We stayed 3 nights as part of our journey through Indonesia in Komodo. For our stay we chose Ayana Komodo.
Hotel Website : https://www.ayana.com/labuan-bajo/komodo/
Our Youtube video also features the Ayana Komodo Hotel : https://youtu.be/W8mBBzQT2TE
On arrival we chose a private transfer to the hotel. We asked to hotel to provide our airport transfer but they charge 217000 IDR/PP for a shared transfer. Instead of this rip off we arranged a transfer with Komodo Shuttle (www.komodoshuttle.com). They charged us 200.000 IDR/ Transfer and it was a private transfer in a nice Spacious Innova reborn Car. We paid thus half price for a way better service.
We arrived in the hotel and were given welcome drinks, the weird thing is they give it while standing at the reception desk thus you’ll have to drink it fast standing while checking in.
I asked as usually in all hotels a quietly located room, they said they assigned one. We arrive in our room 903, a constant noise of construction and hammering greeted us. Not amused I called staff and asked if this would be temporary or our whole stay at which they explained they are rebuilding the rooftop bar this it would be our whole stay like this. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would assign a quiet room under a construction site. Not happy we asked to change room which they agreed but we had to wait a few hours more for it to be ready. Eventually we got a new quietly located room 926 which was not under the reconstruction.
The rooms itself was fantastic, very well cleaned, nice design. It is spacious and has lots of amenities and a beautiful view. The bathtub is massive, there is always enough water bottles and they do a turn down service. Also a plus they have blackout curtains and our new room was not noisy….Except one more night when they threw a private party just in front of it on the grass area below.
You can find our room your video here :
Food :
We ate all our meals at the hotel.
Breakfast: Nice buffet with lot of options, mix of Indonesian and more western food. Lots of choice for juices and they’ll offer you an egg based dish to bring to your table as well as tea/coffee.
Lunch/Dinner :
We ate mostly at the same restaurant as breakfast due to our timings to eat. Generally the A La Carte food in that restaurant is poor, it’s a very slow service and really very few dishes tasted nicely. The pizza I ordered must have been one of the worst I ever ate (Just buy a frozen pizza it’s still way better). Really disappointing food quality. On the last evening we decided to eat at the Fish BBQ near the sea. You can choose your own fish and they’ll prepare it. It doesn’t not look appetising to see the death fishes laying in front of you with many flies on it… They meal cooked was actually fine, was a nice tasteful fish and the view is great. Would try to do something about the presentation though because the flies aren’t nicely looking…
We ate some desserts at the cafe near the reception, these were lovely and the ice cream is excellent!
For our trip to Komodo the hotel packed sandwiches with fries as we missed breakfast due to our early departure these were actually tasty !
Staff:
They are mostly friendly, the only downside is the terrible slow service at the restaurant. Each day we spend almost 1 hour waiting for a dish to show up, ridiculous!
Excursions:
We booked a sunset cruise to see Kalong Island (Bats). You can see the thousands of fruit bats leaving all together Kalong Island to the mainland to look for food.
The Ayana Boat was really nice, clean luxurious. The staff (3 people) on the boat were really great also. There were some complementary canapés and drinks.
One of the best excursions we did, loved it and highly recommend.
Conclusion :
Our opinion about Ayana Komodo is a bit mixed, our arrival experience was poor. We did have some limited noise from a private function also. The food was mostly terrible with the exception of breakfast. The rooms are really lovely and clean. Also worth to note there is no beach connected to the hotel, you have to swim from the pier but the water isn’t really clean because of the many boats passing by.
Would We stay again? Probably would try another place.
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