Review of the JW Marriott Phú Quốc Emerald Bay Resort and Spa

6/28/19 – 7/1/19

Happy Monday! Today’s post is dedicated to another long weekend trip, this time to Phú Quốc, Vietnam. Phú Quốc is an island, south of Cambodia and southwest of the Vietnam mainland. It’s a relatively quiet resort destination, yet to be discovered by the common beach-goer. We stayed at the JW Marriott Phú Quốc Emerald Bay Resort and Spa throughout our stay. This was a beautiful property, with pristine beaches, a plethora of activities, and a purposeful sense of design. The following content is a review of our stay at the JW Marriott Phú Quốc.

Booking:

We booked the JW Marriott Phú Quốc Emerald Bay using Marriott points. It was 35,000 points per night for a standard room. However, with our Marriott Platinum Elite status, we were able to apply a room upgrade certificate to our booking, so the JW Marriott upgraded us to the Turquoise suite. This was a steal considering the cash rate for that suite costs upwards of $1400 USD per night. (!!!) We stayed from Friday to Monday, so a total of 3 nights, for 105,000 points and some tax.

Arrival:

We arrived in the evening at the Phu Quoc International airport. Our private transfer, which we had booked one-way for 900,000 VND (~$38 USD), waited for us outside of baggage claim. Inside the van, we were greeted with a box of snacks, including dried ginger and peanuts; cold, scented towels, and bottles of chilled water. The ride to the hotel took about 20 minutes. There was little to no traffic on the roads, which we realized is the usual for the majority of the island.

Resort Property:

Hotel Lobby:

Upon arrival at the hotel, we were led to the lobby lounge. While we waited for concierge to come over, we were given a welcome beverage of chilled rose-myrtle juice. The hotel also gave us a handy pamphlet of all the resort activities, which included cultural workshops, yoga, and snorkeling. You can sign up for these in advance, and a lot of them are free.

Previously, the property which the hotel sits on was a French university by the name of Lamark University, founded in 1894. The university closed in the 1940s, after the French left Vietnam. After JW Marriott bought the property many years later, they decided to go with a university theme for the hotel property. Thus, each of the buildings are named after departments, such as the Department of Mammology or the Department of Fine Arts. It’s quite unique, and the art is impeccable!

Hotel Room: Turquoise Suite

After check-in, we were brought via golf buggy to our hotel suite. We stayed in the Department of Fine Arts building. The Turquoise suite included a living room, a powder room, a large bedroom, master bathroom with a rain-forest shower and giant bath tub, and changing room. Honestly, the suite was probably twice the size of our apartment in Hong Kong.

Beach:

The property boasts its own private white sand beach. It’s one of the most tranquil beaches we’ve experienced. The water was very calm and crystal clear. The hotel provides beach sports, such as basketball, tennis, and volleyball. There are also free stand up paddle boards that you can borrow and take out onto the water. Hotel staff will provide you with a towel, drinks, and food if you sit down on one of the many lounge chairs.

Library:

There is a small library and game room at the JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Resort, which is pretty much empty except for a small collection of books, a ping pong table, foosball, and board games. However, the books in this library are completely underrated. They are all of the antique kind, many of them dating back from almost a hundred years ago. I’m not too sure of how the hotel got ahold of these books – maybe they used to belong to the university – but some of them are maps of the world; encyclopedias; and biographies of influential people in that time period. It was fun traveling back in time and seeing what people knew and didn’t back then. We would definitely recommend checking out the library and getting your hands on books that should probably be behind a glass case instead of on a shelf.

Dining:

Restaurant – Tempus Fugit

Breakfast was at the Tempus Fugit restaurant, a short walk away from the beach. We enjoyed the wide selection of the breakfast buffet. You could order coffee, tea, or Vietnamese coffee, and then peruse the rest of the buffet selection for food and other beverages. Noteworthy food items to mention were the mini banh mis, the noodle soups (sometimes varied from chicken to beef to fish), and crepe station.

Restaurant – The Pink Pearl

The Pink Pearl is a French dining restaurant on the JW Marriott property. We were immediately impressed with the restaurant atmosphere – beautiful interior design, live music, and smiling waiters. We got the three-course set meal for 2,190,000 VND ($94 USD) per person. It was definitely one of the more expensive meals we’ve had, but the level of service and the quality of food was worth it.

In summary, we had a blast at the JW Marriott Phú Quốc! Let us know in the comments if you have any questions or want to see more posts!