The Vale Trip

The room I reserved had a picture with beautiful ocean view from its balcony. Upon arrival I was assigned to a room without such view. I showed the hotel reception staff a picture of the view that was advertised but they said the hotel is full and cannot move me. They did promised to move me to that room with ocean view in a couple of days but that never happened. When I approached the relations manager about the promise made to me she said she will inquire about it and get back to me. Needless to say, she never got back to me and I never got the room with the view I expected.

AVOID. Our honeymoon was ruined by 11 nights of health hazards & nickel-and-diming at a "Premium All-Inclusive" resort. We paid a significant extra for Premium All-Inclusive and checked with the hotel before arrival, yet most menu items, even basics, carried mandatory surcharges. "All-inclusive" here means paying again at the table. "Mostly-exclusive" is more accurate. They refused to refund the days before I complained. The ceiling leaked and the walls were moldy for most of our stay. When I reported it, they downgraded my room and simply painted over the mold. When asked to move my belongings, staff said "We are not your slaves". The private pool was filthy, attracting stray dogs from the beach to eat items in it. The TV didn't work. Although it showed "aerial cable disconnected", the manager blamed me for disconnecting the Wifi (it uses ethernet) and removing the key card from the power slot (untouched all stay). They fixed the antenna on the last day. An aggressive head massage pulled out my hair and left my scalp covered in whiteheads. The private hammam's bathtub tap was broken. Constant pointless "courtesy checks" interrupted us. At checkout, after condescendingly offering one night's refund and 5% off for an NDA & waiving all claims from the stay, they tried to charge me tourist tax for days I wasn't in the country and for the massage the spa had agreed to waive, This delayed my departure to the airport. A once-in-a-lifetime trip we can never get back.

Excellent stay - nice modern art deco feel with the colours and culture of Mauritius. Very friendly staff and delicious food. Recommended.