I arrived at 2am from a late flight and checked in. The room looked relatively clean but there was an ambient smell of sweat/BO. I went to have a shower and at 2:30 discovered that the hot water barely worked. I was there 2 more nights and the hot water worked then, so maybe they switch it off or turn it down late at night but either way it’s something to be aware of.
When I went to sleep I discovered that the ambient smell was coming from the pillows. They smelled absolutely disgusting. I had to put a polyester swimming shirt over the one I was using to block the smell out. This meant I could no longer use that shirt because it was soiled.
When the housekeeping came to make up my room the next day, they took away the used towels and did not replace them. I was staying in a room meant for 2 people but I was only 1 person so maybe that’s why they felt justified in only giving me half as many towels. I called the front desk to see if I could get more and they seemed really reluctant to give me more. They said we will pass it on to housekeeping who will pass it onto laundry who might be able to give me more towels. When I asked how long that would take they wouldn’t say. They eventually gave me one more floor towel, and no extra bath towels as I had requested. This was disappointing.
Lastly, there were a few small flies in the bathroom, and the breakfast was decent but not exceptional. I am not sure what other hotels in Samoa are like, but this one was not very good. I was unaware before arriving how hot and humid it is, and it is unsurprising that previous guests would return to their rooms extremely sweaty after being outside, however more needs to be done to address the effects of this. The pillows and bed linens need to be thrown away and replaced much more frequently. The location is excellent, being close to town, but I would try to go elsewhere next time. I did see lizards and a giant crab around the grounds though which I liked.
It does seem that this hotel is really popular with other foreigners such as sports people, flight attendants, and retired couples, so perhaps my experience was an outlier. Yours may be different, but mine was not ideal.
