Folks had a great 3 days vacation here! My little one loved the poolside and the staff were very helpful. Room decor and comfort A***** Best in C'Bazar at the moment. Wish to go again for Pohela Boishak this year! 3 cheers for the Reasort!
We stayed at the Ocean Paradise Resort for two nights. Overall it was a very pleasant experience.
Room: We had asked for a Deluxe Sea View room with a balcony. The room itself was great. Comfortable bed and pillows, clean sheets, small but decent bathroom (the Superior rooms come with bath tubs, these do not), nice 32" flat screen TV. It was a bit of a stretch to call it a 'Sea View' room because when you step out onto the balcony you can just see the road and you have to crane your neck to barely see the sea. The room was on the second floor so the trees along the beach blocked most of the view. We asked for a room with a better view and were moved to a room a floor above closer to the sea. Couldn't really complain because the hotel was booked out. However, the Superior Deluxe rooms have a MUCH better view of the Sea and they should mention this at the time of booking (when I asked over the phone the difference between Deluxe and Superior Deluxe they said it was a little bigger and had a bath tub - NOTHING about the view being better). Other than that really enjoyed the room and found it comfortable and homey. One word of warning about inconsiderate local guests with children who talk loudly in the halls late at night and slam their doors when entering their rooms. Also they don't provide complimentary water bottles!! This is the first I have seen at any hotel I've stayed at.
Food: Dining experience was disappointing. (i) The Sea Grill restaurant on the roof has a limited selection and the preparation of the sea food dishes were very disappointing. Ordered the snapper and pompfret and the quantity was little and they overdid it with the hot sauce topping. (ii) The Curry leaf restaurant (which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner) was not much better. (a) Breakfast items are ridiculous. Only a selection of bangladeshi food (i.e. lunch time and dinner time food) like khichurri, chicken curry, etc. How is that breakfast?? They should have a selection of eggs, sausages, waffles/pancakes, selection of juices (were offering just ONE), cereal, etc. (b) Had lunch there one day and the beef burger was decent but the chili lime prawns were not very good (again overladen with sweet and sour sauce). (iiii) Ordered the late night room service one night and was (unsurprisingly) disappointed. They were having their 'monthly' kitchen maintenance and so the burger and sandwich items would take an HOUR to serve. They suggested we choose the local items like rice with chicken curry and beef curry as they were 'ready' and we had those but the chicken was hard and the beef was rubbery and it tasted a little stale.
Services advertised on website but not active: This was particularly annoying. The hotel claimed to have a bar and a sheesha lounge on their website (www.oceanparadisehotel.com) but in reality they have not started these services yet. Then why advertise it??? Write 'Coming Soon'!! They also advertised 'Free Shuttle to Himchori everyday at Sunset' services but again they have stopped providing this. Quite ridiculous.
Staff: The staff were very friendly and helpful in general. However, the concierge did not appear to be all that informative.
Location: The location is great and very near to Sugandha which is where the beach and where Mermaid Cafe (recommend going there for every meal) are. Rickshaws, CNGs are available outside the hotel. The hotel does not have its own accessible private beach yet but we were told that this would open 'soon'.
Rates: We got a corporate discount so the rates ended up being very reasonable but without discount it can be a bit pricey.
In general, a trip to Cox's bazar is always great so the little issues I mentioned above won't really ruin your trip. But I would recommend eating out when possible.
I have never seen a hotel in Bangladesh work so hard to make sure that everyone was happy! Not only did they take care of every detail but repeatedly went the extra mile. For example, they noticed at check-in that my birthday was during our stay and made a beautiful (and delicious) cake for me at dinner -- in the shape of a heart, with my name on it, and candles -- quite sweet! The rooms were clean and the ocean view beautiful. A trip to the spa is a must. Thanks Ocean Paradise.
Best hotel in Cox's Bazar. Truly 5 star. Opened in October 2011. So still everything is new. Rooms are big and very modern. Internet speed is OK. Staff are very friendly, helpful and always smiling. Lobby bakery was excellent. Breakfast was good but some items should be changed every day. Otherwise becomes boring. Should have more than 1 REAL juice and corn flakes. Lunch & Dinner was also very good quality, amount and pricing was not over priced keeping in mind its a 5 star hotel. Beds were comfy and the housekeeping was very prompt when we asked for extra towels & pillow. But once I asked for a teaspoon which never came. The location is good but you need to walk about 5 mins to the beach using a mud road next to the hotel. If you use the main road it will take 15 mins by walking to the beach (Kolatoli) or you can take the electric tricycle from the gate (5 mins Tk 20). Its a lesser crowded beach. You can see the sea from many of the rooms. But in future of they build new hotels then the view will be gone. The swimming pool is well maintained. But it could have been bigger. Rooms are reasonable, specially we got corporate discounts. There is live music at lobby everyday from 5 to 9 PM and then there is live music in weekend on rooftop grill restaurant. The rooms are well soundproof. The rooms keys (card) becomes faulty very easily and needs to be reprogrammed at reception. Newspaper everyday. Airconditioning are good but there is one problem. Whenever there is power outage and the generator comes back the Acs don't start automatically. You have restart it. Its a big problem at night when sleeping. There is gym but need to have a children's playroom. The doors needs to have a door stopper and some rooms don't have mirror.
In a nutshell I would definitely stay here again.
Ocean Paradise is without a doubt a five star hotel with five star service. I loved my stay there. The room was great, the staff were lovely, and I felt very comfortable the entire time. It is THE place to stay at Cox Bazar these days.
There are some things to take note, however.
There is NOT any direct beach access. You must walk down the very busy, noisy and dirty main road to the beach (or take a rickshaw)
The hotel pool does not have very clean water (my room was directly above the pool and I could not see the bottom).
If you are there on a weekend, you should be prepared for culture shock as local people's tolerance for noise and behavior in the buffet restaurant are quite different to what foreigners might be accustomed to.
Note: I did have some difficulty making a reservation and it took multiple attempts. I mentioned this to one of the managers when I arrived and he said he would look into the situation. I am glad I was persistent though!
Overall, I highly recommend this hotel!
