8 Reviews
Puataukanave International Hotel
Neiafu|0.03km from Vava'u Whale Watching Adventures
My family(4) and another family(4) booked this hotel May 2023 and got confirmation that we were booked and didn't need to reconfirm. When we arrived at the hotel, we were told that the staff had been trying to reach us to confirm we were coming but didn't get a response. We never received any emails to that effect. Even though ********** sent an email that a down payment had been paid, the same was never credited to the hotel. So once we learned that payment didn't come through, we tried to pay(all 4 adults) using 4 different credit cards but the payment wouldn't go through. The young lady at the counter offered to check us in (on a Saturday afternoon) and told us that she would contact their local bank as the issue was with the bank in Tonga when my friend asked if we could pay cash. We quickly found out that because we didn't respond to the confirmation of arrival emails, our rooms were never reserved instead the staff scrambled to show us two rooms that had been hurriedly cleaned. We decided to take the only available rooms as we had been up since 3 a.m. and the kids were tired. When we got to our room(Ocean view), I note that it's not properly cleaned so the first thing I do is sanitize the stained toilet for my kids and the bathroom sink. I should mention that while we were being shown the rooms, I had walked by some staff cleaning another room and they were not properly equipped with cleaning materials and the water they used to clean was very dirty. The room has a fridge, rusted, and doesn't work. The AC isn't on and the room is hot so we turn it on. We realize why it was off. It's leaking and makes a horrible sound. The shower head isn't working so they send someone to fix it. Bathroom isn't cleaned and shower head and handle all rusted. The toilet is leaking. There's only one seat in the room. No balcony chairs. The mattresses are all old so I lay a sarong where we'll be laying our heads. There are cockroaches in the room and lots of mosquitoes. We went to bed early only to be awakened up at 8p.m. with a loud banging on the door. When I opened the door, a young lady tells me, ”You need to go pay for your room!” You can imagine my shock because we had been told the bank would be contacted and we could check in. So off I go to the reception to find this arrogant and rude man. He tells me, ”You need to pay for your room!” I tell him we tried to pay but their machine didn't work. His wife, I assume, tries the credit card again and it gives the same error. I tell him, ”See your machine doesn't work.” He in turn tells me, ”It's not my fault that the machine doesn't work. You either pay cash or you need to vacate the room.” At this point, I ask him, ”Why didn't you tell us to do this during the day? It's not like we refused to pay,” and the lady chimes in, ”You should have used common sense during the day when the credit card machine didn't work. He's the boss and wants to balance the books.” At this point I am so upset and I tell the two 
