Grand Mercure Sanya Yalong Bay

It used to be called Huayu, then was divided into Swissotel and Mercure. Not much has really changed. The place is quite old, though it’s well located and the service is decent.

Beautiful, tidy, and clean. The whole island is superb too, and this is the kind of place you don’t want to leave...

The price is cheap, so the many problems are understandable, but it’s still a very, very weak three-star hotel. The pools are old and dirty, and the grounds aren’t accessible for people with disabilities. Even walking the stone paths is hard, and it gets dark in the evenings. The beach is dirty and noisy, with only 30 umbrellas shared by three hotels. It’s packed, like Anapa, and people don’t fit inside the enclosure, so they swim nearby. A policeman’s siren keeps blaring overhead. Breakfast is crap and service is so-so. At least they were considerate about changing my room. Towels and disposable slippers were changed daily, but the bed linen wasn’t changed once during my nine nights. I changed rooms three times. The basement room in Building 5 was absolutely crap, and I couldn’t even carry my suitcase downstairs, let alone upstairs. In Building 1, black mold was on the vents, and the room smelled like mold or sewage. I moved to Building 8 in the middle of the night. There was mold there too, but at least no stink. All the rooms I saw were shabby and had dirty bed headboards. If neighbors smoked, the smell came through the air conditioner. The toilet and shower share one door, so you wash over the toilet, and there isn’t a single towel hook in the bathroom. Don’t be fooled by positive Booking.com reviews. Maybe the rooms are okay for people who aren’t too picky, and that seems to be the kind of crowd this hotel has.