Asia Gardens Hotel and Thai Spa

"Unfortunately, our experience has been disappointing so far. We had a 4.5-hour wait for our room and weren’t allowed in until 4:30pm, which is a terrible start to a holiday. There also seemed to be very few staff around to help, and the hotel feels noticeably overbooked. There are a lot of rules and restrictions, which makes it difficult to properly relax. We booked half board expecting some choice, but it is actually limited to just one restaurant, which was very disappointing. The adults-only pool is also tiny, with no nearby toilets and not enough sun loungers, so even that area doesn’t offer the relaxing experience you would expect. Overall, the hotel feels overcrowded, restrictive and poorly organised. After such a long wait just to access the room, we expected the rest of the experience to make up for it, but unfortunately that hasn’t been the case."

"Beautiful hotel, but not currently a 5-star standard We have stayed in a number of 5-star hotels, and unfortunately we don’t feel Asia Gardens currently lives up to a true 5-star standard. The gardens and grounds are absolutely stunning and are definitely the highlight of the hotel. The food was also amazing and we really enjoyed it. However, when you are paying 5-star prices, you expect the rooms, restaurants, pool areas and overall surroundings to be maintained to the same high standard. In the restaurant, the area around our table had visible water damage and wallpaper hanging off the wall, yet our meal cost around €180. The food itself was excellent, but at that price you expect the surroundings to match the quality of the meal. The pool area was also disappointing. Some of the sun loungers were dirty and certainly not what we would expect at a 5-star resort. On one day, the main pool couldn’t be used until around 2pm because the chemical levels were not correct. When one of the main attractions of the hotel is its beautiful pools, losing a large part of the day because the main pool isn’t available is disappointing, particularly considering the price of staying here. Our room was a lovely size, but there were several things that let it down. The doors slam shut very loudly, making it difficult to relax or have an afternoon nap. The bed was on wheels and moved as soon as we got into it. There was nowhere convenient to hang wet towels after showering, and even the hairdryer felt cheap and poor quality for a hotel of this standard. It’s a shame because this could be an exceptional hotel. The setting and gardens are beautiful and the food is excellent, but some areas are clearly in need of maintenance, better cleanliness and greater attention to detail. For the prices being charged, we expected a much higher overall standard from a 5-star hotel."

"This has been a terrible experience from the moment we arrived, particularly considering we have paid around €2,200 for five nights. This review is being written on the first day, so it reflects the experience at check-in and during our first few hours at the resort. The hotel is located in what is essentially a residential area, although the entrance itself is quite impressive as you arrive through the convention centre. Unfortunately, the initial welcome did not match the surroundings. The reception and concierge area was not air-conditioned, and the check-in process was poor. There was no discussion about a potential room upgrade or the $100 Virtuoso credit that should have been addressed on arrival. Room 8210 Our room, 8210, required a very long walk, including passing through two separate lobbies, to reach it. The room itself is acceptable, but for the price and the category advertised, it does not feel particularly luxurious. Most importantly, it was described by the booking as a Deluxe Sea View room, but there is no meaningful sea view and you cannot hear the sea. Instead, the view is largely of Benidorm and surrounding vegetation. This was sufficiently different from what we expected that we returned to the concierge and spoke to the manager. We were offered the possibility of paying the difference for another room category, but there was no Virtuoso upgrade, which was disappointing given the booking benefits. Parking is also €15 per night. This is worth knowing in advance, particularly given that the hotel feels as though it is in the middle of nowhere. Pools & Spa The Angkor Wat adult pool is far too small for a resort of this size, with very limited sunbeds around it. The Langkawi pool was particularly disappointing. It was extremely noisy, with people shouting to each other, children and considerable background noise. The pools don’t flow directly into each other either; you have to swim to the end, get out and walk up stairs before entering the next pool. There are also some safety concerns. The first step into the pool slopes downwards quite sharply, creating a potential trip or fall hazard. The biggest issue, however, is the sunbed situation. There are green towels displayed in various areas, suggesting that the hotel is trying to manage the reservation of sunbeds, but there was seemingly no effective enforcement. Dozens of sunbeds had towels placed on them, leaving very few available for guests who actually wanted to use them. Eventually, people were lying on the grass because there was nowhere else to sit. For a hotel marketed as a spa hotel, it was also surprising to discover that the spa facilities are not freely accessible to hotel guests. Access to the spa requires you to book and pay for a treatment. This should be made much clearer when booking, as it is reasonable to expect at least some access to the spa facilities when staying at a resort that promotes itself as a spa hotel. Service & Customer Experience At around 3pm, we witnessed a family with young children come to the concierge because they had been turned away from the three restaurants that were open, apparently because they were already full. They were told that their remaining option was essentially to have food in their room. For a resort charging these prices, this is not an acceptable level of service or planning. The customer service so far has also not felt warm or particularly helpful. At the pool, when asking about towels and sunbeds, staff have simply told guests to go and find a sunbed themselves rather than actively helping. The response from the concierge manager regarding our room concerns was also not particularly accommodating. The combination of the misleading sea-view room description, lack of a meaningful upgrade, €15 nightly parking charge, overcrowded pools, sunbed problems, noise, restricted spa access, limited restaurant availability and indifferent customer service has made this a very poor start."