Asia Gardens Hotel & Thai Spa, a Royal Hideaway Hotel

(The first comment is meant for clients; the second mainly for the management and possibly clients). Comment to future interested clients: Beautiful hotel; truly as beautiful, peaceful and relaxing as it looks on the photos. I felt as if I unloaded 100 kg off my shoulders within the first two hours at the hotel. I attribute this to the serene surroundings (colors and sounds) in combination with the beautiful weather (21 degrees C in Dec and generslly calm). The room I booked was also exactly as beautiful, neat and comfortable as shown on the website. In addition to this, the service is absolutely excellent and the staff very professional and helpful. The food can be a bit pricy if you take three courses and wine, but it is very delicious and there is variety, there are options to chose from depending in taste, drinks very tasty (including the variety of coffee). I spent Christmas on my own in this hotel this time, and loved my time there nevertheless. Absolutely worth it! Comment to the management: I had a very positive experience, as I write above, and plan to return exactly because of what the hotel offers, the concept of the hotel and also the treatment you give the clients. But I do have some comments meant to contribute constructively to the quality in certain aspects.The hotel offers quality and a pleasant experience. There are just a few details which could make the experience even better if given attention: 1. I purchased the Christmas night deal.The food was very good and there was also plenty of variety. The environment was pleasant and the service excellent. However, the music could have been chosen more approprietly. It was monotonous (contrary to the food options), the singer could barely be heard (I heard more the voices on the recorded songs she was singing with and saxofone); the repertoir (unfortunately) boring whereas the saxofone dominated the scene. You hear that type of music, those songs repetitively in lounges of many hotels, hotel after hotel, and it is nothing but boring in such a particular hotel. If you wish that the hotel is exclusive in every way, it could be benefitial to pay attention to the music and evenings you offer with such entertainment. This applies also to usual evenings/nights, particularly because the nights in your hotel are a bit too quiet (at least this was my experience), with nothing but the TV as the option, and not all guests prefer Benidorm nightlife during a Yoga/meditation/Spa oriented time off. I noticed you have hired a young singer/musician (piano player) to play some of the evenings. Personally I enjoyed his music much more than the saxofone night after the Christmas night (the latter was way too loud and overwhelming for such a small place) at the bar downstairs. I had the chance to attend one of the piano evenings at the hall. I connected to the music instantly and it was lovely that the evening was interactive; one could chose the songs and have small chats, which makes the experience more personalized. This guy is talented. He sings well and plays other instruments, I understood. Give this guy more space in how he organizes his evenings, so it can be entertaining even when he has a small audience. He knows how to engage the audience. I also think his evenings could be promoted a bit more actively among the guests (it gets lost in the activity sheet), whose evenings at your hotel are quiet. I went to the hall that evening to just give it a try because there was nothing else offered. I was pleasantly surprised. 2. Yoga was offered in some of the mornings. It was an excellent choice to begin the day with, if an early morning swim may be a bit too cold for December. But Yoga has to be done on an empty stomach. If you start the first yoga class at 10 am, there is no breakfast after the class (if the guest has booked the room with breakfast included). Your staff (very kind and helpful) arranged for me to have the breakfast at the piano bar, but that is not the idea. Unfortunately I avoided morning yoga the other days because I did not want to miss having my breakfast at the beautiful garden in your breakfast area. I either could have one, or the other. When in fact one could have both, if yoga starting time and restaurant closing time are arranged diffetently. With regards to yoga classes, I enjoyed the Hatha yoga that was offered. I also got to have a small chat with the instructor about different types of yoga, her style of Hatha, etc. Again, this made the experience more personalized, and the guest connects to the moment, the activity, shares experiences, which is the concept behind your hotel, if I seem to understand it correctly. 3. I had the chance to have only one meal at the Asian food restaurant. Unfortunately this was disappointing and I avoided repeating it. The soup had an overwhelming flavor, it resembled a concentrated essence (if this is made with purchased Thai soup paste, which is my impression, it is a pitty. Because Thai/Indonesian coconut coups are easy to make when made fresh and they taste wonderful. Also my main course had a similar issue. The sauce was overwhelming and very salty. Again, I think this was made with a ready made sauce - If I remember it well, Teriyaki - (and too much of it, I could not balance it out even with rice). But this was not the only issue. If I am not mistaken, the meet was previously over-fried in (probably) palm oil. There was a dominating taste of the oil, you are not supposed to taste in such a dish. So two overwhelming unpleasant flavors. I did not reach the half of neither the soup nor the main dish. I could not eat them. I was forced to fill the stomach with dessert. In my opinion, it could help if the kitchen staff is given assistance with Asian food. With the right amount and type of herbs, concentration of sauce and order of frying items, Asian food can taste differently. These were the only things I noticed that need improvement in my 5 day stay in your hotel. I did not book a massage this time. However, it was a destressing/mind and body relaxation experience I was looking for and found it. With a few adjustments, it can get from "great" to "excellent".

This place is amazing. On arrival you are greeted at the entrance and offered tea and hot hand towel to clean your hands. The lady who checked us in was very pleasant. Everything is so personalised including the tv ( seriously it welcomes you by name when you switch it on. It’s on the screen). The grounds and pools are to die for. The food OMG is delicious regardless of which restaurant you go to. It’s a cab drive away from the town. It costs about 10euro. The turn down service is wonderful. The rooms are squeaky clean. I will definitely be back.