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Occupying a huge area on the northwestern shores of Phú Quốc Island, the Movenpick Resort Waverly is an international standard, five-star accommodation with impressive facilities. With a long beachfront, three enormous swimming pools, two separate high-rise hotel wings and much more, the Movenpick focuses on scale rather than intimacy, and quality rather than style. The Movenpick is great for large families with young children, or travelling groups, or business ‘team-building’ trips. As you might expect from a big international hotel chain, the Movenpick can feel a bit impersonal, anonymous and sterile, but makes up for this in high standards and quality.
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REVIEW: MOVENPICK RESORT, PHU QUOC
Address: Group 1, Ông Lang Beach, Phú Quốc Island, Kiên Giang Province [MAP]
Average Rates: $80-$120
CONTENTS:
The Location
Resort Grounds & Layout
Beach, Pools & Activities
Guest Rooms & Décor
Breakfast, Dining & Drinking
Summary
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MAP:
Movenpick Resort Waverly Phu Quoc
View in a LARGER MAP
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The Location: On a very long and empty stretch of beachfront at the northern end of Ông Lang Bay in the west of the island, the Movenpick has carved out a sizable chunk of Phú Quốc for itself. Although other parts of Ông Lang are relatively developed, the northern portion hadn’t seen any until the Movenpick arrived. For now, the Movenpick has the location all to itself, but surely other large resorts will move in soon enough. But, at the moment, this is a quiet area, with unbroken beach- and sea-views, including a lush and pretty headland jutting into the ocean to the north, and equally lush vistas when looking inland across the island’s vast, jungle-covered interior. The Movenpick is 20-30-minutes by road from the airport, with easy road connections to everywhere else on the island. Although not a secluded or hard-to-reach location, there’s very little local life in the immediate vicinity. Cửa Cạn and Ông Lang villages are the nearest places with shops, cafes, street food and restaurants: both are 10 minutes away by road.
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Resort Grounds & Layout: The Movenpick’s property is huge, encompassing two enormous multi-storey hotel buildings, dozens of detached villas, two large lakes, a conference centre and staff apartments. The sheer scale of the property means there’s no sensation of intimacy: you can’t ‘get to know’ a resort as large as this one. However, thanks to the impressive staff – all young, friendly, helpful, well-trained Vietnamese (mostly from the mainland) – the Movenpick doesn’t feel too anonymous and cold, like some large resort chains do. There are close to one thousand guest rooms at the Movenpick. Yet, because of the space, it never feels crowded or chaotic, even when there are hundreds of guests. This must be partly due to good management: you really get the impression that this is a well-oiled machine. The Movenpick is designed to be a destination in itself: everything you want and need is on the resort grounds. This is not a place that encourages guests to pop out to the local seafood shack for dinner. However, the resort lacks a convenience store: somewhere to buy a quick drink or snack when you don’t want to sit down at the restaurant or bar.
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Beach, Pools & Activities: Movenpick has three massive swimming pools (they need to be large to accommodate the many hundreds of guests). Even so, during the day’s sunniest hours, the pools are empty. The busiest time is from 4pm-7pm. The beach is lovely, long, soft and sandy. Although there are a couple of casuarina trees, the newly planted coconut palms aren’t yet big enough to provide much shade, so the beach can feel pretty hot and exposed during the daytime. However, at dawn and dusk it’s very attractive indeed. In addition, the resort has a well-equipped gym, spa, and lots of daily rotating activities for families with young children. Excursions to anywhere on the island can be easily arranged.
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Guest Rooms & Décor: Although there are several room types available, most are very similar in style, size and layout. Indeed, the majority of guest rooms are sea-view double/twin with balcony (the other options are direct pool access, seafront, and villas). Décor is modern and minimalist but comfortable and very clean. The style is clinical but not too business-like. Everything is well organized and squared away. The bathroom is partitioned from the bedroom by a glass window, and a deep-set balcony provides impressive views across the vast resort property and out to sea. All the appliances – including an espresso machine – function well. What the rooms lack in character they make up for in quality. This is often the case in Vietnam, the more stylish, characterful resorts have lower built-quality, whereas the more clinical, anonymous hotels have higher standards of equipment and appliances. At the Movenpick there’s even an attempt at some Rothko-esque artwork above the bed’s headboard.
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Breakfast, Dining & Drinking: Even before you’ve dined at the Movenpick, the architecture of the restaurant is something to behold: a cathedral-like space with high ceilings, light streaming in through vertical glass windows, columns anchoring the structure to the floor, and wooden panels partitioning booths. Although I didn’t take dinner here, the daily buffet breakfast was fantastic: straight into my top 5 in Vietnam. Not only was the spread enormous (encompassing European, American and Asia breakfast foods), but the quality was good too. What’s more, breakfast – even when busy – was highly organized. Around lunchtime, the poolside bar opens for drinks, afternoon tea (including a chocolate buffet, which the kids love) and snacks. A good place to be at sunset, the cocktails are decent and the prices are surprisingly reasonable (considering this is a five-star resort).
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Summary: Movenpick is a giant international hotel chain, and its Phú Quốc property is an enormous, impersonal resort on a huge piece of prime beachfront. It’s not an attractive building but neither is it a complete blight on the landscape. The standards are high, the staff are fantastic (they cut through – in a very Vietnamese way – the anonymousness of the hotel), the facilities are excellent, the views are great and the beach is long. Rooms are comfortable if not memorable and the breakfast is superb. In particular, the Movenpick functions extremely well for large families with lots of children, group vacations or business retreats. That being said, I originally stayed here in order to focus on a piece I was writing without any distractions: I wanted a place where everything just worked well. The Movenpick provided.
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