Daniel Lodge Moni Kelimutu at Desa Wisata Waturaka

There was hot water but no fan, and the breakfast was small and basic, just pancakes and bananas. The room, sheets and towels were somewhat clean. As far as we could tell, he didn’t charge us any commission.

Last week, two friends and I booked a room at Daniel Lodge for one night, two days ahead. When we asked about payment, the man we spoke to said we could pay after checkout. On the day, while we were on our way to Moni, we called to say we were nearly there. He just answered, “yes, yes,” as if everything was fine. We arrived around 6:30 p.m. and found nobody there. When we tried calling him, his phone was off. A woman then appeared, saying she was the owner, I think the man’s wife. She told us someone else had booked and paid for the room through Agoda. We were all girls and worried because it was already evening. Luckily, a man helped us look for another homestay, even though most were full, and we eventually found a room at Jhon Homestay. At least we had somewhere to sleep. It was our fault that we didn’t think to pay earlier, but they could have told us we could pay before checkout. And if they knew someone else had paid for the room, they should have let us know so we could find somewhere else. We’d booked two days earlier and called again an hour before arriving. If the man had told us then, we might have had time to find another place. Instead, he just said “yes, yes.” I was so upset. It was very unprofessional.

The host and his family are friendly and helpful, and breakfast is available. It’s a basic room, so don’t expect fancy facilities. I’d recommend it to backpackers, but not to picky travelers.

A really bad experience. We booked two rooms but found only one, and it was small and unclean.