5-Star Hotels in Hainan, China

An absolutely wonderful stay! Open the window and you're greeted by rainforest and distant mountains, with a breathtaking view of the churning blue sea. Our wooden cabin nestled among the treetops, and the evening breeze carried the scent of grass and trees. We fell asleep to the sounds of the mountain wind, birdsong, and waves. Staying in this 'bird's nest' was truly an experience of wild luxury amidst the mountains and sea. The hotel staff were incredibly warm and attentive, and we even got a free room upgrade. All the little details were perfect. We also enjoyed a half-day tour of the forest park with a guide. Both the Western and Thai restaurants were good too. I'll definitely stay at the Bird's Nest again next time I'm in Sanya. #RainforestMountainRetreat

This is my third time visiting Sanya in 12 years, and my second stay at the Guest House. My first visit was in 2018, and I stayed in a poolside room, which was a beautiful, clean, and pleasant experience. When I left, I wished to stay in a villa next time. Eight years later, I've returned to fulfill that wish, bringing my two children and parents to stay in a two-bedroom villa. The endless ocean view and infinity pool truly made it worth every penny. The kids were so happy. We booked a courtyard BBQ to share with family; the food was delicious, and the meal for four was so generous that five of us couldn't even finish it. The convenient service and excellent food are definitely worth it (though the courtyard was a bit hot in summer, lol).

Sanya Haitang Bay Wanda Realm was an absolute gem! The location is incredible, right next to the duty-free shop. After a shopping spree, it was just a few steps back to the hotel, making getting around incredibly convenient. The hotel grounds are massive, with coconut groves and ocean views everywhere you look – every photo is Instagram-worthy. Ella provided such thoughtful service, always there for any little thing we needed, taking care of everything down to the last detail. All I had to do was eat, drink, play, and relax [heart emoji]. I didn't have to worry about a thing, the experience was top-notch. I'll definitely be staying here again next time I'm in Sanya! [rose emoji]

This hotel is a great choice if you're landing in Sanya, as it's very close to the airport. It's an older, established hotel here, so while the facilities are a bit dated, the service is still comprehensive. The pool isn't small, but there aren't many trees, so it can get quite sunny. They have daily activities for kids, like crafts and other things. The breakfast offers a good variety, and the operating hours are very long, so you can enjoy some activities before heading down to eat. I originally planned to stay one night but ended up extending my stay.

I've stayed at several InterContinental hotels in recent years, so let's start with what I liked about this one: the rooms are spacious, the balconies are large, and the facilities are well-maintained. All the staff I encountered, including the front desk, restaurant servers, bellhops, executive lounge personnel, and even the cleaning staff, were very warm and polite. The breakfast buffet was also quite good, with prompt plate clearing and food replenishment. I'll definitely stay here again and recommend it to friends. Now, for some areas I think could be improved: As an InterContinental hotel, I find it unacceptable to use melamine bowls in the buffet restaurant. If it were a Holiday Inn, one of your sister brands, I could understand, but you're an InterContinental. Secondly, there's a distinct odor at the entrance to the kids' club. This is something you should learn from a certain hotel in Haitang Bay (like Haitang Bay Shangri-La). Your management team can go and take a breath there to understand. Another issue, which isn't unique to InterContinental but applies to many hotels in Haitang Bay, is having too many interns. While it's normal to have interns, their proportion shouldn't be excessive. As I mentioned before, you're an InterContinental, not a Hilton or a Sheraton. One more thing I hope the hotel considers is encouraging guests to give honest feedback based on their true feelings, rather than implicitly or explicitly guiding them to review the hotel's service in a certain way. It's 2026, and we're in a digital age; mindsets need to change. This is for the hotel management. Don't you know that nowadays, overly high scores are often met with skepticism? People tend to trust ratings between 4.6 and 4.8. Please stop using these inflated scores to evaluate your staff. Finally, I hope the executive lounge's offerings can be further enriched. It should feel like a proper meal, not just an afterthought.

Yalong Bay Mangrove Tree Resort is probably one of the hotels with the best service in Sanya. This trip, it rained in Sanya, which initially made me a bit emotional. Luckily, we had our beautiful and kind butler, Coral, who provided thoughtful and attentive service throughout – a huge thank you to her! The sea in the Mangrove Tree area seems to have smaller waves, making it relatively safer. Even with a light drizzle, it didn't stop us from swimming in the ocean, which is exactly why we came to Sanya. We spent a whole afternoon playing yesterday and didn't get too sunburnt, it was excellent! The hotel breakfast had a great variety, and the fruits were plentiful and fresh, which I was very satisfied with! We've already moved to our second hotel now, and it's day one of missing Coral…

Overall, I had a really enjoyable stay at this hotel. It’s worth noting that the hotel caters primarily to Russian tourists, so much of the signage, tours and information are aimed at Russian guests. As an English speaker, this sometimes made things a little more difficult, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying my holiday. When I arrived, I had a couple of issues with my room. The hot tub took over an hour to fill, and the water wouldn’t stay warm while it was running, so I wasn’t really able to enjoy it. The charging ports in the room also weren’t working, although the hotel kindly provided me with an adapter, which solved that problem. Unfortunately, the hot tub issue was never resolved. The breakfast was very good, with a nice variety of food each morning. The swimming pool was also lovely—warm, clean and a great place to relax. My biggest concern was the fish spa. I initially thought seeing a dead fish was just a one-off, but I noticed dead fish in the spa every day during my stay. That made me question how well the spa was being maintained, and I hope the hotel looks into this. The staff were always kind, polite and helpful, and despite the few issues, I had a lovely stay overall. With a little more attention to maintenance, particularly in the fish spa and the hot tub, this hotel would be even better.

Highly recommend the Sheraton Sanya Haitang Bay Resort for a fantastic family trip! The hotel boasts expansive grounds, a private beach, and well-designed multiple pool areas, with the kids' water park being a highlight. The biggest surprise was the incredible array of family-friendly activities, including daily bubble parties, craft sessions, petting zoo interactions, and jungle adventures. The large indoor kids' club keeps children entertained all day long, so you don't even need to leave the hotel for a full day of fun, truly giving parents a break. The rooms are clean and comfortable, and the staff are warm, attentive, and quick to respond. Breakfast offers a wide variety of choices. The location is excellent, close to the duty-free city. Overall, the facilities are well-maintained and exceptionally child-friendly. It's a great value-for-money family resort in Haitang Bay, and we'll definitely choose it again for our next trip to Sanya with the kids!

The Yalong Bay Seaview International Resort Hotel boasts an excellent location, right on the beach. The room amenities and pool environment are generally satisfactory, and it's convenient to get to various attractions by taxi. The biggest drawback is the restaurant. While the staff are friendly, there's a clear gap in overall management, operational procedures, and brand standards compared to chain hotels. The food quality is mediocre, and replenishment and table clearing are slow. The processes aren't standardized, and for the same price point, the dining experience falls significantly short of chain resorts. The rooms, beach, and public areas would get a good score. If you don't plan to dine at the hotel and are just looking for a place to stay overnight, it's a viable option. However, if hotel breakfast and restaurant dining experience are important to you, I'd recommend considering other choices carefully.

For the same price point, I still recommend Banyan Tree~ Although it opened earlier than other hotels, it wins out by being quiet and free from the noise of those marketing family-friendly hotels. The breakfast running until 12 PM is fantastic, perfect for late risers, and the restaurant is very orderly. While some online reviews mention a limited selection of food, there's no constant turning over of dishes by people, and my child never experienced any stomach discomfort during our nearly week-long stay~ Staff in public areas always greet you, and service response is very prompt~ One evening, we couldn't open the main entrance (likely improperly locked by the turndown service staff). It was already 10:15 PM, and the maintenance staff, seeing us waiting for over 10 minutes with my young child urging to go back to the room to sleep, suggested climbing over the wall to open the door from the inside so we could get back to our room. (The wall had dangerous-looking spikes to prevent climbing). Outside food deliveries are brought to your door by a butler and are quite fast~ The hotel's public beach isn't large, but its waters have a breakwater, so the waves here are much smaller than in other bays. At low tide, you can even pick up small shells and catch small crabs (remember to wear protective gear. A reminder that the area of the hotel beach is a coral protection zone with live coral, so do not go into the water with exposed legs to avoid cuts, and do not step on or turn over corals! Please release any live creatures back into the sea). The sand closer to the water is fine, but further out, there are many mixed broken shells, so children must wear flip-flops or sandals, and socks would make it less uncomfortable. The hotel offers many activities to keep children entertained: aromatherapy candles, coconut shell painting, stringing shell bells, planting coconut seedlings, football, beach volleyball, coffee grounds sand art, painted fans, twisted sticks, and recycled paper bookmarks (daily schedules vary). Some are chargeable~ Since each room has its own pool, we didn't use the public pool. We also rarely saw other guests in the public areas. Mosquito repellent was provided in the room, and we always took mosquito precautions before going out, so we weren't bitten by mosquitoes or other insects throughout our stay~ The greenery in the park is maintained daily by staff. Besides encountering various sizes of snails at night and frogs croaking loudly around the pool (which scurried away frantically when seen), we didn't encounter any scary animals. Finally, when we left, I took a bag of items made by my child in the park~ and shells picked from the beach~ They kept insisting they want to come again next time!