Angel Island Eco Resort — Hotel in East Nusa Tenggara

Having spent three nights unbitten at a different nearby island resort we were shocked to be bitten day and night by so many mosquitoes inside and outside our bungalow. The hotel staff would come in at 5pm to light mosquito coils and electric repellant, we'd spray our room and ourselves with additional DEET mosquito repellant and still be bitten. We were not given matches so when the outdoor toilet mosquito coil burnt out we could not relight it. Our second day we asked for another electric repellant to place near the bed which had no mosquito net. The owner who was ill texted that the resort was fumigated that day but there were still mosquitoes everywhere. Another suffering guest commented that it was as if the mosquitoes were attracted to the DEET mosqito repellant. | As other parts of Indonesia e.g. Bali are experiencing dengue fever outbreaks we dreaded walking 5 minutes through the dark jungle to reach the restaurant. There were mosquitoes buzzing around our ears during dinner at the open-air restaurant. The guest bungalows are located not on the beach but in the jungle with hibiscus lined paths so they don't get a lot of sunlight. Bathing suits took two days to dry. The hand, face towels smelled mildewy when wet and one day even the bathtowel. Our third day we discovered a birdbath filled with stagnant water and a dead butterfly outside our bungalow's terrace which we never sat at due to the mosquitoes. We saw another bungalow with a birdbath. Mosquitoes lay eggs in stagnant water. Could this be why there were so many mosquitoes? Our first resort had wooden bowls of water to cleanse our sandy feet but they were emptied each night. | Our friends found a dying scorpion in their room. We had a centipede and a huge wasp in ours. We are expected to cover them with glass cups and call the staff but the phones were out of order. Each night something jumping on the thatched roof woke us up. Our last night from 2am to 5am we heard loud yelping and purring noises every 20 seconds and neither of us could sleep. | The toilet, shower, sinks were located outside and there was one mosquito coil set next to the toilet. The shower tank is not so large so the second person would end up with lukewarm water. There was an electric water dispenser serving cold and hot water in the room-don't forget to unplug it so its belching doesn't wake you up at night. We never used the hot water, nor the capsule coffee machine. There were no soft drinks. just two large bottles of beer in the minibar. | Our Indonesia SIMs had no reception in our bungalow and when we asked for the wifi password to take a scheduled conference call, we were told to wait- we waited 45 minutes for a piece of paper with user name and password. Please include this in the room guide. The wifi was slow. We had to negotiate to be allowed more than two devices hooked up to the room's internet. We had to log in multiple times a day. | The House Reef was amazing. We saw beautiful live coral of different shapes, blue starfish, sea cucumbers, fish, and baby black tipped reef sharks. To borrow the snorkeling gear/single person kayaks one had to go to the restaurant and wait for someone to walk you to the equipment hut. Some fins were broken off, or the fastener broken, and many snorkels leaked. Getting them replaced required us to walk back to the restaurant and ask someone to accompany us to the equipment hut to make the exchange. It was frustrating as each time we wasted time removing and attaching the snorkels to the masks. No anti-fogging detergent was provided.| On the second day we did the Komodo Island snorkeling trip. There were 8 of us a full boat. In the water I noticed the snorkel was missing the bottom half of the part you bite. It was replaced with a snorkel with a short tube. Then all the snorkels and fins were collected into a plastic trash bag to be redistributed at the next stop. Several people did not remember which snorkel they'd used! We climbed a mountain in light rain, saw a manta, komodo dragons, sea turtles, and swam great distances quickly to keep up with the guide...it was a good day. | We borrowed kayaks and the server recommended we go around the island in a clockwise direction. Midway through there was a grotto which seemed to go on for a while. We just peeked in and later asked if it was safe to go inside. The server said that he'd ask the owner. Later we heard that it was fine for us to go inside the grotto. It would be nice to have a map of the island posted at the equipment hut. | That afternoon a glass bottom motor boat tour came to the Angel Island Resort private beach and explored different spots of the house reef from the boat for a good 30 minutes which kept us hotel guests out of the water. Nobody shooed them away. The stars at night from the beach are pretty amazing. | The restaurant set breakfasts served toast, jam, and delicious honey, choice of nasi/mee goreng, omelettes, crepes. When I asked for extra cheese in my omelette, shredded cheese was served on the side. The next day I asked for cheese inside my omelette, the omelette was folded over a mound of still cold shredded cheese! Fruit was bananas, watermelon, papaya, pineapple, Coffee was served in a french press yet it took 15 minutes to bring the french press coffee to the table. Juice is not included in the set breakfast. The lunch/dinner menu was varied, but the dishes didn't have much flavor. The satay chicken pieces were recycled in chicken mee goreng, chicken nasi goreng, and chicken burritos. For a resort with only 20 people, perhaps it's best to stick to a smaller menu offering quality western and indonesian dishes. We accepted that calamari and octopus are not good for the environment but the line caught fish should be moist and taste fresh and sweet. The turmeric and ginger fish did not taste of ginger. The eggplant and water spinach dishes were great, but the mixed sauteed vegetables had frozen cauliflower and broccoli. | At 3pm a snack is served, if you're in your room you only get the snack, if you're on the beach, they bring your choice of drink with your snack. If you're on the Komodo Island tour there's no snack. | On our last day we asked to pay our full bill at breakfast- it took 30 minutes for them to prepare the bill after breakfast! As the server left us, we asked another staff member if we could borrow the snorkel gear but was told to wait. We paid, confirmed that we needed to have our luggage ready at 10:50am when the porter arrives(not an option). We went to the hut and were given two leaking snorkels and a broken fin. At 9:45am while taking photos on the beach the server who collected our money, angrily yelled at us from the restaurant that our boat had arrived and we needed to get out of there in front of the other guests having breakfast. We reminded him that he told us that the boat was at 11am. We are IHG platinum members having stayed at many hotels and resorts but we have never been yelled at by hotel staff before and it ruined our morning. Most of the all-male staff members were friendly but this one man who was always brusque with us could use a few lessons in hospitality. Adding a few women with housekeeping experience to disinfect the smelly towels with sunshine or bleach might be a good idea. | I hate to say this, but after three nights, with over 50 mosquito bites between the two of us, we were so relieved to hop on the boat back to the mainland. We visited during the dry season so have no idea why there were so many mosquitoes on...

(edited in the end after the answer from the resort; didn't change the scores i put in the begining, but felt like doing it for "Service" as i will justify)

Cool beach for snorkeling. Kayak and SUP available. These activities were not extra charged. Really quiet, so if you are looking for something calm, this is the place. Clean room. The staff was kind (sometimes... Even though in a mechanical way... Didn't feel it as they wanted to, but more as they know they have to. Better explained in the Cons list). Let me try to resume this experience the best i can, as i know it's a really expensive one. There were 2 private beaches and a public one; as far as the last one, there were some boats, but from 8-10 it's a really cool place for snorkeling; after that period, we think it has much more people. About the private ones: the main was really nice and good for snorkeling (in 2 days, we were able to see 2 small manta rays, some small sharks, 1 turtle, beautiful coral and many fishes); the other one... How can i say it? I was expecting much more. It's the one where you can see the sunset and it just seemed like they didn't care to make it a better place to enjoy that beautiful moment of the day. Common about both: too much plastic under the sea and incoming to the beach - even though there is a team allocated at cleaning it (which dont make a complete effort), 15 min later you have more plastic floating. The resort should try to make more pressure with the surrounding areas (envolving governamental measures) to try to fight this huge problem. Also, a really nice thing to do would be to put garbage canes at the beach; if you have 4 crossed along the beach, it's easy for careful tourists to catch some from the water and throw it away.

Main question about this resort: food is ok, but not the expected for the value of the stay. Also, it feels like a dirty move not to include breakfast, as 130+taxes for what it is is just taking advantage of no competition. We went around it as a way to protest and ate some cookies and fruit we took with us with some coffee they leave in the room.

Was expecting more from the staff; it was the only place during 3 weeks in Indonesia that i didn't feel empathy (not talking about all of the staff, of course... But most of it, specially the ones who spoke English). For this kind of resort and money asked, it's faaaar from what it should be.

New part: I usually dont waste time on these kind of people, but i think future guests might need to know what they are dealing with. First of all: yes, i asked to include breakfast. I didn't say it felt like a "dirty move" just because you refused it; i said what i felt as you offer no other opportunities and make the price and business the way you want (as it is your right, yes, but which doesn't make it "caring"; many reviews say the same). Still, nothing justifies you sharing what i told you in a private conversation in a Public Google Review. It shows your (lack of) character. Second: i never said you didn't care about the environment; just comented what i saw from some of the staff when picking up plastics and made a suggestion about garbage canes. It's easy to criticize ocidental countries and then see people in Indonesia throwing garbage to the floor, but that would be another topic that has nothing to do with this review. Third: your check-in boat leaves at 14h. We had it organized to be there at that time and received a message saying the boat could be at 12.30 if we were ready, to what i answered (no need for you to share my private conversation, i can talk by my own, thanks) that 12.30 was a bit close but 13h would be ok because we wanted to buy some stuff to eat during our stay there. So dont talk lies when you say your boat had to change check-in hours because of us. Also, you knew where to find us, as you did actually; we were always at the beach, but you (generally speaking, not all members were like these) were only interested in talking about something to sell or our plans/hours for leaving. No...

4 days of paradise in Angel Island! Me and my wife had the best time of our 4 week trip in Indonesia at this resort. The resort resembles a lost jungle with a private coral beach. The staff was always available at any time of the day, sensible with any requests and even shared some afternoon snacks. Plus, the free use of snorkeling and kayak equipment was really awesome since it was one of the most beautiful corals we’ve seen and got to enjoy in a “private” manner.

Pros: The room is massive, super clean filled with amenities (expresso coffee machine, water dispenser, board games, flashlights, and other small details). The bathroom was outdoors with a small garden filled with plants, two showers and space to dry up clothing. The staff was super attentive, the room would be sprayed every afternoon to avoid mosquitos, they would close the curtains and leave a candy by the bed, it made us feel like royalty. The beach was really lovely and despite the huge plastic problem we face worldwide, they have staff picking up thrash several times per day and always welcomed any thrash we gathered ourselves while snorkeling. Plus they would upkeep the pathways free of falling leaves several times per day. There’s a lot of animal species (turtles, baby sharks, sting rays, clown fish, gropper, octopuses, etc.) you can find and we could even see new coral growing really close to the beach which is always uplifting. The silence from city noise and the 24hour sound of waves and birds really cannot be stressed enough. 💙💚

Cons: We felt the food and cocktails offered did not match the room, service and ambience level we experienced, despite trying several different plates, and it could be improved, even though they accommodated every small exception we requested, like boiled potatoes. The second private beach (where you can watch the sunset) could use the same care as the main private beach. No spa/massage service available.

2 recommendations to management: Firstly, a massage service would be a great add-on to anyone willing to book it additionally like the laundry service. Secondly, some thrash bins spread around could incentivize more guests to help preserving this...