Zhiwaling Ascent

Pros: 1) The size of the rooms are decent with nice floor to ceiling windows.. 2) Appreciate turn down service (but could do better with a little treat!) 3) Breakfast and especially, coffee was acceptable. Would appreciate something local 4) Staff were helpful but lacks warmth of a small boutique hotel… 5) BIG plus… Beautiful views, especially from the 3rd level! Cons: 1) Had to change room (to a smaller one) on 2nd night as toilet glass panel cracked! 2) Dinner was meh! 3) No bidet/ bidet spray for toilet 4) No other activity ard the area for us (no gym/ spa/ activity) 5) staff was not too reassuring on check out, as I had to leave quickly… Got a friend who checked out later to settle with the front desk if there were any other issues with my check out… Overall, a great experience but may think twice about staying there again…

To start with the positive, the rooms are beautiful and most of the employees of the place very friendly and helpful. However, the one point which made the entire stay unenjoyable in the end and created a very bitter taste was how they ripped us off with the dinner charges. First, they never mentioned the price of the dinner to us and their menus consisted just of a set menu with no prices whatsoever (which made us believe that the dinner was included as it was the case for other hotels in Bhutan). The drinks menu had prices which was clear and easy to handle and we got charged our drinks amount fair and square upon checkout. After we have checked out and left the hotel long time ago, our tour operator all of a sudden informed us that the Zhiwa Ling reached out to them with an insanely overpriced bill for missed dinner payments - around 50 USD per person per dinner. At this point, we were willing to pay but not that much. Not only was the food at best mediocre, also my fiance who had problems with her stomach didn't order all of the courses on the pre set menu. When notifying the hotel manager of the short coming of not mentioning the prices beforehand, they agreed that they made the mistake but sticked to their narrative of us having to pay anyway. When we pointed out that we didn't have all of the 4 courses in all dinners, they came up with the ridiculous excuse that only the main is to be paid (since that was the only course we both had during both dinners) as the other courses are coming for free next to it. Bottom line, just inacceptable managerial behavior which just left us feeling ripped off and not at all appreciated. For the future travelers, please just order starter, soup and dessert as they should be for free and skip the main which is in no way worth 50 USD. We also spoke to a hotel manager of a different luxury hotel in Paro who confirmed that the costs for food are basically near 0 in Bhutan.

Having read the 5 star reviews perhaps we expected to much. We could ignore missing towels and a chilly room, but the food was very disappointing- the set menu was very limited, and the food served cold and undercooked. A large external group had taken over the restaurant so we were moved to the lobby area, and left to feel as if we were an inconvenience. Has certainly taken the edge off an otherwise unforgettable trip. I note the original reviews all date from 2019. It seems that things have changed.