Sedok Jineng Villa

Booking.com completely messed up our reservation, but the man at reception helped us sort through everything. The staff were so helpful, and the rooms are beautiful. The pool’s nice too. Honestly, it’s a beautiful place to stay and I’d definitely recommend it. 5 stars all round.

I got sick during my stay, and the host kindly brought breakfast up to my room. The villa was very clean and in a great location, just a short walk to beautiful mushroom beach or the secret sunset viewing spot. I had a great stay and can really recommend it.

The first night helped me warm up to the place, but arrival was rough. Our ferry from Bali dropped us about 4 kilometers away in the center of town. We tried to reach the hotel staff for a pickup and waited a long time. In the end, we rented a motorbike and carried all our luggage over in two trips. We were given cabin #8, which had no hot water. Once we told the staff, they did their very best to fix it. Breakfast was banana pancakes, fried rice, or toast, with juice and coffee or tea. The hotel is far from the center, and the roads around the island are extremely rough, narrow, and single lane. I’ve ridden motorbikes all over SE Asia for years, including days traveling the length of Flores, and these are among the worst roads I’ve been on. After a few days we got used to them and adapted, so it stopped feeling quite so brutal. There are several attractions close by that we chose to visit each day. The Devils Tears is a must at sunset. There are lots of Doves on the island, and they get very busy at dawn. Better than roosters crowing at 4:30, but be ready for a very early alarm clock.

We’ve been here for three days, and the hotel feels almost abandoned. For three quarters of the day it’s hard to find anyone to help with problems. There’s sometimes a young staff member around, and he’s very kind, but he doesn’t understand English, so communicating is difficult. Two of our rooms have had no hot water since we arrived. The soap dispensers are broken or empty, and the toilet seats are old and look dirty. There are no fridges in the rooms, so we’ve been drinking warm water. Even the fridge in the “restaurant” is padlocked. We booked two standard rooms and one superior room. The superior had a kettle, cups, and spoons, but no coffee, tea, or sugar, so that setup is pointless. The kitchen looked dirty, dusty, and empty when I saw inside, though that’s where breakfast is made. Behind the bar, I saw the young staff member washing dishes with just water and his fingers, no dish soap or sponge. Ordering breakfast often goes wrong because he doesn’t speak English. It’s one juice, one coffee, and two pancakes or toast, the same every day. On the first morning they brought expired milk for the coffee. The fruit for the juice has been the same since we arrived, cut up and stored in the fridge beforehand. I never saw pancake batter being made, so I doubt it’s fresh either. The Wi-Fi is very poor everywhere, but fortunately that doesn’t bother us much. Service has been bad, and there’s no one around during the day.