My family and I decided on The Grand Lagoi Hotel as our choice of accommodation for our weekend holiday in Bintan and overall, it was a great stay with both pros and cons
Pros:
Rooms - We had rooms 519 and 521 and both rooms were very comfortable with a connecting door which was very convenient. The bathrooms were extremely spacious and immaculate which was a huge bonus
Staff - All the staff in the hotel are always smiling and greeting you which is great to see. Afriadi who picked us up from the ferry terminal was really pleasant and welcoming towards me and my family and always maintained a positive vibe even though he had to juggle between picking us up, driving us to the hotel and moving luggages around which is a really great skill to have. The front desk team were also really helpful and polite especially Evi, Lina and Agom.
7th floor Pool - The rooftop pool was fantastic even though the water was quite cold but it didn’t really matter as the weather was really hot at times. The pool itself was very spacious and relaxing to swim in. The view of the pool however just consisted of an abandoned building and construction site but that is 100% not the hotel’s fault as it is out of their control
Food - The food was also very good at the hotel. I ordered their Nasi Goreng at the poolside area and it was very tasty and fulfilling and we also ordered their Spring Rolls and Nachos from the in room dining menu and that was also delicious.
Cons:
7th floor Restaurant - While all the staff were really pleasant, I felt that the service flow could have been slightly better as when they were bringing out our main dishes, it didn’t come out all at once even though me and my brother ordered the same dish (Spaghetti Bolognese) but I got my spaghetti first whilst my Brother had to wait for another 10 minutes.
Spa booking - My family and I had decided to book spa appointments and while the staff who assisted us was also very friendly, she had to keep on checking with her colleagues whenever we asked her questions such as whether the transport could pick up my dad, my brothers and myself from the massage place first before coming back for my mum as she had a longer massage time and the prices of the durations of different treatments. I feel that this staff needs to be retrained on how to handle spa bookings to avoid any future service delays.
Housekeeping - When we came back to the hotel after a night out, we found that me and my brothers’ room was cleaned but my parents’ room wasn’t. We later discovered that it was because my parents didn’t press the button for the staff to clean their room while I did press the button for the staff to clean my room. I genuinely feel that guests shouldn’t be pressing a button for their rooms to be serviced and that the Housekeeping team should be cleaning it automatically unless instructed by the guests to not disturb them as it is the practice in almost every hotel around.
Overall it was a great stay and if I ever were to
come back to Bintan in the future, I would try this hotel again. Thank you for a great weekend!