Shawandha Ecolodge

This was one of the worst hotel stays I’ve had. A few weeks before the trip, something came up and we tried to reschedule our itinerary. Everyone else was willing to work with us, but this hotel wasn’t, so two of our six people couldn’t come. We ended up paying for three rooms instead of two because they wouldn’t help with that either. I’d wanted to pay for three rooms at another time when the whole group could go, but they still wouldn’t work with us. When we arrived, there was sand in the bed and it clearly hadn’t been cleaned. I complained at the front desk the next morning. There was no apology, and the person blamed ants. That’s hard to accept: are there bugs in the bed, and if so, how did they leave no sand on top? He said he’d talk to management, but I heard nothing for two days. When I went back, the manager said she hadn’t been there for those two days, which was why she hadn’t replied. Apparently nobody else could deal with the problem or make a call. Her fix for the inconvenience was to offer us juice. Juice? Are you kidding me? The service was among the worst I’ve experienced. At dinner one night, we were the only guests in the restaurant, and it seemed like one person was handling everything. He’d disappear for around 30 minutes at a time and wasn’t attentive. Bats hanging from the ceiling woke up and flew around while we ate. My wife once got sick from bat guano, so we know the dangers. I told the worker, and he did nothing. The beds were also among the most uncomfortable I’ve slept in. It’s sad, because the scenery is beautiful, but I’d never stay here again. The service was way below acceptable, the beds were uncomfortable, the food wasn’t very good, and they didn’t seem to care about the health hazards. It felt like they cared only about the money.