Chez Yolande

The surroundings are beautiful and the food was good, but the stress made it not worth staying here. I wouldn’t recommend this hotel. We were told at the start that half board was included, then halfway through the stay they asked us to pay extra for it. The price was also higher than the one on their website. When we questioned it, we were told the site hadn’t been updated and prices would go up even more from then on. During the argument, the owner tried to show us a menu to explain the pricing. We had taken a photo of the menu we were shown earlier, and it was clearly different. The exchange rate the owner offered was terrible, but we felt forced to accept it because of the extra charges. I found the owner dishonest and scheming. Save yourself the hassle and stay somewhere else.

The sea view from the bedroom in the morning is stunning, and the daybeds outside each room make it easy to sit and relax. Twice a day the tide comes right below the balcony. At low tide, the little beach feels more like a harbor, with people fishing and arriving by boat, so there’s lots to watch. The rooms are clean and comfortable, with good showers, cozy beds, mosquito nets, plenty of shelves and a working safe. There’s no fan or air conditioning, just tiny, quiet fans attached inside the beds. That may not suit everyone, but it worked for me and my friends. Breakfast was very good, and we saw groups coming from other islands and the mainland just to have lunch. Staff were lovely and happy to help. They lent us snorkel masks and a kayak for free. Wifi was weak and cost 3,000 for 250mb, but you are on an island in paradise. Town is right nearby, along with restaurants, the crafts market and more beaches. Great value for what you get, and I’d recommend it.

The staff were friendly, the food was good, and the rooms had warm shower water and USB outlets for charging. I had a good stay overall and would return, even though I didn’t expect too much from accommodation on a remote island. There were some downsides: wifi cost extra even with a room, and it didn’t work every day. I found a dead cockroach in the bathroom and mouse droppings on the terrace lounge chairs. One night a generator ran for over 12 hours, and the gasoline smell was nearly unbearable, though it only happened that once. Weekends can also be loud at night.

The restaurant was the one good part: the food tasted nice, though it was very expensive. Everything else made for a terrible stay, and the hotel didn’t match the descriptions we’d seen when booking. We chose it mainly because a canoe was advertised, but when we arrived we were told it was broken. Nothing about that had been mentioned on Booking or elsewhere. The promised private beach wasn’t really there either. At low tide, some smelly sand appeared, and at high tide, which was most of the time, you couldn’t go beyond the balcony. There wasn’t much space around the hotel, so there was no real beach. The listing said wifi was available everywhere, but it only worked when the owner was around, and then for about five minutes before cutting out for the rest of the day. He was grumpy and unpleasant. His wife Yolande got angry when we left lights on, though she had never asked us to turn them off, and accused us of putting our feet on tables and slamming doors when we hadn’t. I recommend staying on the other side of the island at Floraly Comba, where there’s an actual private beach.