InterContinental Hayman Island Resort

A lovely resort for pure relaxation. The dining options are fabulous, you have a choice of pools and walking tracks. The room are stunning , over sized and bright. Highly recommended.

We stayed at Hayman Island with high expectations, given the pricing and reputation, but left feeling deeply underwhelmed. Nothing went catastrophically wrong — instead, it was the accumulation of many small failures that made for a very unsatisfactory stay. To be clear, the three-bedroom Beach House we rented was absolutely superb. It was stylish, spacious, beautifully designed, and a genuine haven. The price certainly reflects the quality of the accommodation itself — but unfortunately, it does not reflect the level of service attached to it. From arrival, things felt disorganised. We were kept waiting for over 80mins with no explanation on the transfer boat from Hamilton Island without any explanation, then left standing in the sun on arrival because there weren’t enough buggies available. At reception, our assigned butler was meant to show us around the house, but she couldn’t locate it. In the end, we found it ourselves. She briefly poked her head in and asked if we needed anything — and that was effectively our “tour.” Throughout the stay, staff generally appeared short-staffed, inexperienced, demoralised, and inattentive. Calls to housekeeping, room service, or concierge regularly rang out despite the “instant service” button on the phone. We were later told that to order room service, we needed to physically go to reception — which rather defeats the point. We largely stopped trying. Nothing is included. The minibar was extremely expensive, laundry costs were high (with no washer or dryer in a three-bedroom house), and despite a lovely dining table, there was no way to cook and nothing available to buy to cook with, leaving us reliant on room service — which, again, was difficult to access, so we ate all meals in the expensive restaurants. We were underwhelmed by the price rage of steak, chips and salad of over $120 at Pacific, but enjoyed the food and service at Amici - a little oasis of comfort at otherwise over-priced and underwhelming food options. We were also disappointed by the lack of complimentary fitness or wellness offerings. There were no free programs, and the only yoga class was cancelled twice without notification, meaning I turned up for nothing. To add to the limitations, we hadn’t realised that marine stingers are present from November to May, so swimming in the ocean wasn’t possible, leaving only the pool — not ideal for a destination like this. Ultimately, we chose to minimise interaction with staff and simply enjoy the house and the view — which says a lot. This resort feels like a three-star experience charging five-star prices. The beach house accommodation itself is exceptional (caveat - we overheard many guests complaining about their rooms in the actual hotel), but the service, organisation, and overall guest experience are not. If you’re considering paying a premium for the three-bedroom Beach House, go in with very clear expectations: you’re paying for the property, not the service that should come with it. Disappointing — not because of one big failure, but because of many small ones that added up. In anticipation of a potentially defensive response from the hotel, I will say that all my observations were detailed in an email to Jose, the manager in charge and I simply never heard back.

The booking process for IHG Hayman Island has been appalling. In late December a member of the IHG International Reservations Team somehow booked three rooms for 3 individual people rather than the required twin share in one room. Despite calling the local team to resolve the matter a week ago, payment for two of the bookings totalling almost $7000 was still attempted despite assurances via telephone and email that it would be paused until the matter had been investigated. After calling again today the bookings were then cancelled as I had reached the end of my patience and was no longer happy to continue with a booking. This kind of Mickey Mouse operation at what I understand was formerly one of Australia’s best resorts is totally off putting. I don’t ever foresee wishing to visit now and I would caution anyone before making a booking at this resort as the customer service standard is not remotely adequate for this price level. The staff are polite but don’t seem to be able to take charge or fix the issues themselves. I hope IHG is replaced as the operator as their business processes are clearly not up to scratch.

FEE FOR NO SERVICE Due to weather events our flights were cancelled. We requested a refund, or credit be given to us. So, management refunded less than a third of our payment and said, “We hope to see you another time”. This is theft! Banks can no longer charge fees for no service but it appears to be alive and kicking with this hefty-priced accommodation. We would’ve been happy for them to keep the money and allow us to transfer the days to another negotiated date. However, management felt we owed them and kept $1000+ of our money. My shout out to anyone interested in this place is to NEVER pay up front. Oh, forgot to mention, it’s our wedding anniversary so thanks a lot NOT!!!

The InterContinental Hayman Island trades entirely on its brand and location. At $2,000 per night for a pavilion, it delivers neither luxury nor competent hospitality—just expensive disappointment. The problems began before we even arrived. The hotel’s website doesn’t make clear that guests should fly into Hamilton Island, not Proserpine (PPP). We made this mistake and paid for it! The hotel only offers extremely inconvenient or lengthy (i.e. four hours) boat transfers from Airlie Beach (you need to find your own way from PPP to Airlie) to Hayman. The hotel’s reservation and concierge teams were wholly uninterested in helping us find more convenient options (i.e. helicopter transfers), and the matter ultimately had to be escalated to the GM to resolve herself. That set the tone for our stay. Nothing was anticipated. Everything required us to tell staff exactly what we needed and how they needed to do it… and then we had to chase them to make sure it happens. For example, when we had a billing query on our final night, I spent four hours trying to reach someone. The phone went unanswered repeatedly. When I finally got through, the person who answered said she was from “activities” and couldn’t help. She promised reception would call back. When I pushed to speak to a manager, she put me on hold without another word—and went on her break. After twenty minutes on hold, I walked the ten minutes to reception myself. The manager had no idea anyone I had asked to speak with him. Anyone who knows customer service will appreciate being out on indefinite hold is a royal (can’t use the word but you know what I’m going to say)! Childish games I’d expect from BT—not a five star hotel. The housekeeping situation was also farcical. Our pavilion floor wasn’t vacuumed once in five days. The minibar was never restocked. On our final evening, we returned to our room to find a stranger inside—which startled us. “Turn-down service,” he explained. We had no idea this existed; nobody had come before. When he brought in a vacuum cleaner, we told him not to worry since we were checking out the next morning. He asked if we were sure, remarking on how dirty the floor was. We explained we’d assumed it was a “one service per stay” arrangement. He looked puzzled: “Not for this room category. Pavilions should have daily service.” Five days at $2,000 a night, and we only learned this as we were leaving. What made this worse was that when we spoke to the front office manager, he explained he’d told housekeeping to treat us as VIPs—if this is how VIPs are treated I’d hate to see how ordinary guests are serviced! The food deserves its own warning. Everything tastes bulk-prepared and reheated. We left dinner with sore stomachs every night. The pricing is brazen: $180 for a basic barbecue plate, $160 for a bottle of rosé that retails for $20. You’re not paying for quality. You’re paying because there’s nowhere else to eat. Staff throughout the hotel are friendly enough, but there’s a clear training deficit and no apparent motivation to help. Ask someone where a restaurant is and you might be told (as we were), “I don’t know, I’m new—I’ve only been here three weeks.” Three weeks is not new. One manager was refreshingly candid, remarking on how difficult it is to get staff to anticipate and resolve issues independently. We later learned that many employees are here fulfilling the six-month regional work requirement attached to certain Australian working holiday visas. This hotel qualifies as regional. So the people serving you may not want to be here—they’re doing it because they have to. It shows. The island itself suffers from neglect. There’s significant wind and wildlife, which is unavoidable, but nobody appears to clean up after it or them. At times the grounds look unkempt and forgotten, with poo everywhere. I want to be fair: the restaurant floor staff—the waiters and servers—and senior management were genuinely lovely and a pleasure to deal with. They were the single consistent bright spot. But they cannot compensate for a front office, concierge, reservations, or activities, which are indifferent at best and actively obstructive at worst. I wouldn’t go as far as to discourage anyone from visiting the InterContinental Hayman Island—I can see its potential, and the setting is undeniably beautiful. But I would urge anyone considering it to set their expectations accordingly. This is not the traditional five-star experience you’d expect from an InterContinental, and it falls well below the standard of a Four Seasons or comparable luxury resort. Think Novotel type service with a view. If you go in expecting that, you may be pleasantly surprised. If you go in expecting what you’re paying for, you’ll likely leave disappointed. That said, if i were to do it all again, I’d stay on Hamilton Island. Hayman is remote, difficult to reach, extortionately priced, and fundamentally broken in its service delivery. The brand suggests luxury. The reality is a resort coasting on reputation it no longer earns.