So we arrived at this hotel around 3pm in the afternoon. Paid around $750 HKD per night for a pool access room including a free minibar, and we were really excited to be there. Watch out though, because there are about six Sugar Marina resorts, and your taxi driver can get confused when getting there. As a result we ended up at a different hotel and had to walk around 20 minutes to get to this one.
The hotel lobby was decent, the pool was quite shaded and small and visible from the front desk. We checked in relatively smoothly and were then led to our room.
The moment we opened the door an extremely strong smell of mould appeared. It was extremely bad, and my partner is allergic to mould (not that it's good for anyone). There are different types of mould, and this one was extremely bad - it wasn't visible within the room however. We quickly realised we would need to move rooms, so we called front desk to explain the problem. I had to repeat the problem to about four different people before someone began to understand what I was saying. They said they would come to check the room.
A few minutes went by and in the meantime I decided to check out our free inclusive mini-bar. In the fridge was, I'm not even kidding, ONE Chang beer, ONE water and ONE Coke / Sprite. Kind of ridiculous. Anyway, a few minutes later, no one appeared, so I walked over to front desk myself and re-explained the problem. I asked if we could change rooms and take a look at another one. The receptionist / manager began to give me a frosty reception, as if I was being extremely difficult. I explained, as politely and in as friendly of a manner as possible, that my partner is allergic and that she would be extremely sick if she stayed in the room. They didn't seem to care. I was given evil looks, glares and spoken to horribly by the staff (except for the one lady showing us around, who was relatively apologetic).
We were led to another pool access room, which, stank of mould just as badly as the first one. I explained to the lady showing us around that this was just not okay, we would become sick. Could we see another room on a different floor? We returned to reception and after some grumbling we were shown a room on the second floor. Again, this room completely stank of mould. I was shocked. I asked the lady if all the rooms smelled like mould - she said that they did, that the whole hotel smelt like this.
I went down to speak to the manager, who refused to acknowledge my presence, besides simply saying "No cancellation". I explained that it's a health and safety hazard, that this was not healthy for anyone to be staying in the premises, especially us, since we were allergic. Again she refused to listen to me. I ended up calling Agoda, who then asked me to get the name of the person I was speaking to so they could call them directly to assess the problem.
The lady refused to give me her name, and said Agoda could contact her directly via the reservations hotline, and pointed at the phone in front of her. I spoke to Agoda again and they told me they would call the hotels reservations line and ring me back.
Five minutes later Agoda rang me back and told me that no one picked up the phone. It was so obvious they knew who was ringing and intentionally didn't pick up the telephone as a result. Luckily for me I'm a long-term Agoda customer, so they cancelled my stay without any hassle. However I am absolutely shocked that this hotel could be so rude and have such a high rating on Tripadvisor, Agoda and Booking.com!! The woman manager wouldn't even tell me her name...
The rooms were quite basic, smaller than the photos appeared. The rooms also stank. The pool access room wasn't even that great because the balcony is very small and the sun doesn't shine onto the balcony for long. Considering how badly this place stinks of mould, I would totally avoid this hotel like the plague - it's terrible for your health, especially if you have young children with you.
We moved to Foto Hotel, which was on the other side of Kata for around the same price. I'd advise you book there instead. It strangely has a lower rating than this hotel but it was a million times better - the room, the service and the location/pool etc.
EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED. I understand that cancellation isn't available on bookings, however, if you're really allergic to something that is in the room and going to be sick as a result, this should be allowed. Luckily Agoda stepped in to save the day, but I can't believe how badly we were treated for having an allergy to mould.
I'm also quite shocked that so few other reviews mention mould on the premises. There are a couple that do, but we figured if not everyone was reporting this then there should at least be some rooms without any mould. But apparently not. Beware and stay at your own risk!!!
Room Tip: All rooms STINK of mould - beware!!
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Stayed November 2015, traveled as a couple