.
Overall, the choice of accommodation in Hoi-An does not seem to be great - a new luxury set of bungalows from GH hotels due to open in December and the Palm Garden Resort, while on the same strip as the Swiss BelHotel may be a better choice.
Would I stay here again? No.
Family Friendly Resort
by TripAdvisor Member bloody
Our family stayed here in June for 4 nights in a fantastic beachfront suite. It was large & spacious for us with our 2 children. It had a seperate lounge room with a powder room. The main bedroom was large with KS bed & spacious ensuite with jacuzzi & walk in robe.
Also loved our rooms location which looked directly over the private clean beach. The pool was great with a swim up bar & the complimentary drink @ 5pm for "Happy Hour" was a nice touch. Shuttle service to town was handy as we went out each night for dinner to some great places, particularly Brothers Cafe for top end food & service and Tam Tam Cafe.
Only complaint would be the buffet breakfast which fell a little short compared to other 5 * resorts. The area in which it was served was not air conditioned & was quite unpleasant on some hot & sticky mornings.
Overall it was an enjoyable stay & recommend for families!
Forum Posts
Golden Sands Resort Hoi An
by grumphy
Hi has anybody stay the golden sands recentley ? The write up in the trip advisor are not very coplimentry. i hope to go in August. all reviews of this hotel would be apreciated. Thank you grumphy
RE: Golden Sands Resort Hoi An
by JonnyVN
Had a few mates stay there and had good reports now they have a new managemnet group running it. Only problem is it is not on Mui Ne Beach so it's a bit of a hile to bars and restaurants on the main drag.
JonnyVN
RE: RE: Golden Sands Resort Hoi An
by grumphy
Thanks jonny for your prompt reply what hotel would you recomend ? grumphy
RE: RE: Golden Sands Resort Hoi An
by JonnyVN
Depends what your looking for, the Sailing Club is always good, the The Beach (bit more family), the Victoria (up market) and heard good things about the Seahorse also
Hope that helps, have some bits about then on my phan thiet page
Jonny
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