After one week at the InterContinental Fiji, I know exactly why this hotel should be on T+Ls top 500 hotels, but it never will be. When the IC Fiji showed up on PointsBreak I jumped at the chance to have it for a mere 5,000 points a night. Besides the fact I love pacific islands, it was also our one year anniversary. The hotel was running at high occupancy (seems like an odd time to join PointsBreak) and was about $450 a night for a standard room. There is no denying that this is an amazing resort but it also is a bit quirky too. Although my list of pros and cons is extremely long I’ll try to shorten it a bit and not be too negative. In short, the property is great and the staff is awful.
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Pros:
- It’s located in Fiji. The beaches and water are exactly what you’d expect – amazing.
- The rooms are excellent resort rooms. Big and each has it’s own balcony with a garden. It is not very often that a hotel impresses me but the arrival here and to my room did just that. 5 star all the way. The bath on the porch is a romantic touch as well.
- The coolest resort welcome. The entrance has stone pillars and torches and when we stepped out of the car a man started beating a wooden drum announcing our arrival.
Cons:
- The hotel is incredibly over-staffed. It seems like all 300+ staff walk around all day shouting “Bula!” when you walk by. I kid not. It is the word for hello and when you first arrive it’s endearing but after day 1, it’s too much. I dreaded passing anyone because on one walk I would get shouted at like 30 times. But since the staff is so huge and impersonal I was blessed with being shouted at everyday for a week as if it were my first time being yelled at. There is just no way to exaggerate this. I’m 90% sure that the entire training was simply the command of yelling “bula” anytime a guest passed.
- It was my one year anniversary and they did nothing special. Heck, some hotels give you a gift if you just tell them you want a romantic getaway or say it’s your birthday or whatever… No recognition but the twin beds they gave me was really romantic.
- No upgrades, no elite benefits except a two hour late check out.
- The hotel is designed backwards but since I got a cheap room it actually was good for me. You have to laugh when you realize but someone thought it was a good idea. The Club Rooms are on a hill far far far away from the beach or the restaurants while the cheap rooms are on the beach and right next to the pool. Seriously, it is a heck of a hike to the club rooms. “Sir, your suite is just a mile inland, enjoy!”
- It’s not the Fiji you came to see. Listen, Fiji has wonderful tiny islands with giant mountains and at the IC you can’t even see one mountain. The snorkeling is very poor and dangerous compared to the Yasawas or other islands. And the culture is artificial. They will take you on a tour to a school and even when summer isn’t in session they drag the kids back to perform for you.
- Why is there always an extra 40 charges on my bill every time I check out of an IHG hotel? Along with things from the minibar I never had and the phone calls I didn’t make, were a bunch of donations. Like a $1 donation for every day I was there. How nice of me, right? I didn’t take off the donations but seems shiesty.
- As usual with IC, expensive internet and no free internet for elites.
- The staff is the worse than any hotel above 2 stars I have ever seen. Honestly. Everyday I would look out my window and watch the staff hide behind the corner so they could hang out and talk. That doesn’t bother me too much since I’m not paying but I know as soon as I walk out, the six of them would yell “Bula!” and awkwardly wait for me to leave. Any time we’d call and ask for something, a power adapter, new keys because we were locked out, or when we called to get picked up for check out for example, it took multiple calls and 30 minutes. Actually we waited 2 hours for the adapter and then called again. I have so many antidotes about this:
- They only had twin beds the first two nights which is made worse because they forget to switch us on the third day like they promised and gave our room away… again! I walked up to talk to someone about it and when I came back the keys didn’t work for the room, as they seemed to think we were switching rooms by then. So we waited outside our room for 30 minutes as the staff was slowly taking care of it. Again, this is a big property.
- Long story short, we paid for internet one day for a Skype meeting and the internet cut out and no one knew why we couldn’t get on. Apparently the tech team and the hotel staff don’t talk as the tech team was trying out a new program. Another hour of frustration… after all I was paying $30 a day.
- Another long story short, I went up to see about the seafood buffett and asked the price but when I found out it was over $40 USD I said no thanks and the restuarant manager said she would give me a special deal, half price. Wow, the nicest thing anyone has done for us yet. So I agree and when the bill comes it is the full price. I reminded her of her promise but she acted like I made it up. What is going on!? What shiesty management.
The hotel is owned by the government and therefore I think they view it as a stimulus package of some sort. So they tell the GM, “Hey, make sure you always keep 500 people on your payroll and you should hire the governors brother as the architect.” That is the only theory I have that can explain this hotel. For example, they advise you to tip on your final bill and they divide it up amongst the staff. Just saying. Every single day of my 8 had a frustrating touch but if all the staff disappeared and they just gave free internet and the right room, it would have been the perfect hotel. All that to say, if you go all the way to Fiji, island hop in the Yasawas or someplace with great diving and don’t waste all your time on a resort beach. If you can snag the hotel for 5,000 points, enjoy but see the real Fiji too!
