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InterContinental Hotels / Hotel Spas / China Hotels / → All Tags

Welcome to the Hydrodome at Intercontinental Sanya

Where: NO. 1 ZHOUJI LU, Sanya, Hainan, China

With all the travel we do, a visit to the spa is often essential—if not to maintain sanity, then at least to recuperate after long journeys. It’s not often, though, that a single spa feature captures our interest (usually we’re too busy zoning out on the massage table or letting a collagen moisturizer soak into our skin). On a recent visit to the InterContinental Sanya on China’s Hainan Island, however, we spotted a spa installment like nothing we’d ever seen before.

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Ritz-Carlton Hotels / China Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

Pink Lovers Head to The Ritz-Carlton Sanya

Where: Yalong Bay National Resort District, Sanya, Hainan , China, 572000

When we first heard about the Ritz-Carlton Sanya, a new resort on the Chinese island of Hainan, we thought the marketing hype might be overstating things a bit. But if you believe even half of what a recent Wow Travel review says, they were pretty much on the mark.

Situated on the beach at Yalong Bay, the Ritz-Carlton Sanya doesn't seem to have any flaws. The reviewer got a personal butler (who was "super intelligent", apparently) who drove her to the spa, to breakfast and anywhere else she needed to go; he was also able to disappear on cue.

But what impressed her most was the abundance of pink. Staff uniforms are pink, glasses are pink, and pink is all the rage in China they say, so you'd better like it or you might want to stay elsewhere. Although actually from what we've seen, there's an awful lot of blue too--impressive blue water in plunge pools and the sea.

This place is not cheap for China--average rates can go around $350--but they do have some stay four, pay three packages and the early guest feedback is all saying it's worth the money. As long as you can deal with the pink, apparently.

Ritz-Carlton Hotels / China Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

China Getting Ritzier Year By Year

Where: Sanya, Hainan, China

Ritz-Carlton is continuing its China blitz with their first resort opening in 2008. They've already got two Ritz-Carlton hotels up and running (Shanghai and Hong Kong) and another five come online in the next couple of years, but the Ritz-Carlton Sanya at Yalong Bay on the South China Sea will be the first resort. The marketing blurb has China far beyond a developing country and makes staying in Sanya sound like almost the ultimate in resort getaways:

China continues to enhance its reputation as a desirable destination for exploration by the world's most sophisticated leisure travelers. Sanya, with its tropical climate, pristine beaches, and array of unique and exotic natural attractions is an exciting new location.

To be fair, the resort does sound pretty nice, with individual plunge pools attached to each of 35 luxury villas. The rest of us will be able to stay in 600 square foot guestrooms, which they boast are the largest in the region. Hot springs, caves, tropical forest and beaches are nearby when it all gets too much, but 2008 will be the earliest you can get there.