HotelChatter

Stay away from Sonaisali Island Resort!

My wife and two friends, all avid scuba divers, recently made our first trip to Fiji. We were immeasurably impressed with the people of Fiji, but we were met with incredibly disappointing circumstances at one of Fiji's mainland resorts. Upon arriving at Sonaisali Island Resort near Nadi, we were informed that not one, but both dive boats were out of commission. This is after traveling more than 20 hours from the eastern United States to dive.

The staff's best efforts were to call a few other dive shops for us the nearest of which was 45 minutes away. One shop was at least a 2.5 hour drive -- one way. The expectation was that we should willingly and gladly pay between $100-140 per dive plus bear the extra expense of transportation to catch a dive boat at least 45 minutes away. In addition, several of the shops we called were booked, which is not surprising, considering the short notice. Sonaisali Island Resort advertises on its website that "Diving trips operate daily directly from the Resort Marina - with over 25 spectacular dive sites located just 20 minutes away via the Resort Dive boat." If they don't deliver that, it's like saying "Welcome to Disneyworld! Sorry, all the rides are broken."

Incidentally, we couldn't even snorkel at the resort. The visibility was zero. I get the sense it is that way all the time, since Sonaisali is not so much "a true island escape in the beautiful South Pacific Ocean" as they advertise as it is part of an intercoastal waterway.

The major part of the premium price that we paid for their resort was based upon the promise of a dive shop and they could not deliver. We traveled for more than 20 hours from the east coast of the United States to dive at Sonaisali resort in Fiji. We could have paid less at a different resort, but we traveled literally to the other side of the world to scuba dive.

After two days of the runaround, we decided to book the jet skis for Friday morning to go snorkeling. We left the activities desk Wednesday with the promise from another of their staff members that if there were any problems, he would contact us. We heard Thursday morning from an Australian couple that they had booked the jet skis for that day, but they were all out of commission. We waited until Thursday night at 9:30 pm before checking at the activities desk and only then were we informed that the jet skis were still out of commission. In every case, the burden was on us to discover and sort out the problem.

We requested reimbursement, but the resort manager, Ritesh Ram, said, "if our boats were non -operational that is something beyond our control and every effort are put to get boats operational as quickly as possible. In this instance I did explain you; we were waiting for parts from overseas."

Here are three suggestions I made to Sonaisali Island Resort:

"1. The most obvious and common sense step you could have taken would be to contact your clients to let them know of your limitations. If you cannot provide the services you promise, then you lure us under false pretenses.

2. Another option is that you could have rented a dive boat. I find it hard to believe that on all of Vitu Levu and the other 321 islands, you could not find a boat to rent, especially with four paid customers willing to fork out an additional $100 per dive.

3. Presumably, you could have used your fishing boat to take us (unless it was broken, too). The fishing boat was docked every time I walked past during the week."

All of the problems with Sonaisali resort are not coincidence; they are signs of poor management and it was the one stain on our otherwise wonderful trip to Fiji.

I would not recommend this resort to anyone. If you go with plans to do anything other than sit in your room, check first to make sure they offer the services they promise.

We returned from our honeymoon just this afternoon and I feel compelled to write a review that highlights some of our experiences at the resort. I will be writing several letters to resort management and whatever entity owns Sonsali in the days to come.

1. The bar staff is incompetent, not knowing even how to mix the 8 or so drinks on their menu. Some turn out okay and others just horrible......and the prices are exorbitant even by resort hotel standards and were 20-30% higher than the 4 star resort we stayed in the previous 10 days. $20+ for many drinks, $6.75 for a coke which can be bought off any store shelf in Nadi for $1.00, or $2.00 marked way up at the airport.........$6.75 is criminal.

2. The food is mediocre at best, we tried room service, the buffet, and the restaurant......For the quality the price it is absurd. I might not be so upset about it had i paid 1/4 as much for it or not had much higher expectations.

3. Of all the vacation resorts I have ever been at the staff was the least friendly by far and there is not even a comparison between Sonasali and the other resort we stayed at during our honeymoon.

4. We were initially charged $55 for the airport transfer,.......which we did not have as they were not there when our flight arrived. so we took a nice new, air conditioned cab, which not surprising at all in retrospect was $32 and far more comfortable looking than the rather run down looking resort bus.They then wanted us to wait an hour when we checked out to take their arranged transportation for us, again for the bargain price of $55, we declined, took the boat acroos the channel and were in another nice air conditioned cab for the trip to the airport for $32. Which saved us $23 each way.....and I know $23 isn't the end of the world but it gets annoying to have them ripping you off at every conceivable opportunity.

5. When you check out they rake you over the coals again, If you use your credit card they add a 3.2% surcharge for using your credit card. The other option was to pay by cash or travelers check. When we checked out they were offering a change rate of 1.43-1.47 to the US dollar depending on the cash or check. The western union outlet at the airport seemed like a bargain at 1.59. So you can basically give Sonasali a 3.2% bonus or a 7.5% bonus take your pick unless you happen to be carrying around thousands of Fijian dollars a very safe and well advised travel practice...........again absurd and ridiculous.

6. If you are looking for a beach....look elsewhere, Much of the beach is man made and sits high atop the man made breakwater. And I don't know if the water is always a dingy brown or if it was just while we were there but the water at the other resort we stayed at was beautiful and clear as was the water everywhere else we saw ocean in Fiji.

Someone is making alot of money off the guests at Sonasali, I can guarantee they will never see another dime from me or anyone I know. I have never had any part of any trip be so dissappointing Sonasali Island, for the money you would do well to look elsewhere.

Cheers,

Brett

we just returned from sonaisali island resort (March 2010) and like many other aussies we had the 10 day special package which was good value with all the freebie cruises, jet ski safari, $1,000 credit etc but the resort is not 4 1/2 stars by aussie standards, more like 3 to 3 1/2.
the resort is about 25 kms from nadi which can be reached by taxi ($20 each way) or by SIR bus only on mon, thurs and saturdays ($21 per person each way).
overall the place and our stay was OK EXCEPT my wife had the worst Bali belly for about 3 days. I had to get a DR from Nadi who charged $350. even though we were carefull with hygiene and we only drank bottled or boiled water she (and many others) still got very sick so we concluded it must have been the food.
many people complained about the menu which could do with an update and more healthy options.
other people weren't happy because there are no 'no smoking' areas, people just light up anywhere.
some people (myself included) came out in bites, blisters and welts after snorkelling around the islands and reef - which nobody warned us about. the cause is jelly fish eggs....so be warned!! so we had to cancel all the cruises, jet ski safari etc which was a pity.
the whole place needs a facelift and some maintenance. the resort island is mudflats and mangroves so don't bother taking the river cruise.
the staff are mostly very nice, some are unhelpful. the choir is fantastic.
all facilities in our room worked OK but the aircon was not working in our friends' room. even though they reported it daily and the repair guys came out 2-3 times, it still was not fixed. fiji nights can be very hot and humid so it was very hard for them to sleep.
would I go back?? probably not.

We went to Sonaisali in Septebmer 2010. On day 3 of our 10 day holiday my husband had a serious accident as a result of Sonaisali's negligence.  He slipped on some wooden stairs from the beachside massage area down to the ocean.  The steps had no hand rail and were very slippery.  The non-slip surface had completely worn off the steps.  He fell and completely shattered his upper arm.  The doctor in Nadi prescribed Voltaren (yes, really) and advised him to drink Fiji Bitter to assist with the pain.  We had to return to Australia for hospital treatment. He is now in a brace which has to be worn for 12 weeks.  He can't shower or dress himself without assistance, and is unable to drive.  
When we returned home we did write a letter of complaint to the resort owner, who was not polite enough to acknowledge he had received our letter.  
The food is terribly overpriced, the facilities dirty and in need of a revamp.  The airconditioner in our room did not work, and the fans were very noisy.  There was not enought water for more than 2 showers.  We'll never go back, and would not recommend it to anyone.

We booked to stay at the Sonailsali as a last minute getaway, over the Christmas and New Year Period. I can only say this is the worst hotel we have ever stayed in!

As regular travellers we are well used to staying in four star hotels, the Sonaisali is NOT a four star hotel. I am astounded that this hotel has received this rating, I would honestly give it a rating of 2.5 maybe 3 star.

To anyone thinking of booking here please read all these reviews because the pattern is correct, this hotel is appalling!

When we arrived we were left to walk from the boat to the reception in the rain by ourselves, while staff wandered past us with umbrellas. We were placed into a room we hadn't booked (garden view Bure) and when we questioned this we were told this was an upgrade...... it was dark, dingy and dirty with no view of the ocean which we had booked. Our bed linen and towels were stained beyond recognition that they were ever once white. We asked to be moved to our beach front hotel room that we had booked and were told maybe tomorrow....

Day two we had to ask four times to be moved, and we had to argue the fact that we had not booked this room, and we wanted what we had booked. We were asked to pack up and they would let us know when our room would be ready - It was 5.30pm when we were finally moved, we spent the full day without having a room to go to!

Our new room looked better; however the toilet was broken (wouldn't flush and smelt like a sewer all the time) and the bathroom door hanging off its hinges. Again dirty linen and the room was never cleaned properly. Everyday our dirty towels were taken away and never replaced, so every evening we would have to request them. There were never enough pool towels for all the guests and even these were beyond old. The pool is open 24 hours and is filthy, it is clearly never cleaned, and the water smelt dirty.
The pool bar staff let people smoke and drink from glass in the pool - I watched someone pull a glass from the bottom of the pool, luckily not broken.  
90% of the sunloungers are broken and covered in bird mess and not once did I see staff clean them.
The beach is black sand (not a complaint as black sand can be great too) however they never clean the beach, so it's covered in broken bottles, tyres, aerosol cans and plastic bags.

The resort is generally very run down, and well overdue for an update, and a complete overhaul of the management team. We were lucky enough to escape the bed bug epidemic they seem to have here, however we met countless other people during our stay who had been savaged by them, a small mercy for us there I suppose!

The food was average, some days it was ok, others it was awful, and the drinks were more expensive than some of the nicer hotels that we went to. You have to ask multiple times to get served and you pretty much seat yourself which often caused problems, and tables were never set correctly.

The management were poor, we had to constantly chase them to try to get problems resolved and each time they would pass everything off with a poor excuse. Our complaints were never properly acknowledged, and we were in the end given $200 Fijian dollars off our final bill, not very much compensation for the amount of things that went wrong during our stay.

On New Year's Eve the actual resort manager got very drunk and proceeded to act very inappropriately with a few young girls in the pool - it was like watching a club rep from an 18-30's holiday resort rather than the supposed resort manager from a four star hotel - disgraceful!

When you book a four star hotel you expect certain standards, but if you book to stay at the Sonaisali don't expect anything - the staff here are rude and unhelpful and use `Fiji time' as an excuse to be incredibly lazy. Please do yourself a favour and do NOT book here, Fiji is an incredible country and this will ruin your stay and your image of a great country. It is an incredible waste of money and as it is clear by the amount of bad reviews it is the furthest this from a four star hotel!