Le Grand Mellis Hôtel & Spa Resort

The rooms were good quality, and the Indian food was really good too.

We skipped the hotel breakfast and found a lovely little French pastry shop about a 10-minute walk away. The hotel itself was standard, nothing special either way, and we felt there were better places to stay that weren't part of a big chain. If you speak English but, like us, don't understand French, getting help here can be difficult. In Madagascar, relying only on English is already challenging, and the hotel couldn't even help us with directions or restaurant suggestions.

The hotel sits right in the busy center of Tana, but once inside, you can't hear the commotion outside. Service was great, and the staff made a real effort to help us stay safe. We did have a nasty experience going out for dinner nearby. Some people who looked like they were in uniform stopped us. Because of that, it seems best to use a taxi driver recommended by the hotel for drop-offs and pickups.

The shops and street sellers make for a cool, everyday kind of setting, and I enjoy the people here. I've stayed three times, but as someone from the U.S. who speaks English, I can't read or understand my bill when it's in Malagasy or French. After a 33-plus-hour flight, trying to make sense of the charges for a week is a lot. Asking a manager only gets us an email in French, which doesn't help us or our card company. They also don't explain until you arrive that they accept Visa but not MasterCard, and that really screwed us over. The girls I tipped didn't understand gratuity. I hate to say it, but I won't stay here again.