Kingfisher Pacific Resort & Spa

By and large kingfisher is an absolutely excellent getaway with a very good restaurant. The spa service from the massage therapist, Maria, was wonderful as always, and we cannot praise the dining room wait person, Tannis, enough. She is knowledgeable, friendly, and efficient. However, there are a few things that must be mentioned. 1. We generally do not go to the restaurant for breakfast, but we did on one occasion. We did not make reservations. Upon arriving, and asking for the dining room we were told quite abruptly that without reservations, we could not eat in the dining room, but would have to eat in the bistro. The food is the same, but the ambulance in the bistro is not as good as in the dining room. During the hour to hour and a quarter that we were in having breakfast, we observed only two couples in the dining room and it was empty except for them. There is no reason they could not seat people who like to be spontaneous in the dining room if there is room, and since the wait staff appears to be the same in both as they are all in one big room, simply separated by the bar, not being seated in the dining room is unacceptable. 2. On one of the evenings when we had dinner in the dining room one of the waiters had on somewhat unkempt blue jeans, and dirty sneakers. 3. The food at dinner time and at breakfast was wonderful; very well cooked, tasty and very well artistically presented. 4. We stayed in one of the newly renovated beach side suites consisting of a bedroom, sitting room with fireplace and a bathroom that can be entered from both the bedroom and the hallway leading to the sitting room. It has a fireplace, which is very pleasant, but the blower was very clunky and noisy. 5. The beach side rooms have been newly renovated and very well done, except that the bathrooms were not renovated and the counters consisting of beach pebbles with acrylic over them, which are very attractive, but not terribly functional, had not been renovated in many years. These counters are old as is the tub/shower combination. What was odd about the renovations was that the roof, which is many years old and in the past has suffered numerous leaks, had not been removed and replaced. 6. The pool and hot tub are very, very old; I think around 40 years or more. They are badly in need of replacement. In both the men’s and women’s change areas one of the two handheld showers was broken. On the pool deck, there is a water cooler; even though the staff were alerted to the fact that it was empty, it wasn’t filled up for several hours on one occasion, and on the next occasion, the next day, when it again was empty it was not filled up at all that day. 7. On the 300 level of the beach side rooms, on the 300 level, there was a tray with the remains of an in-room meal on it that was not picked up for two days. 8. The Gardens, which are in the centre of the resort, surrounded by the spa and the three hotel buildings are somewhat, to my mind, bizarre. Not only are

I’ve been coming to Kingfisher for years and this was by far the most disappointing and shockingly so experience. I brought my dad and his wife from Winnipeg to celebrate a pre-Christmas meal and spa experience. People were incredibly loud in the Hydro bath, and there were no attendant to deal with the issue and I had to actually get up and walk over to the other pool where people were literally shouting and laughing so loud you couldn’t relax. I mentioned this when I was paying for my bill upon leaving and the person at the cashier said oh that’s too bad. We will make a note of that next time. I don’t think there will be a next time. We then proceeded to a very special dinner.We ordered a seafood with angel hair and it was actually spaghetti drowned in tomato sauce you couldn’t even taste the seafood overall entirely disappointing experience and I’m embarrassed that I took my family there for a special occasion. I could’ve made better spaghetti at home. Overall we spent $800 for the day. What a waste.

My wife and I went to the Kingfisher Inn tonight expecting a relaxing evening at the Hydropath Spa. We had never been before and checked in at the front desk at 4:50pm. The attendant there (he said his name was Bony) just pointed in the direction of a waiting room and said someone will be with us soon. I told him that our session started at 5pm and I would like to put my belongings away while we waited. He said someone would be with us soon. I went to the locker area and waited until a young lady showed up (she never gave me her name). She tried unsuccessfully to get a locker to close properly, but after a short while just left. I had followed her instructions about punching a letter "c" and then entering a 4-digit code, but she appeared to get flustered and said I was doing it wrong, that I was "only entering 3 digits." She then shouted that it's not working and would get someone else. I left the area and waited back at the original waiting area, while it was still before our 5pm start time. At 5:03pm Bony came back into the waiting area and my wife confirmed the time with him. We didn't see a clock in the waiting area so were just guessing at the time. Bony told us again to wait and someone would be with us soon. Since nobody had explained what to do next, we saw some people in the pool outside of the change rooms so we went out there to see of they had started the Hydropath session there with these other people. After a few minutes of not knowing where to wait (and there not being any staff by the pool area to ask questions) we went back to the original waiting room. Then at 5:07pm a lady who said she was a manager, Jonelle, stated that someone had come to get us and we were not there. When I explained that we have been waiting patiently she said that our session had now been cancelled due to our "poor behaviour." I was shocked and asked what she was referring to. She then said I swung the pool area door open very quickly and I didn't appear to be calm. I let her know that I thought there was a spring on that door and didn't mean to open it too quickly (the door was fine - no scratches or damage) and I was calm. She then said that we could go ahead with our scheduled appointment and someone would be out a little later to get us and we could still have a one hour session. By this time another couple had arrived and said that they were waiting for a 5:15pm session. My wife and I sat quietly with them and thought that we would just be going for our session along with them. At 5:15pm Cassie came out to get the other couple. She appeared friendly and was even opening a door for them and explaining where they would be going next (a courtesy not shown to my wife and I). When I asked when my wife and myself would be starting our session she looked puzzled and just said she wasn't sure and that "Jonelle was discussing this with another manager." It was now 5:20pm and I was concerned about the poor communication and that Jonelle had gone in

The rooms and view was good but we were there during the heatwave and there was no AC in the room just a small portable fan and an open patio door. The SPA experience was unique and was time controlled in each of the hydro pools, could/ should have been longer in each section. The restaurant seemed understaffed and the food was alright but not worth the price, in fact I had a mussel green curry dish and I believe a third of the clams/ mussels did not open while being cooked. The next night we were in town for dinner and they had the exact same item on their menu word for word in the description and it was 1/3 third the price. Breakfast I had the eggs Benedict and the sauce had cooled off too much for my liking.

For an expensive resort, we were a little disappointed. The room was adequate but they cheaped out a bit with only one small bar of soap and none for the shower, really low water pressure, uncomfortable beds and no ice machine to be found! You had to go to the restaurant to get ice which was really inconvenient. The grounds were lovely though with the most beautiful gardens, seating areas with fire pits, tranquil music....and kids running around like they are at a campground. So if you are hoping for a quiet, stress free getaway, maybe even away from the kids, I say give this place a pass. We won't likely go back.

This resort exceeded our expectations. We had a very relaxing stay here and look forward to returning. Although we did not indulge in any spa treatments, the grounds were incredible & the pool & hot tub were both really nice. The smoke detector in an adjoining room went off at 3 a,m., but management made a very generous adjustment to our bill as compensation. We think the restaurant must have been understaffed, as the dinner service was very slow. Overall, if you're looking for a get-away in a highly relaxing environment, we recommend that you plan a stay at the Kingfisher.