Hôtel Résidence Au Sable Blanc

The staff were great and helpful, and the hotel has direct access to a pleasant beach. It may not be the best one in Nosy Be, but it’s still nice. Keep in mind the location is far from almost everything, so you’ll need to rent a car or take a tuk-tuk to get around. The room was okay, with a small fridge, fan, aircon, and coffee machine. When the power goes out, the aircon is the only thing that stops working. The mattress in my room sagged in the middle and needs replacing as soon as possible. Wi-Fi was very unreliable.

The staff are wonderful, and the beachfront apartments are excellent, though expensive compared with other nearby places. Avoid the rear rooms in the hotel annex. They’re basically in the neighbours’ chicken coop, with a dog yapping nonstop. Brutal. Laundry is outrageously priced: just over 2 euros for one pair of jeans. Please tip generously in Madagascar, since service workers’ minimum wage is shameful. No photo of the chicken coop 🙄

It wasn’t a pleasant stay. The room wasn’t very clean or comfortable, and we had no electricity for most of the night, so there was no AC or use of any appliances. I lit the candle in the corner and spent much of my short stay sweating through the hot, humid night while killing the mosquitoes that got inside the net. The black marks I circled in the attached photo show them. There were ants in the kitchen and on the floor. Bathroom water pressure was low, the water smelled like sewage, and the towels stank. I only realized that after drying my hands, so I had to wash them again in the kitchen and air-dry them. About the manager’s response: I booked on the hotel website with my credit card. The receptionist didn’t say the charge hadn’t gone through. I waited for staff that morning, then a woman simply took my keys without mentioning payment before I left for my tour. It felt as if I was being treated like I hadn’t paid, even though the hotel had my card details. They told people on the block I owed money, then made me come back to give them the same card information. The hotel says this is an upgrade, but it needs to renovate and clean better. At another hotel just down the block, for a similar price, I had none of these problems and got a much better attitude.

The staff were wonderful and their service was lovely. Special thanks to them.