Just got back from 4 days at the Marriott in Sanya. The grounds are beautiful, the beach was perfect, and pools were nice. Rooms were clean- we were upgraded to ocean front view which was great but my parents had mountain view which was also nice.
Staff was very friendly and most had some english. Agree with previous review- a ton of russians for some reason. Anyway, the reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that although they tried hard, the service was VERY SLOW. Especially in restaraunts and at the outside bars. We ate at the vietnamese restaraunt "Indochine" one night- food was very good but as usual in China, came out of the kitchen in no particular order (i.e. main course 1st than appetizers).
One other thing to note for families with kids- the children's pool is located in a completely isolated area of the resort away from the main pool and beach- we thought this was really strange as we had to make a special trip to go there and couldn't run back and forth between beach/kiddie pool. Also, the pools are not heated (other than the hot tub of course) and seemed quite chilly for kids.
Also agree with previous reviews that this area of the island is isolated- it's good if you just want to hang out at pool and beach. But you can wander between resorts (Hilton and Sheraton on either side of the Marriott) so there are quite a few restaraunt options between all the hotels.
Overall though, we would recommend and would stay there again.

I just completed a 5 night stay at the Marriott Resort on the island of Hainan. For those of you unfamiliar with the region, it's basically turning into the "Hawaii" of China.

The hotel grounds are well maintained with lots of friendly staff and service most have a passable knowledge of English. The hotel has a number of great looking pools, however the main attraction would have to be the beach.

The beach is pristine, with staff constantly picking up trash and tending to the beach chairs. The sand quality is great, nice and soft, not a lot of rocks. The water was pretty clear too, and the perfect temperature to cool off after laying in the sun all afternoon. While it's considered a public beach, I can see no real means of access to it other than through the hotel grounds, so it is pretty private. There were some locals selling merchandise, but they're not very pushy and will easily go away.

Hotel rooms are well adorned and have some nice amenities like beach sandals, bathrobes, and room slippers (pretty common Asian thing). Toiletries, mattresses, pillows, turn down service, were all great too.

For those Platinum elite level members, free buffet style breakfast is included (~$25 in today's exchange rate). Lots of both Asian and Western style food to eat here, however don't look for a ton of day-to-day variety. It's only a minor quibble from me, but more variety would've been nice. The rest of the restaurants were ok, nothing to really write home about. Prices were a little on the high side, but normal for a resort hotel.

The hotel is pretty far away from any other attractions, so you'll spend most of your time in it. If you're looking to go sight seeing, the hotel can arrange for you to hire a taxi for a day or half-day, just realize that you're about 1 hr from most sites.

We booked to stay at Marriott Sanya for 6 nights.

Marriott Sanya was a lovely clean hotel.

The staff were courteous and the beach was very nice.

The hotel itself did not have anything particularly Chinese about it (apart from the staff of course). It didn't reflect any culture at all.

The hotel is on Yalong bay, a resort lined with other 5 star hotels. There is a small centre about 15 minutes walk away that has shops and bars, some of them still under construction. It will be nice when finished. There is a shop by the hotel entry/exit barrier where you can stock up on any essentials.

It's impossible to go anywhere without a taxi and fares are expensive. Concierge had an unhealthy interest in where we were going, and kept trying to recommend us to go elsewhere, to get their commission! We got out of it by saying we had to meet friends. Taxi drivers always tried to persuade us to go elsewhere too (oh, watch out for the paper covering the taxi meter, already ticking away before you're picked up!) The taxi drivers constantly tried to sell us excursions, get us to pearl shops or restaurants to get their commission, which is fair enough. It started to feel like everyone was trying to rip us off...we went to one restaurant on the outskirts of town, strongly recommended by concierge and taxi driver, yes we couldn't get out of it on this occassion! The car had barely pulled up and the staff were opening the doors, telling us how great their food was! We chose our fish and agreed prices with the waiter as he weighed up the fish, as you do - when our food bill came at the end of the meal, an additional CNY100 was slapped on top! Our waiter was nowhere to be seen, and when we questioned it with the staff, they made out that they could not speak English or understand us! I bet the waiter was hiding in the kitchen. Why don't they understand that this kind of behaviour will make sure that we won't go back!? To add to the dissappointment food wasn't even that good. My tip is to stick to the hotels!!! Try some of the hotels along the strip, I wish we did.

By the way don't go to the seafood restaurant by the hotel, if you do, ask for the main menu. The guy was trying to charge us £20 for a crab! Plus, I got bitten by mosquitos here.

There wasn't any entertainment or performances at this hotel. The lobby bar had a live band on until 11.30 in the evenings, the bar itself was quiet, perhaps due to London prices in China!? Still, we chilled out here in the evenings. If you are looking for a lively hotel - then this isn't the one for you!

Hotel guests are mainly Chinese and Russian. There isn't any interaction between guests. Hardly anyone smiled back or responded to "good morning". Cheer up - you're on holiday!!!

Everything in Sanya is so man-made. Reading that the resort was two years old I assumed that it was still be charming and cultural, but we didn't find this anywhere in Sanya. All the roads are brand new, the central reservations and side walks have perfectly kept flower beds. It was just too perfect, no character.

I was expecting the hotsprings to be natural too. The park was basically full of themed manmade pools with heaters! For example, coconut milk, coffee, and green tea pools. The fish were obviously introduced to the fish pool. This was a wierd experience, I found it ticklish and a bit squeemish at the same time. Try it. Overall it was a lovely relaxing day.

We got our taxi driver to stop at a shop on our way back and bought some water, soft drinks and beers - they came to just under £5. Bargain!

We went to the shooting range one day - this was good fun. Our Mr. let me drive you all around the houses taxi driver, came running in with us to get brownie points and would not leave us alone. We got him to drop us off at McDonalds afterwards because that was all he could understand. Wow - what a nice little area we discovered... we were finally with the locals. There were good shops and local restaurants here. I got a manicure done, and guess what, without getting ripped off! We got a taxi driver to take us back and the fare was almost a third of what we had been paying for runs from our hotel, as he didn't drive us round the block ten times, we kept him on to take us back to the airport.

We cut our stay in Sanya short by 3 nights. Admittedly, the weather was overcast and may have made our experience not so pleasurable, saying that even if the weather improved would it have made me feel like I was in China?

Overall I would say that Marriott in Sanya is perfect but shallow.

A short one hour flight from Hong Kong takes you to the unspoilt hainan island of sanya. A taxi from the airport to the marriott cost approx 120 RMB, one word of warning check your change ! We got hungarian notes but as it was late at night when we arrived we did not realise until well after the event !

Please dont be put off by your journey from the airport to the marriott, the drive to your resort is not the most visually appealing but we can assure you that when you reach the marriott you will not be disappointed.

After our welcome drink we were taken to our seaview deluxe room, pictures of which are attached, fantastic and highly recommended. The resort is outstanding, check out our pictures for yourself, we were intending on staying at the hilton (which is just next door) but fortunately it was fully booked and we booked the marriott, which proved to be the correct choice. The marriott is very clean, the staff are exceptionally attentive and always happy to help and the standard overall is exceptional. We ate at all of the available restaurants and were not disappointed, especially in relation to value for money. Try the spa, after 8 days running around china and hong kong a massage was just what the doctor ordered !

Overall fantastic setting and location, breath taking scenery and would certainly recommend the cocktails at the deep blue beach bar.