Stay Report: Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa (Seychelles - January 2014)

Stay Report: Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa
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I was going to be spending some time in Seychelles, so I was looking for a nice resort that had a lot of amenities for the guests.  I’ve had previous success with the Hilton brand so when I found this property, I decided to book the Hilton Northlome Seychelles.  Overall, it was an average stay with nice rooms, good staff, but a bit disappointing with the service sometimes.

The hotel is laid out in an open setting, so everything allows for fresh air and seeing the natural beauty; it is really nice when the weather is pleasant, not so nice in the rainy season.  When you first enter the property, you go to a small office in which you are welcomed and then wait to be shuttled to the next building which houses the check-in desk.  When I arrived, the hotel attendants seemed unsure about what was going on or our arrival; it was a bit chaotic.

The check-in desks are located in the main building, which also houses the business center, the pools, the restaurant, and a gym below.  After being checked-in, which again was chaotic, I was given a tour of the hotel, and then shown to the room.  I later found out that I was not given a lot of information that should have been provided during check-in, information that would have been useful such as access to free shuttles.

While I have many complaints about the check-in and the service, I cannot complain about the room as it was beautiful and spacious.  The room I had booked was the ‘king studio apartment’ and it felt like a mini villa with a balcony and porch, which provided nice options to sit outside and enjoy the view.  As you approached the building, you entered the porch which had chairs to sit outside and enjoy the view of the property.  As you opened the door, you entered into a mini-hallway in which the only way to go is left.  As you progressed into the room, you enter into the sitting area with couches, a chair, a desk, and a TV on a stand that is connected to DVD player.  As I was traveling in a group, I had requested for a roll-away bed to be placed in the room, and this was placed between the couch and the window.  Even with the rollaway bed, this part of the room felt open and spacious. 

While the windows were against one side of the wall, against the opposite wall, beyond the couches, was the large king-size bed with a nightstand on either side.  The bed was extremely bid, very comfortable, and provided a really good night’s rest.  As I said, everything about the room was spacious, and this was also true of the bathroom, which was huge.  There were two entrances to the bathroom, the main entrance was near the TV stand while there was another entrance near the entryway.  The bathroom contained both the closet and the bathroom, but each section was very spacious.  The bathroom contained a toilet, a standup shower, a big closet, a double sink, and a Jacuzzi tub.  The best part about the tub was that it faced the window looking outside – this window/door you could open and it would lead to the balcony.  It was a really nice view and amazing to sit in the tub and look outside.  The balcony outside the bathroom connected to the balcony outside the room, and this balcony contained lounge chairs to sit, relax, and enjoy the views.

As the Seychelles is an island, most guests come here for the pool and beach.  The hotel does have two pools but their beach access is that of a rocky beach.  They do provide snorkeling and scuba equipment (for a fee) and to access a sand beach, they have free shuttles to Beau Vallon beach (we found this out on our last day).  The two pools are located in the main building where the check-in desks are located.  The main building has three floors – on the bottom floor is one pool plus the gym (and the walkway to the rocky beach); the second floor contains the second pool, the check-in desks, the business center, and access to the third floor; the third floor contains the restaurant.  The pools were decent size, not too small but they could have been bigger.  There was one major issue with the pool; lack of towels.  Usually, the hotel provides towels specifically for the pool so that you don’t have to use your own.  The hotel had the setup there but no towels; every guest kept asking for them but they never brought them.

The business center were a couple of computers connected to a printer in an open-air environment near the check-in desks/lobby.  It was a bit slow but it was provided enough access to check-in and print boarding passes.  As I was there for a couple of days, I was also able to try both the restaurant on the third floor as well as the bar/lounge near the pool.  The bar/lounge is open for lunch and drinks and is very nice, has good food, but extremely slow service.  There is a restaurant open for dinner on the top of the terrace that serves a different buffet nightly. We went for the Seychelles cuisine buffet - overpriced and definitely not worth it!

Overall, it was an interesting stay at the Hilton Northlome Seychelles.  The hotel is a bit far from Beau Vallon and many other destinations, but it is located right on the bus route so you can take that anywhere. There is also a small supermarket located 7 minutes uphill from the hotel which provides easy and quick access to items that you may need.  The rooms are nice and spacious, but the customer service needs improvement.  The room service and room attendant were very good and very responsive; however the front desk service and attendants were neither good nor customer friendly.  The service was so bad that on the 3^rd day I was there, I wrote to the general manager about the lack of service. The general manager was quick to reply, asked to meet with me in person to discuss the issues and try to resolve it prior to my departure. The managers were very accommodating and nice and they made the trip worthwhile.

Tip: taxis to the airport are very expensive. If you have booked a local nature tour, the tour guides will also do airport pick-up and drop offs and usually at a better rate. This is what we did and saved a lot of money and it was more comfortable and convenient.