IC Hayman Island

[Edge]

Hi, I've recently become a Diamond Elite member of the IHG program (along with ambassador).

I have about 250k points and am looking to book a getaway to Hayman for a bit. Have a few questions please:

1) Is it ever possible to use the free weekend night at Hayman? If yes, how so?
2) How can you check what the guaranteed room upgrade is? Is it possible to call them and confirm?
3) Is it possible to do points + pay or anything? I am looking at redeeming points but they are only offering the worst room category - garden view room for 120k points per night.

Any other tips or suggestions most welcome!

Thanks

 

[drron]

Pre covid as a diamond ambassador I could not find any availability for my free weekend night and very pricy award costs.
We were lucky in August last year as awards were freely available at short notice so we went. Did get a fantastic upgrade to poolside suite. Proviso was they were only at 25% occupancy and the resort wasn't fully functional with only 1 restaurant open at night but it varied.
The points and pay option have always been available but as you say. The occupancy is likely to be very much higher so upgrades could be difficult. As a diamond ambassador probably a reasonable chance of a suite.
Just looked up the rates in November, Back over $1000 and points plus pay 100000 + $165. I got my nights at 75000 per night and points and pay was 50000 and a smaller copay.

 

[Ktan89]

Is IC Hayman worth the visit? I've been reading reviews and they are bad. Lots of bad staff comments..

 

[Sprucegoose]

Is IC Hayman worth the visit? I've been reading reviews and they are bad. Lots of bad staff comments..

I've heard that with a few QLD islands.

But a good review on Qualia

 

[Ktan89]

I've heard that with a few QLD islands.

But a good review on Qualia

Yeah, everyone says Qualia is the place to go. But I've got free nights and no other IC hotels pops up within Australia (no time to use it o/s).
The transfer cost is ridiculous at $420 return per pax -__-

 

[Sprucegoose]

Yeah, everyone says Qualia is the place to go. But I've got free nights and no other IC hotels pops up within Australia (no time to use it o/s).
The transfer cost is ridiculous at $420 return per pax -__-

Agreed, cheaper to hire a jet ski or swim...

 

[Ktan89]

got this email from them, leaving it here as future reference for others.
Is this correct though?

"A $100USD F&B or Spa Credit is offered, (not a resort credit), to guests who are unable to access the lounge during their stay at hotels with a lounge.

This credit is not applicable to Intercontinental Hayman Island, as we do not operate a dedicated Club InterContinental Lounge."

 

[airly]

Just for information
IC Hayman Island is pretty doggy (maybe all IC hotel are the same). I spent over $10k at the property, and only got points for my hotel room spent ($4k). Have to follow up on the missing points.
Very impressed with the Ambassador team, they got it all sorted for me within 24 hours.

@Ktan89 If you have decided to stay at this property, I would highly recommend you to book tours and activities. (Langford island and Helicopter ride to see the reef from above)

If you are planning to go there to relax at the resort, you could be disappointed due to the service level and the food are very subpar. (Amici is a must try, Pacific is not bad, don't go to BamBam, Aqua is ok).

What make this island unique is the surrounding (all the small islands around it so that you could pay and go there to snorkel) and the close proximity to reef world / heart reef so you only need to fly 30 mins to there.

 

[Ktan89]

Hi @airly thanks for providing the feedback.
After days of reading through reviews, I decided to skip this place. The feedback everyone is commenting is the same as yours, bad food and over priced hotel for the service that you get.
I booked Intercontinental Fiji for later in the year instead because the flights were cheaper getting to Fiji than SYD - HTI + boat transfer to Hayman.

 

[Anna]

I think they recently had to evacuate the entire resort and rebook everybody who was scheduled to arrive, because of generator problems. A lot of holidays ruined.

 

[airly]

I think they recently had to evacuate the entire resort and rebook everybody who was scheduled to arrive, because of generator problems. A lot of holidays ruined.

Yea I believe it was around mid January. The entire resort was flooded due to excessive rainfall. According to some of the staff that been living there for a long time (I believe they were there since One and Only era), it was the worse flood in the past 15 years.

 

[Anna]

No I'm talking about last week. Maybe probs in January as well though?

 

[airly]

On my god! I feel sorry for them tho, it is definitely not cheap to operate a resort in such a remote island.