The Nam Hai

Press Reviews

AWARDS

Top 20 Asia Resorts, 2010 Readers' Choice Awards, Conde Nast Traveler (US)
2009 Asia Spa & Wellness Festival: ‘Best Destination Spa’
Best Resort Travel & Leisure Magazine Design Awards 2008
TTG (Asia-Pacific): ‘Asia’s Best Beach Resort,’ 2008 TTG Travel Awards
Travel + Leisure (US): ‘Best Resort,’ 2008 Design Awards
Conde Nast Traveler (US): ‘One of the World’s Hottest New Hotels’ & ‘One of the World’s Top New Spas’ 2007
Conde Nast Traveller (UK): ‘One of the World’s Top 75 Hotels’

PRESS REVIEWS

Best New Hotels 2008, Gourmet Traveller
"The bustle of Hoi An takes a back seat once you’re settled in the hotel’s private terraces, stylish personal villas by the beach, or lazing alongside one of several massive pools, palms rustling overhead to a gentle sea breeze. It’s tropical luxury writ large, and possibly the quietest place in this noisy nation. Each villa has uninterrupted beach views, while expansive landscaped terraces, gym and other outdoor facilities overdeliver to the top-end traveller."

The It List, Travel + Leisure, June 2007
"A high-design property on the South China Sea, one of several exciting newcomers in the region.
Location: The property sits on a remote beach in Central Vietnam outside the quaint town of Hoi An, once a 16th-century trading port and now a unesco World Heritage site.
Pedigree: Nam Hai’s sleek style is a testament to the impressive talent behind it: Regent and Aman resorts founder Adrian Zecha, French architect Reda Amalou, and Indonesian interior designer Jaya Ibrahim (whose most recent project is the Chedi Milan, which opened in March).
Style + Design: One hundred freestanding villas done in rich local woods, with elaborate hand-carved screens, pressed-eggshell surfaces, and stone floors, are set around sandy coves. Some features are impractical, such as the vertigo-inducing beds, raised too high off the ground.
Service + Amenities: Three swimming pools, spacious grounds, and a stunning spa with sublime overwater relaxation rooms—plus great extras, such as the luscious wool-and-cotton-blend bathrobes and outdoor showers.
Value for Money: The coolest hotel for miles—but food, drink, and spa treatments are expensive for this region.
Needs Work: Communication problems with staff, some of whom have limited language skills, should be addressed, and so should the difficult-to-use room facilities. During our stay, the bathtub, DVD player, and coffeemaker all needed repair."

The Independent, 2007
"Just seven miles south of Hoi An, the Nam Hai is one of the newest properties along this stretch of coast. Home to 100 opulent designer villas, many with private pools, plus two restaurants, a library, spa and gym, it aims to be the country's leading luxury resort. Dark woods, white walls, slate flooring and perfectly symmetrical architecture provide a frisson of designer chic, while infinity pools and manicured lawns complete the picture. They certainly get the luxury basics right here: the spa, food and service are impeccable.

The complex sits on the edge of the giant arc of gorgeous sands that make up Ha My beach. Be warned: the rip tides here can make the sea treacherous. The nearby town of Hoi An, with its French quarter, pagodas and historical buildings, is one of the cutest places in Vietnam, brimming with languid, riverside charm and famed for its street food.

Each villa has a multi-level bed platform finished in dark woods, dozens of soft pillows and a giant, firm mattress. There are also day beds on the terrace and a giant sofa. Other features include an enormous sunken bath, entertainment complex with giant flat-screen TV, iPod and dock, free on-demand movie library, satellite TV, desk, free internet and, just in case you get exhausted, another day bed. A giant two-person tub is located just behind the bed, with a great view of the TV. There are also indoor and outdoor showers. Lots of Acqua di Parma toiletries come in ceramic pots.

Try Vietnamese delights such as spring rolls and banh xeo (rice pancakes) with the astonishing mam tom dip made from fermented shrimp. Stanley's chocolate mousse has to be eaten to be believed and the racks of succulent tandoori lamb are unforgettable."

Conde Nast Traveller (UK), The Hot List 2007
"Halfway between two of Vietnam's top tourist spots, Danang and Hoi An, The Nam Hai has introduced a new level of luxury to Vietnam in precisely the right location. The new beach resort from GHM Hotels (The Datai, The Setai, The Chedi) is on a seemingly endless stretch of China Beach, with three sizeable swimming pools and a spa with Balinese therapists. The beachfront villas are extremely elegant with details such as handmade eggshell-lacquer sinks and bathtubs, rice-paper-thin silk between glass panels in the bathroom doors and intricately carved Oriental screens. Crisp Irish Liddell linens and sumptuous Ploh bathrobes add to the luxury quotient. Other fabrics are produced by a local charity, just one of several philanthropic endeavours that have won this hotel early praise. Accolades have also been extended to the chef, who incorporates indigenous delicacies such as cao lau hoi an (a rice-noodle soup with chillies and pork) with more international dishes (tamarind prawns and lemongrass rock lobster). The service is excellent, with butlers trained by media-magnate Kerry Packer's former aide de camp, Alex Rondon. Guests can visit the ancient city of Hué, a three-hour drive away, but most will not travel further than Hoi An (a 20-minute drive in the hotel's shuttle bus), where some of Asia's best and speediest tailors ply their trade."

The Guardian, November 2006
"Like a Vietnamese Cochin, this world heritage site is a fascinating mix of foreign influences - Chinese traders' houses and a Japanese bridge alongside traditional Vietnamese buildings - and a thriving shopping spot where cut-price tailors abound. Splash out on a night at the new Nam Hai, a luxurious beach resort just outside the town."

Frommer's
"Simply put, this is the best luxury resort in Vietnam. Palm trees are everywhere. After a staff member gives a brief introduction to the resort, you're bundled into a golf cart and delivered to your private villa. The size (35 hectares) and layout makes the resort a very discreet place; if you like, you can order the golf carts to pick you up and drop you off at desired locations. Everyone is incredibly friendly and quick to be of service at the first sign of a furrowed brow. The resort's villas are split into hotel villas and pool villas.

The one-bedroom hotel villa is a chic affair of granite stone floors, brown, cream and green colors, and dark local wood. The centerpiece is a dark wood, six-column, raised platform topped with lattice woodwork and draped in silk curtains. This is where you'll find the elevated, plush double bed facing a huge ocean-view window. Behind it are the daybed and a bathtub done in traditional crushed eggshell lacquer. For in-room entertainment, a flat screen TV swivels out to face the bed or there's the iPod sound dock loaded with tunes. Both are hooked up to a Bose Sound System, and can be frustrating for the technologically-challenged.

The one- and multi-bedroom pool villas are styled like traditional Vietnamese courtyard houses. An elevated dining and living room occupies the center of the courtyard and looks out onto the backyard swimming pool and nearby ocean. All bedrooms are the same size and style as one-bedroom hotel villas. Pool villas come with super luxurious "club benefits" like return airport limousine transfer, a personal butler, complimentary minibar, evening cocktails and canapes with free flowing champagne and wine.

The on-site spa's signature treatment is the Nam Hai Indulgence. This $260 (£144) treatment takes place in one of eight private massage villas overlooking a manmade lotus pond."

Guest Reviews

Reviews are only from people who have stayed there and booked through i-escape.

• “A simply stunning place to stay. We opted for a one-bedroom pool villa and weren't disappointed. It really is the ultimate place to stay.
  Service though at the Nam Hai is hit and miss unfortunately. As far as our personal butler at the villa was concerned, we could not have faulted her; kind, attentive, discrete and great with our daughter. It was a pleasure and privilege being looked after by her.
  However, the service at both resort restaurants was painfully average. Three times our order was taken (which was written down and repeated), only for a waiter to come back 10 minutes later and ask us which starter and wine we had ordered.
  We have been to Vietnam three times so understand service levels are not currently comparable to other, more developed countries, but at over $1,000/night, having to observe the above - as well as a general level of disorganisation - does not leave you with a good feeling.
  The food itself though is good and the frustration with the service was, ultimately, only a small blip on an otherwise fantastic stay. We loved our three days there and would definitely recommend staying.
  Only other small thing. Not something you would normally even notice at high-end places, but the bed linen and towels in our villa was, somewhat bizarrely, of really poor quality. The towels were really thin and the bedding was not consistent with the sort of experience you would get in a five-star hotel or resort. Again, very strange and not ideal in a place of this cost.”
  David, Hong Kong (11.08.11)