Beautiful grounds, beach, and pool with superb staff.
I stayed at the Movenpick back in January of 2020 before the Covid pandemic but was unable to write a review. I have now just come back from a pleasant 8-night stay over the New Year.
One of the main reasons we have chosen the Movenpick is for the location and the grounds. The resort is located in Station 0, which is essentially a private beach shared between the Movenpick, Crimson, and the Shangri-la. This beach is not connected to the main Boracay beach, which makes it a perfect way to experience Boracay sands without all the hustle and bustle of the main beach (although you can get a shuttle/trike to the main beach should you wish).
The grounds themselves are also very nice with a huge pool at the very center of the resort. With the pool being so large, it means that there are usually plenty of sun loungers for guests. The resort has three restaurants, although two were essentially closed, and as such, the menu was much more limited than usual. You can walk freely between Movenpick, Shangri-la, and Crimson, so if you fancy a spot of lunch or dinner at one of those resorts, then it is easy enough to walk down the beach for five minutes to them.
We stayed in a Junior Suite on this occasion. Despite the room décor looking a little tired, the room was spacious and in a very nice location near the beach and Sol beach bar. The bathrooms in these types of suites are huge with two sinks and a bathtub. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the shower, which seemed to have issues with both pressure and temperature control. I did, however, find the bed very comfortable. The hotel decorated our room and provided a cake for our birthdays, which was a nice touch.
On our previous visit, we stayed in the premier room which is located in the main area of the hotel and requires a bit of a walk down to the bar and the restaurants. So if you have the cash to upgrade to the junior suite, then it is preferred.
The resort Spa was closed, which was a big shame as it was very relaxing last year when I was able to use it and slightly surprising considering health spas in Manila and elsewhere on the island are now operating. The Sol bar closes a little earlier than I would like, with last orders being around 9:30 pm. I appreciate this is also being dictated by the island curfew and the need for staff to travel home.
Shout out to Emil who was always greeting us with a smile and did everything he could to make our stay in and around the bar special. In fact, the staff was great in general, with them going out of their way to know your name as you walk around the grounds and many helping me out with an emergency purchase I needed to make as we were checking out.
The New Year’s Eve celebration was well handled, with the staff doing a great job of having to move the festivities in and out of the restaurant from the beachfront due to rain. The general manager, Franck came to each table and wished everyone a happy new year, which was a nice gesture.
In my opinion, the Movenpick is great value for money so it makes sense to stay in the rooms here, enjoy the large pool and beach, and then just head over to Crimson or Shangri-la should you wish for arguably a better menu and drinks that tend to flow much later into the night. I will certainly be coming back to the Movenpick for future breaks.