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Sheraton Fiji Resort & Spa, Tokoriki Island [Master Thread]

Sheraton Fiji Resort & Spa, Tokoriki Island [Master Thread]

Old Jun 13, 2014, 2:31 am
  #1  
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Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
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Sheraton Fiji Resort & Spa, Tokoriki Island [Master Thread]

We have spent the past few nights at the brand new Sheraton Tokoriki resort in Fiji. The Sheraton just opened on June 1st and replaces the previous Amanuca Island Resort. The Sheraton is not to be confused with another resort on the island, the Tokoriki Island Resort. The setting is quite nice, with a view out over the turquoise water to nearby islands. You can just see the island where they filmed Castaway with Tom Hanks.

The hotel is open but there is still considerable construction going on... only maybe 25% of the rooms are actually ready. Rooms are in bures (cottages) composed of 2, 4 or 6 rooms. We got an upgrade to an beachfront room. Most of the construction is at the back half of the resort and although we did not hear any construction noise from our room, several guests complained about the constant noise (loud tile cutting) and were comped their entire stay. They are constantly bringing in construction supplies through the beach and we found some broken glass, nails, etc. lying around. The workers are also sleeping in some of the unfinished rooms it seems.

Our room was quite nice, king bed, HDTV, 'outside' shower (glass wall), and porch overlooking the beach below. The bed was quite comfortable. The floors seemed quite loud to walk on, we could hear people in the other side of our bure walking around and talking, so I imagine they could hear us as well. The power outlets were standard Australian style (/ \).

Transport to the island is by jetski (*for masochists only), 1-hr ferry (involves wet landing on the beach) or 15-minute helicopter, and must be prearranged through the hotel's website (http://www.sheratontokorikiisland.com/forms/transfer). Checkin currently takes place at the Sheraton Fiji resort in Denarau where the staff escort you on the bus to the Port Denarau marina and the South Sea cruises ferry (http://www.ssc.com.fj/irc_timetable.aspx Routes 2&5). Official transport times on the Sheraton website are at 2:30PM to the resort and 10:15AM and 4PM from the resort back to the mainland. There is also a 9AM ferry from the mainland to Tokoriki. They are running a special on the helicopter transfer if you book 4+ nights or have pre or post-stays at the Sheratons/Westin in Denarau. The hotel staff greets you with singing as you step ashore on the beach.

There is no club lounge or spa yet but the kids club was open. There were several families there with young kids (and ours too, miss hauteboy is 3 yrs old) which currently was free. The resort has several planned activities per day, Fiji language lessons, singing, etc. They show a childrens movie in the small cinema at 4pm and another movie at 7PM.

There is only one restaurant, Flying Fish, which had a fairly limited menu. The menu has some of the same items (and price) as the Flying Fish at the Sheraton Fiji. The restaurant has open-air seating on the deck overlooking the beach. Our breakfast was included in the rate. Breakfast buffet was decent, they are more geared to the Aussie market as they had traditional English breakfast (Baked beans, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms etc), an omelette bar and a chilled case wiwth yogurt and fruit. Their pain au chocolats were very good. During the day they have a kids lunch menu and small lunch menu. Prices are fairly high, prepare to spend an additional ~$150/day per couple on food ($50 for lunch, $100 for dinner) though that can be reduced a bit with SPG dining discount (I always forget to bring my card along). There is an ice cream shop next to the pool. Food choices are limited, there are no other shops or restaurants on the island.

The infinity pool was pretty nice. You must walk through (and over on a bridge) the pool area to get to the southern block of rooms where ours was located. There are several cabanas available. The pool overlooks the beach which is nice soft sand, with some coral remnants. The beach near the hotel is nice soft sand. There are rocks covered in seaweed in the ocean, but it is very shallow all the way out several hundred feet to the reef edge (you can walk to it, but watch for stingrays).

They have a good choice of watersports, jetskis, kayaks, etc for rent but a bit expensive. Even snorkeling was $50 FJD ($28) per person. They don't have scuba diving available onsite, but as I found out later that can be arranged through the Tokoriki Island Resort.

On checkout, they got my room rate incorrect but was resolved easily. Overall our experience was good, our complaints were fairly minor, but there are definitely some kinks to work out in the service department. And ongoing construction will be a factor for some time.


Greeting


View from restaurant


Walkway to bures


Beds


Outside view of beachfront bure


Bathroom


Pool


Watersports menu


View from Helipad


Oceanfront suite with plunge pool (still under construction)
hauteboy is offline  
Old Jun 18, 2014, 1:38 pm
  #2  
 
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A jet ski ride from the main island? Serious? And your luggage?

You wouldn't happen to have any details on the surfing lessons would you? Do they take you somewhere else or is there surf at the beach? From the pictures it didn't look like it.
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Old Jun 23, 2014, 4:48 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by pkerr
A jet ski ride from the main island? Serious? And your luggage?

You wouldn't happen to have any details on the surfing lessons would you? Do they take you somewhere else or is there surf at the beach? From the pictures it didn't look like it.
Yeah, jetski ride is for masochists only. I think they bring a daybag in a drysack, otherwise your luggage goes on the ferry anyway.

Not sure about the surfing.. definitely didn't see any at least this time of year. Several people were paddleboarding though.
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Old Jul 4, 2014, 8:36 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
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Any other thoughts on this place? I booked part of our honeymoon in August to stay here, and TripAdvisor has a pretty scathing 1-star review from this past week.
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Old Jul 28, 2014, 4:06 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
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Any new comment on this?
I am about to book a 5 days stay with our 1 year old girl, just wanted to be sure that everything has been fixed in the meantime.
Thanks

Matteo
bull is offline  
Old Aug 10, 2014, 5:11 am
  #6  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SYD, MCI
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hauteboy,

Thanks so much for the thorough reply, great review. I am looking to book this right now for two months from now, already have flights booked for mid October. I know it's a bit of a gamble with a new resort, but the longer I way the more they will have the construction completed. Originally, I was going to stay at the Sheraton Fiji, but I think heading out to an island is my best choice.

I do have one question for you or anyone - there is a rate available for the Super Hot Opening Offer (Rate: DAILYOP) which includes breakfast daily for two at the full buffet. There is also a Treat Yourself deal (Rate APIID1) which includes the breakfast, dinner one night and 1 one hour massage.

The Opening offer is $104USD/day more than the lowest possible rate - which makes me ask - what does the daily buffet cost? I am thinking that even if it is $100 for two people, I would break even, not worth spending the extra up front cost.

The Treat Yourself is $200USD/day, again, I don't think that the daily breakfast (call it $100/day) the dinner (say $300?) and massage ($100?) would be a smart purchase.

So I think the Lowest Standard Rate is likely the best, but open to suggestions.

Thanks. MC
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Old Aug 10, 2014, 11:17 am
  #7  
 
Join Date: May 1998
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I don't know if these rates are any better than what you are seeing. It seems to require minimum 7 night stay although the webpage says 6

http://www.asiapacific.starwoodoffer..._PACIFIC_AP_EN
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Old Aug 23, 2014, 2:54 pm
  #8  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
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I'm here now... the experience has been about as bipolar as the TripAdvisor reviews.

Pros:
- Amazing views from the room (sitting on the porch looking out at the Pacific drinking tea as I write this)
- Food is simply delicious
- Spa services have been great
- Greeted with champagne (here for our honeymoon)
- Cheerful staff

Cons:
- Failed to pick us up from airport (which I'd pre-arranged with the concierge)
- Had no record of our helicopter booking
- Have to ask for things multiple times (took three requests to get spoons at breakfast)
- Some minimal noise from neighbors (though nothing crazy)
- Cost of items


As others have noted, there's some growing pains here that I think they'll get sorted out. We're staying here on points, so maybe that makes me more accepting when things go wrong, but it's been a tremendous stay thus far (minor hiccoughs aside) and I wouldn't hesitate to come back.


I'm happy to address any questions folks may have.
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Old Aug 23, 2014, 5:31 pm
  #9  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Luckydogg, thanks for the updates and congrats! That's quite a long way to travel for your honeymoon!

I am booked there in October - hopefully some of the kinks will be worked out. I have been contacted by the staff to book my transfers, any questions have taken days to get replies, but not really a big deal since I am still a ways off. I had questions regarding conflicting information regarding check in and transfers - times, requirements, etc. so I have finally concluded that it's best to arrange transportation on my own (I think I will be doing a sea plane unless you have other suggestions) and just check in on the island when I get there - rather than heading to the Sheraton Fiji and dealing with all of that.

With that being said, I would really like to contact the hotel manager, would you be able to provide the contact info - either here or by PM?

Thanks again for the reply, and happy honeymoon! MC
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Old Aug 24, 2014, 12:59 am
  #10  
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good updates... have they finished the construction yet or is it still ongoing?

Agree with most of the Pros and cons... gorgeous location and what food they had was pretty good (their choc croissants our first day were some of the best I've had). The spa wasn't yet open when we were there. Communication about our ferry bookings was lacking.
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Old Sep 3, 2014, 4:39 am
  #11  
 
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I just spent 4 nights at the sheraton Tokoriki resort and Spa.

here are some considerations:

getting a feedback (either via email before arriving and also onsite) was very difficult, everything has to be asked two or three times.
the "garden" in the resort is mainly soil or sand. There is very little green area, due to construction not being finished yet.
In front of our room the grass was completely yellow, burned
We found everyday rusted nails and other construction materials on the resort beach
there is a main dumping of liquids on the resort beach
Our room was not clean
There were hundreds of ants in the bathroom, for three days. Every morning we had our toiletry invaded by ants
Housekeeping was not performed in the room on one day
Housekeeper left the room door (that is actually a big sliding window) open (no ac working of door is not properly closed) on one day
There is no shower or any fresh water on the beach and in the swimming pool area
There was a continous loading and unloading of construction materials, workers, stuff on the beach. Up to 4 boats, with engine running, people calling each other loudly to coordinate the manouvers, and this was always done outside the entry/exit channel buoys. A truck is picking up the stuff from the beach and driving 5 meters from our room and the swimming pool
Food is good but crazy expensive (18 Fijan dollars for some chips for example) and on a couple of days they run out of main ingredient and drinks (so more soda water or juice)
All sundeck area cushions are really really dirty (it's a beautiful spot with amazing view, but you will not going to sit there)
There are carton boxes, wood boxes, tools (unattended) left around the area where I presume the rooms are not finished
We found one morning unattended tools also on the beach (spade and machete)

Everything above was very annoying and upsetting, especially because we had with us our 1 year old girl.

The overall experience has been negative.

The location is super, but they need to finish ALL costruction, do a deep cleaning, and also they need to review radically the operations.

I hope to be able to upload some pictures shortly.

Matteo

Last edited by bull; Sep 3, 2014 at 7:02 am Reason: wrong wording
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Old Sep 3, 2014, 7:53 am
  #12  
 
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Last edited by bull; Sep 4, 2014 at 4:48 am
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Old Oct 21, 2014, 9:06 am
  #13  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
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Hi all,

a brief update.
I have contacted the customer service to report them the issues we had at the Tokoriki.
During the phone calls it was all " did you really experience that?" " I cannot believe the resort run out of drinking water!!" " this is not our standrd, we are so sorry" etc etc.
After some email exchange, they replied me that they have compensated us enough with the upgrade of the room during our stay (starnge to me, we ewre upgraded at checkin, being a Gold SPG member) and with the offer of 8000 points.
That's it!
They also told me that the hotel magaer has connected with me several time....that's not true, I TRIED to connect with him...with little success!
Again, avoid this place for the time being.
Matteo
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Old Oct 22, 2014, 8:29 pm
  #14  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SYD, MCI
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Posts: 265
Recent Stay

So I just stayed last week for four nights at the Sheraton Tokoriki and I will report that they must have gotten their stuff together. All the things in the photos above were nothing like I experienced. I did see a bit of the deliveries happening on the end of the resort from the staff, but other than that my experience was completely different.

The staff was amazing and attentive, as well as plentiful. Service was VERY timely, none of the 'fiji time' laid back attitude at all. The resort was very clean and accommodating.

In fact, the one thing that I was scratching my head at was that people were saying that it would be much better when the vegetation grows in - I couldn't figure it out. But then I realized that on the side of the island closer to the other resort, the vegetation was all new. Down on the other end where our room was (the 200's) it was all mature and really nice.

We had the ocean front, as others had suggested - in fact, because the plunge pool was nothing to write home about AND those rooms are on the end with no mature plants, I would suggest that the ocean front are better than the ones with the plunge pool.

All construction has been completed, resort is cleaned up nicely. Food, service, stay all were EXCELLENT!! I think the resort has come together. MC
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Old Mar 2, 2016, 8:04 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: May 1998
Location: australia
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Resort Closed Until November 30, 2016



Due to severe damage from Tropical Cyclone Winston, the resort will not be accepting any arrivals until November 30, 2016, or later. This applies to all reservations, both new and existing. Existing reservations must be either postponed to a later date or canceled without penalty. Please email [email protected] or speak to your travel agent to discuss your options, which are:

Your stay can be deferred at no charge to a later date between November 30, 2016, and November 30, 2017.
Your stay can be moved to one of our sister resorts in Denarau: the Sheraton Fiji Resort and The Westin Denarau Island Resort & Spa, Fiji. Your Tokoriki reservation will be canceled, and a new reservation will be booked at the resort of your choice at the same rate or at a lower rate, if available.
Your reservation can be canceled, and a full refund will be issued for applicable payments that have been made.
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