Located on a speck in the Indian Ocean, the Four Seasons is a true pearl. The rooms are perched in individual multi-million dollar treehouses with their own infinite pool overlooking a white sand crescent beach. You finally arrive after a long flight to a part of the world that you would want to live if you were in the witness protection program. It literally is in the middle of nowhere. After a thirty minute cab ride to the resort, you are warmly greeted with a cocktail as you get out of the cab. The staff truly does bend over backward to remember your name and cater to your every need. The restaurant is pricy, as you would expect at a Four Seasons resort, but well worth it. The maitre d' (Abdul Muhammed) made a special point to spend a few minutes each night making us feel at home and asking about our day. The Chef also stopped by our table each night to ensure that we were happy with our meals. Upon seeing curried bat on the menu and discussing it with the Chef, he provided us with a chefs tasting (gratis) so that my teenage boys could profess that they had indeed eaten this delicacy. The beach staff was very attentive and everyone was polite. Although the beach had everything to offer, make sure to take the ten minute walk to the Anse Soleil public beach and enjoy lunch on the sand overlooking one of the most fantastic views that this traveler has ever seen. I highly recommend this well-run, picturesque resort and is worth the ride to get there.

Service crew do everthing to make you leave happy! It has a very smiling, attentive crew. The hotel and the view are fantastic. Although food is good, it can be improved. I highly recommend villa dining.

My partner and I spent 8 nights at this resort from 10 to 18 December 2010. It was our second trip to the FS Seychelles. Our first visit was during June 2009, just after the resort first opened. It pains me to say that the second trip was not as memorable as the first. Don't get me wrong, this is a fantastic spot for a relaxing beach holiday but for the price it MUST be better.

As all the other reviewers have said the location, beach, views and pool area are all fantastic! It's these aspects that lured us back for a second visit.

The 2 things that totally spoil the world class setting are the standard of service and the extortionate prices for very average food.

Service: During our first stay the team from FS Koh Samui was in town to oversee the opening of the resort. As a result the service was up to normal FS standards. It is very clear that the Koh Samui lot has moved on as the staff that now remains fall way short of those service standards. I echo Keith's sentiments about the ice and the service at the beach areas. The only guy that is completely on the ball and light years ahead of his peers is Alvin. What a perfect guy to have down at the beach. The rest are sullen, slow to attend to their duties and spend far too much time socializing under shady trees or behind the bar counters. I live in Africa and this is the African way. Shelters of any description become spaces for gossip and chat and general catch up sessions. The fact that you're at work most certainly isn't reason enough to stop this cultural practice.

Due to the over-priced food one is almost forced to enjoy the cheaper fair available through in villa dining. For some reason room service is cheaper. Even for the same item. An example would be a grilled chicken breast - SCR480 at Kannel but only SCR370 through room service. Also the choice for room service is much more extensive. On to the service itself…

On TWO occasions they left out part of our order. Both incidents involved the omission of a main meal. One is then forced to start eating before the food gets cold while the rest of the order is prepared and delivered. This results in one not actually enjoying a meal with your travel companion. You end up eating in shifts. Unacceptable. The second time this happened we had them remove the food and bring a fresh and complete order so that we could dine together. To their credit they didn't charge us for that particular meal.

Food prices: €55 for a buffet meal. Are they serious? We are FS junkies and this is our 5th FS vacation. The FS Seychelles is by far the most expensive when it comes to food. The quality simply doesn't justify the cost. Total rip off!

Another disturbing thing was the appearance of a pool / snooker table and a large screen TV in the beach bar. Are you kidding me? This isn't some folksy pub or holiday camp. It's the Four Seasons! What happened to the chilled lounge music and ambient sounds?

All in all it's a lovely place and there are wonderful positives. Unfortunately, though, it needs to return to its initial high standards. I don't think we'll be going back any time soon. We're eyeing a trip to the FS in Bali next.

Ok, as my wife knows, I'm not the easiest and most tolerant traveller. So, let's start with the good points (and I doubt anyone would disagree with these):

1. Fabulous setting (and very similar to a number of FS hotels) with rooms ranged up and down a hillside wrapped around a beautiful cove.

2. Well constructed rooms, nice interiors and pretty much like any other 5 star hotel you've ever stayed in.

3. NIce beach, nice pool, and reasonable snorkelling off the beach.

With that over, let's get down to reality:

1. Service. Staff are nice and friendly but just not able (or trained) to cope. Every request takes an age to complete (I've been waiting for more than an hour for a bucket of ice as I write this). It is obvious that the resort is woefully understaffed (or at least there are lots of people employed but they mill about doing very little and are not really focussd on the paying guests). This makes life so much harder for the guys and girls trying to provide top notch service who are endlessly let down by their otherwise "occupied" colleagues.

2. Servivce at the pool and beach is hit and miss. As I said staff are always nice and polite but we were left without water and towels for an hour whilst we swam (in the admittedly beautiful pool). And I had to ask one of the 5 members of staff who were too busy gossiping at the back of the restaurant to help (which to be fair they happily did).

3. Oh yes, there is a very very powerful pool intake at one end just big enough for a two year old to get her arm stuck in. Once in there'd be little chance of getting it out. Why on earth there is no cover over it I'll never know.

4. Food. This is generally poor to average (with the exception of the Japanese food which is good on an albeit bery restricted menu). Kannel restaurant struggles. The beach nibbles are good, the pizzas OK (my 6 year old devoured them) and there is a nice creole curry. Everything else is pretty dire: it is what I'd expect at a beachside shack. The various (unidentifiable) sauces served with the food taste like they're from a bottle (which I'm sure they are). The other restaurant ZEZ has a buffet which can be good. The arabic buffet (it's really only Lebanese food) was good and the chefs very helpful - they guided us expertly though foods which were OK for a peanut alergy sufferer. If you're after anything michelin starred forget it. This is basically a supercharged Hilton buffet.

5. Whilst the beach and snorkelling are great I had the great misfortune to watch (from the water) the clown at the helm of the speedboat returning from a dive trip enter the beach area (16-12-10 for anyone who cares). The boat came in under heavy throttle in a moderate swell right into the swimming area. I have never seen anything as dangerous and idiotic. I've dived all over the world and spent more time in boats than I care to remember and the golden rule is that whenever you enter an area where there is ANY possibility of swimmers being present you stop to an almost idle throttle and put someone of the bow to look out. Neither happened. Given the speed and sea conditions there is no way that the driver would have seen anyone before it was far too late. The day before a number of people were snorkelling (including me and my 6 year old son) in the area which the boat sped through and we'd have all been bisected by the pillock at the wheel showing off to the pretty little things on board. Having made my views clear (I was in the water at the time with my children) to a member of staff on the beach it was met with a shrug and no more action. And I didn't even swear. On the off chance the hotel reads this I'd urge you to deliver a loud rollocking to whomever is at the helm of your boats and/or send them on a basic seamanship course.

6. Internet service is hopeless (it's virtually impossible to connect via the hotel network). Once online download speeds are reasonable (contrary to the warnings). The IT manager has done his level best to help but no doubt I'm in for some fun at check-out.

OK, I know we're lucky to stay here (and we still have a few days left) but I've stayed at much better Four Seasons (Koh Samui was similarly set and very very good). This is a new hotel, although a basic working knowledge of Russian would help you converse with the other guests, so it might survive if only because of its setting. I can't say I'd return though and if I did come back to the islands I'd look at the Banyan Tree. Having said that chaps, I did notice that there were a remarkable number of scantily clad unacompanied russian "girls" here. I can't think what they're up to......