La Veranda Grand Mercure Resort & Spa****

Our brief comments:
La Veranda is an attractive boutique resort, the first high quality hotel to open on Pho Quoc Island. A private French-owned venture, it's managed by the respected Accor group under the Grand Mercure brand.

The resort opened at the end of August, 2006, and is currently offering 'soft opening' incentives including a return flight to and from the island, daily massage and various discounts.

La Veranda is located on a small rectangular plot with the short side facing the South China Sea. Careful design enables full use of the site without seeming cramped. Despite a number of small hotels nearby, the resort feels secluded and exclusive.

Although most of the rooms, the restaurant, pool and beach facilities are fully operational, a few features are awaiting completion. The spa is operating a limited range of services in temporary accommodation and minor works and 'touching-up' are ongoing.

All should be finished before the end of October with one exception. The local authorities' commitment to improve the narrow dirt track that provides access to the resort has yet to materialise. However, we think the short drive through the palms and banana plants is at least as attractive as a metalled road.

The accommodation consists of a single two-storey building housing the superior rooms and linked single-storey villas and suites. Each has attractive tiled floors, a ceiling fan, high-quality hardwood furniture, a balcony or terrace and, unusually, a DVD player backed up by a large library of movies available without charge.

Although direct connection to the internet in rooms is chargeable, wireless fidelity (wifi) provides free access throughout the entire site.

The internal and external style, design and colour schemes throughout la Veranda are redolent of colonial 'plantation houses'.

Superior rooms have a well designed shower cubicle in lieu of a bath. Villas and suites enjoy both a bath with a shower fitment and a separate high-quality 'standing' shower. Suite bathrooms are larger still and have two pedestal basins.

Suite guests benefit from a muslin-draped four-poster bed, a flat-screen TV and top quality furniture, including an attractive bureau.

A large building houses the 'Pepper Tree' restaurant, bar, coffee shop and business centre - the excellent veranda and terrace provides the resort's name. It's a showpiece of French colonial luxury.

The attractive upstairs dining room and terrace overlook the beach and sea, and offers both Vietnamese and international cuisines at surprisingly reasonable prices.

The quality is Cordon Bleu - imaginative both in ingredients and presentation. Nearly all supplies have to be sourced from the mainland so sometimes a particular meal or item may be unavailable.

There's a brief wine list - somewhat pricey but good quality.

The gardens contain an array of exotic plants and trees selected by the owner and transported from the mainland by boat. At present, the lawns and bowers are somewhat spartan, but should be transformed into lush vegetation in a few months.

The beach is yellow sand - a couple of small 'grass islands' with palm trees provide natural shade. Diving and snorkelling can easily be arranged.

We were pleasantly surprised by the service provided by the young locally recruited staff - everywhere we went we were greeted with smiles of genuine warmth.

In summary, our inspectors were very pleased. Despite a few rough edges, even in its infancy it outshines the other hotels on Phu Quoc. There's no doubt that La Veranda is going to be popular - with only 43 rooms in total early booking will be essential!

Inspected September 2006.

Room facilities:

Room Categories	Superior Garden	Superior Ocean	Deluxe Villa	La Veranda Suite
Number of rooms	11	11	15	6
Air-conditioner
Satellite television
Shower only
Bath with shower
Bath + separate shower
Personal safety box
Coffee and tea facilities
Laptop connection
Free broadband access
Extra bed available?
Child's cot available?
Room size (m2)	36	36	50	69
View	garden	sea	garden	sea

Hotel facilities:

Outdoor pool		Non-smoking floor(s)
Pool bar		Non-smoking rooms only
Children's pool		Vietnamese/Asian restaurant
Fitness/health centre		International restaurant
Sauna		Patisserie/coffee shop/cafe
Massage		Business centre
Jacuzzi (adjacent to pool)		Disabled access