We visited the resort in Easter 2009. It is a beautiful facility but it was clear that operationally it was not fully there. I was disappointed that several restaurants, shops, and entertainment facilities were not opened yet. The local staff are still getting up to speed and while very well intentioned, still need alot of practice. It was apparent that the management staff had their hands full...they were constantly running around trying to make sure everything was served, cooked, delivered, etc... it looked to me like MO had underestimated the amount of trainer staff they would have to import. I found the beach to be a disappointment and thought that the website for the resort was not honest in the photo depiction which shows couples strolling along the beach.... this is not that kind of beach.

Overall, I given what I paid (full price) I felt like I had a lackluster experience. A five star resort needs to be held to a high standard for this and ultimately I felt that I was paying for the privilege of being practice for the staff. Moreover, the fact that several of the restaurants were not open really angered me as this was not advertised ANYWHERE. I was sick of the Pavillion and their food within one day, but there were not many other choices.

MO Sanya has beautiful facilities, but I would advise anyone to avoid it for at least a year until they get up to speed.

We stayed at the MO in Sanya for 1 week end of April. We had an Ocean View Suite which is simply stunning and great for a family with 2 kids, you still have lots of space.

The positive sides :
- the resort is fantastic, it has many pools (I can't even remember how many !) and the vegetation is beautiful.
- our room was exceptional, very confortable, excellent seaview, quiet and very well appointed.
- the Spa is really nice and we had a few treatments there, they all were excellent.
- the Kids Club is spacious, airy and very clean (well it's brand new). It's still not completly finished but even though, it was really good and the ladies working there were friendly with the kids.
- it's very kids-friendly but if you want to relax and have some peace, you can easily do so as the resort is very big (but we never felt we had to walk too much).

The "negative" sides :
- the service is not so good. It really depends on who you deal with. The main problem is the language. Also at many occasions we noticed that Chinese guests were receiving attention first... that was quite annoying at the end.
- not all restaurants are open yet (the seafood restaurant is still closed), same for some of the facilities (tennis courts not operational).
- the food was excellent in the chinese restaurant but other than that, it was really disappointing and soooo expensive, that is really not a good deal.
(so we had dinner at The Banyan Tree a few nights, at the Thai restaurant that is really excellent. It's a 10 mn ride with a taxi).
- the beach is very rocky.

Another piece of advice : don't take the hotel transportation from the hotel, it's 7 times more expensive than a metered taxi (and there are plenty of them).

A friend and I stayed at the MO during the Hong Kong Labour Day long weekend. Like the previous post mentioned, this is a great resort if you want to get away from the masses of people and hotels that can be found in the Yalong Bay area. This property is secluded, and beautiful - we never left the property except for one dinner at the Banyan Tree (just to check out the competition - and we came back very happy that we chose the MO over BY).

The taxi ride from the airport is approximately 30min, and costs 60RMB. This hotel is located near the city centre, so if you want to do some exploring in the city, its really easy to do so (whereas the hotels in Yalong Bay, this means a 30-40min taxi ride).

We had lunch at the Chinese restaurant (food was OK; don't order dim sum); dinner bbq buffet at Pavilion which was quite nice, and also tried out the Wave restaurant, which offers thin crust pizzas, past, burgers, etc. The pizza was great.

The resort is very family friendly. There are 3 outdoor pools (one has 3 waterslides!). Most guests were from Hong Kong, Korea and Europe.

Poolside staff still need some training/practice though. But its evident that they do try (just as other reviewers have noted). For example, when we ordered some fries, and I requested mayonaise, I got milk delievered instead! They got it figured out in the end though.

I have stayed at the Crowne Plaza, Marriott, Hilton and Ritz Carlton on previous trips to Sanya, and would choose to stay at the MO over these other properties again.