Mercure Phu Quoc Resort Hotel 

Editor’s Revision on 7/9/2015:  Mercure Phu Quoc Resort Hotel is part of the Accor Hotels Group.  We originally listed it as part of the Novotel Brand.  

Address: To 1 Ap Duong To Xa Duong To, Huyen Phu Quoc, 95000 TINH KIEN GIANG, Vietnam

For our weekend trip to Phu Quoc, we decided to stay at the newest resort with a private beach, away from the crowds.  The Mercure Hotel on Phu Quoc Island was the perfect choice.  It just opened in November 2014.  The boutique resort is located 10 minutes from the airport and about 20 minutes away from town. It offers the exclusivity of a boutique luxury resort but goes easier on your wallet.  The resort is even expanding with further construction that will continue through next year.

PROS:

• The breakfast buffet is a great deal!  The breakfast buffet offer an incredible array of food (Phu Quoc’s specialties and the standard Western hot and cold buffets).  Breakfast is served until 10:30am.  We got there at 10am to secure a table in one of their outside sitting areas overlooking the ocean.  It’s a great way to start the morning and we ended up skipping lunch in favor of a light snack in the afternoon.  The breakfast is a good choice to include in the room rate as the hotel is far from any alternative breakfast options.
  

  Source: http://www.accorhotels.com

• Free shuttle to/from the airport!  We highly recommend arranging the free shuttle service from/to the airport with the front desk a few days before your arrival.
• The reception when you arrive at check-in!  At check in, we were greeted with a refreshing drink and completed check-in relatively fast.  The porter drove us to our bungalow after we received our room keys.
  

  Source: http://www.accorhotels.com/

  

  Source: http://www.Andy-le.com

• Modern, clean rooms because the resort is brand new!  Phu Quoc Island’s hotels are usually much older and in need of repair.  For our stay in February, this resort was the only new one on the island.
  

  Source: http://www.accorhotels.com/

• Moped rentals on-site!  They have a selection of mopeds, filled with gas and helmets to choose from.  The price is approximately 200,000VND/per day.  There was an option to rent for half day as well.  We chose to rent the moped for the entire day.
• Live Band every night!  We enjoyed the complimentary live band every night and it’s a good way to unwind with a cocktail in hand.
  

  Source: http://www.Andy-le.com

• The pool is open late and there is a water bar to order drinks.
  

  Source: http://www.Andy-le.com

• Free kayaks are available for you to use.  We used the free kayaks to explore the ocean near the beaches.  Life jackets are provided.
  

  Source: http://www.Andy-le.com

• Beautiful spa with reasonable service charge.  The spa is nicely decorated and the services met our expectations.
  

  Source: http://www.accorhotels.com/

• Private beach!
  

  Source: http://www.accorhotels.com/

CONS:

• Misleading room descriptions and Customer Service to resolve an issue can ruin your experience before it begins. We originally booked a “Deluxe 2 Single Beds” for our stay.  The hotel description stated “Each 538 sq. ft. (50 m²) Vietnamese-inspired room features 2 single beds, personal Jacuzzi and private balcony with stunning views of our beautiful garden.”  Our room was situated about 4 rows of buildings away from the beach with no ocean view.  The “stunning views of the garden” were nonexistent!  The garden had not been completed, and we were facing construction sites on both sides.  It was rather depressing.  The walk to the beach was also long.  When we voiced our concerns with management, we found their response to be lacking.  They offered to make different arrangements for us if we paid for a “better room”.  We were visibly annoyed at this suggestion.  We were also locked into a non-refundable rate so we could not move our hotel without paying for the hotel.
• After an hour, the resort agreed to provide a villa with partial ocean view but we did have to pay for the difference between the rooms.  We decided to bite the bullet and went ahead with the change.  With a limited number of guests staying at the resort during off-season, we were surprised that management was not more accommodating.  We finally stayed in Villa 1 King Bed with Sea View.  According to the hotel, “Villa 1 King Bed, Sea view – Each 560 sq. ft. (52 m²) Vietnamese-inspired villa features a king-size bed, personal Jacuzzi, private balcony with stunning sea views and direct access to the pool.”  We stayed in Villa #5.  We also noticed that only Villa #5 or 6, directly behind the pool, offer ocean views.  If you can’t get these rooms, it might be best to find another accommodation on the island if “ocean view” is a must on your list!  There “garden-view rooms” are cramped and currently overlook construction areas.  Their only direct “ocean view” accommodations are their suites which are overpriced.

Original Accommodation when we arrived

Source: La Vie Partagee

• Bad Wi-Fi reception and no business center with landline to use.
• The resort needs to have more lighting at night.  It was completely pitch black after 10pm, and we had to use our iphone’s flashlights to find our way back to our room.
• The resort is situated far from restaurants and major attractions.  Taxi rides to/from town can end up costing $20 per day.  We chose to rent the moped instead.
• Expensive food options with no outside alternatives.  We found the food and drinks to be comparable to American 4/5 star hotel prices.  Due to the location, it took us 10-20 minutes to travel for a better priced meal.  We ended up stocking up on drinks, water, and snacks while we were in town and left them in our hotel room.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay after the initial issues with our room.  As the resort was newly opened, not all of the resort’s services were executed smoothly, especially its customer service related to reservations and bookings.  If it is to live up to its 4 star rating, these aspects of the hotel need to improve.  We plan to return later this year to see if there have been any changes.

FINAL HOTEL ASSESSMENT:

For our hotel’s reviews, we will provide ratings based on the following criteria:

1 (Terrible) to 5 (Excellence)

• Cleanliness: 5 – The Mercure Phu Quoc Resort Hotel is brand new.
• Reviews of hotel from various sources (i.e. Trip Advisor) are accurately reflecting the current condition of its accommodation: 4 – The Hotel gets rave reviews on Trip Advisor.  It is indeed the newest and considered the best in Phu Quoc, but when compared to the other hotels in Vietnam, the hotel did not meet our expectations.  The room and its location will determine your review of this hotel.
• Hotel room description is the same as the booking information: 2 – Based on my experience, the rooms were accurate but the location descriptions were misleading.  A “garden view” provided a view of a construction zone and the location was also very far from the beach.  We recommend that you follow up with the hotel to ensure that the view from your room is what you expect.
• Check In Process: 4 – Customer Service is friendly.  A welcoming staff treated us to a glass of fresh juice while we waited to check in.  The porter took us to our room in a golf cart.  Overall, the process is quick and smooth.
• Staff ability to speak English: 3 – We find that the reception staff is fluent in English but the rest of the hotel staff struggle beyond common English requests.  This could be frustrating for non-Vietnamese speaking tourists.  We ended up speaking Vietnamese to most of the staff.
• Food/Beverage Service: 4 – Food is beautifully prepared and tastes great.  The downside is that food prices are expensive, and there are no cheaper alternatives in the area.
• Issue resolution from management: 2 – We gave the hotel a rating below our expectation for issue resolution.  The room that we received was far from the beach and had views of construction zones all around us.  We communicated that the hotel description on the website was misleading.  We asked for a different room but were requested to pay more.  With minimal guests at the hotel, there were definitely rooms available for management to resolve this issue by moving us to a better location.  Management was difficult to deal with, and we were frustrated to the point that we wanted to cancel our hotel reservation and move to another hotel.  However, we booked a non-refundable rate through hotel.com, so we were stuck here.  We finally relented and paid  extra for the room with the pool view.  This incident was not a great start to our girl’s getaway.
• Customer Service:  3 – Nothing extraordinary about the hotel service.  The staff is friendly and will provide you with good service.  However, they struggle if there is an issue or a complicated request from a guest (i.e. LAN line instead of wifi).

OVERALL RATING: 3.5 out of 5

For more articles on Phu Quoc, visit our TRAVEL page.

Author: Thai-Anh Hoang