Hoi An: Nam Hai

Landing in Danang was a welcome change from Hanoi; at least there were pockets of blue sky peeking out from the rain clouds. The ride from Danang airport to Nam Hai took less than 30 minutes, though it wasn't particularly exciting. Nam Hai is about 10 km from Hoi An, an important trading port dating back to the 15th century, that has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. My Son and Hue are two other UNESCO World Heritage Sites that are easily doable as day excursions.

Nam Hai is currently in soft opening phase; they started taking bookings on 1 December 2006. So they're still working through the teething phase. So I would expect them to be able to work through any of my criticisms that follow within 6 months or so (weather-wise, the best time to visit Hoi An will be in summer when the China Sea is calm and the rainy season has gone).

Construction of many of the pool villas is still to be completed. They are expected to be completed by March 2007. Rack rates for the villas go up in April 2007. Currently, the rack rate for a one-bedroom villa without private pool is USD300++. By April, they will be USD550++. All of the bedrooms are the same layout: sitting area, a raised platform area with bed (with a view of the beach and China Sea), desk, sitting area and bathtub that's all under a canopy and a bathroom with indoor and outdoor showers, double vanity and two dressing areas. For those who prefer not to have the bathroom in the living area, there are a select few villas with the bathtub moved into the bathroom. These villas are more conventional looking and do not have an outdoor shower. The pool villas with multiple bedrooms add a private courtyard, kitchen/butler's building, dining and living pavilion, pool (the size of the pool for a one-bedroom villa is 4mx14m with the 3, 4, 5-bedroom villa pools slightly larger) and lawn. Most have easy beach access.



I actually love the design of the rooms; they're lots of fun with a slight nod to the Japanese tatami room concept. It being soft opening phase, several things were still missing from the list of in-room amenities found in their brochures such as the Bose sound system, wi-fi (although each room has its own modem for high-speed broadband internet access via cable) and iPod with sound dock system. There's no DVD player or DVD library. The toilet had a jack for a phone, but there's no phone yet. But I'm sure it's just a matter of time that these things will be sorted out. The staff, while still green, try very hard to please. They're extremely friendly and have a great attitude, which bodes well for the property as it matures. The one thing that I hope will go away really soon are the flies and mosquitoes. YW, the director of sales, told me that apparently all the new properties goes through a phase of attracting lots of flies and the mosquitoes are attracted to all the new water features such the lagoon, the three large swimming pools, ponds etc. In the meantime though, they really should put nets over the plates of fresh fruit at the breakfast buffet.

The spa is the highlight and a real treat. Each private spa pavilion accomodates two and has it's own changing room, toilet, steam/shower room and a separate pavilion with bathtub and daybed that opens up to the lagoon. I had a soak in the milk and rose-petal-filled tub after my spa treatment and with a tray of tea, fruit skewers and cookies at hand.

The Hoi An area is still very young as a luxury travel destination, but with three UNESCO World Heritage sites and a beautiful, sandy beach, it has the potential to become another Bali given more investment and exposure, which Nam Hai will no doubt bring. However, the problem Nam Hai may face is that it is charging very close to Aman prices (Aman's Bali resorts' suites currently start from US$675++ per night; Nam Hai, of course, is a GHM Hotel, which is the sister group of Aman) while not quite offering the Aman level of service (for example, I never met the property's general manager or assistant general manager during my stay) or their focus on personalized experiences. And since Hoi An is such a young destination, they will have to invest a bit of time and creativity into creating and delivering such experiences, which are not yet on offer.

Nam Hai and Hoi An have all the potential to become a wonderful, luxury beach-side escape & cultural destination. But definitely, a lot more work is required to create the right atmosphere and buzz. Right now, it's just the villas and the beach.

NOTE: more photos to follow, problems uploading photos right now.