Hotel Marina Bima

The reception man and woman were the only good part of the stay. They were very kind and helpful. The room was disgusting: black long hairs everywhere, sticky stuff and gum on the floor, and cigarette burn holes in the blankets and nightstand. The shower still smelled like urine after rinsing it, and people smoked all day, so there was smoke in the room constantly. There’s no window for fresh air, and no fridge in the room or anywhere on site. I’m usually not too picky and rarely leave a bad review, but I wouldn’t recommend this place. There’s a nicer hotel with a similar name, and I think some good Google reviews may have been attributed to the wrong one. We visited a homestay two minutes away when we tried to switch, and it was nicer and cheaper. Do yourself a favour and book there or at the nicer hotel.

The staff were welcoming and helpful. They even let us into our room at 10.30 am instead of 2.00 pm. But the room wasn’t very clean, and the bathroom was really dirty. That’s a shame, because otherwise I’d have given it four stars.

There was a strong chemical smell in the dirty room, and the AC wasn’t enough. I’d booked a non-smoking room, yet there were cigarette butts near the nightstand and under the bed. The bedclothes were stained and the pillows smelled bad. There was no window, and the Wi-Fi signal in the room was too weak to use. This is supposed to be one of Bima’s best hotels, but it seems to have fallen far behind.

The location near the bus terminal and the 24/7 reception earn the one star. It’s okay for a short overnight stop, but don’t expect more. The beds seemed fine at first, then we found an old toenail. There were lots of mosquitoes in the windowless bathroom for some reason. The receptionist also told us the ferry from Sape to Labuan Bajo left at 9am, so we got up at 6am and arrived by 8am, only to learn it would leave at 1pm. I know ferry schedules in Indonesia can be an enigma, but I expected a bit more from a local receptionist.