Elang Hillside Bamboo Villa — Hotel in Flores

We ended up booking this hotel because Hotel Meruorah Komodo didn’t honor the reservation we had confirmed with them and had to find another hotel on short notice. The Elang Hillside Villas was a pleasant surprise. The hotel was built in 2020 and features eight bamboo villas of varying sizes. The villas are situated in a forest on a steep hill, so you can expect a little bit of exercise getting up to your villa. We stayed in a two bedroom, two bathroom villa for four persons at the end of the resort. It is a genuine forrest feeling in the resort, so you need to be prepared for geckos, tokay geckos (they are loud), spiders and mosquitoes. The villas are genuine bamboo constructions, which means that there will be openings to the outside where small, and big, insects and animals can get in. The bathroom is completely open, with big openings to the forrest. It was difficult to use the bathroom without getting attacked by mosquitoes, in spite of mosquito repellent and the blue-light zapper that the hotel provides. The bed has a mosquito net and it is absolutely necessary to use. There is air conditioning in the bedroom but because the volume of air in the room is significant and because the villa has so many openings to the outside, the AC doesn’t provide much relief against the heat. The mosquito net makes it difficult for the slightly cooler air to get to the bed, so it gets hot. We had a Tokay gecko somewhere in our room, and it kept wakings us up with its loud mating calls. My wife is scared of Tokays (they can get aggressive) so she didn’t have a good night’s sleep. The hotel does serve food, but only very simple dishes like fried rice, noodles, and fish and chips. We tried lunch and breakfast and found the food pretty good. The staff is extremely friendly and accommodating. We found the staff outstanding. In summary, the Elang Hillside Villas are either for you, in which case you would rate the experience a four or five, or not for you, in which case you probably would rate the experience a two or three. In our case we rate it three because we couldn’t get a good night’s rest because of the insects and lizards. Others may find that great and rate the hotel higher. We enjoyed the stay but will look for something less jungle-like next time. It’s all a matter of taste. Ambience: 10/10 or 3/10 Food: 6/10 Staff:...

Good 4/5 bamboo-centric experience and the calm energy from the city center. This hotel is everything bamboo and nature but theres a downside catch on critters and geckos.

The view is excellent. Arched view over the entire port of the island, direct view of the sunset perched on top of the hill. This is paired well with a morning breakfast meal and a relaxing evening for yoga. The Villa rooms come in two floors, with the living & eating space at the bottom and the bedroom & toilet on top.

This place is not elderly or handicapped friendly. It requires a lot of walking on steep steps as it is on a hill.

Bedroom review - All furniture is made from bamboo from bedframe, chairs, to working table. The only downside is sanitation and cleanliness. With bamboo floors, there are areas that are not completely clean and we had foot allergies during our stay. The insect and mosquito bed nets are a must, since with bamboo walls there are cracks and they slip through quite easily. The bed nets are poorly designed to the dimensions of the bed since it is small relatively to the bed frame. This means missing atleast a quarter of the bed's surface area since sides and corners are covered in bed nets. There are also constant droppings of geckos on the bed as they live on the rooftops above. These droppings are scattered across the room but they seem to prefer it on our pillows and bed sheets. Small spiders also roam the room. Pillows and beds are of great quality and we had our deep sleep episodes quite easily.

Other rooms - The running water has been inconsistent during our stay, most likely due to nearby construction. The shower is decorated nicely with stones but it seems unsafe. The living room is quite pleasant woth plenty of area for yoga and relaxing.

Service has been great. The general manager, the drivers, and the bag carriers have been accomodating to our experience.

Central facilities - Small pool, not made for swimming and more for dipping.

Price-wise, fairly expensive compared to city center hotels that charge almost the same rate. It is suited for those that prioritize the bamboo and nature lifestyle. Value depends on how much you like bamboo, but it shouldn't compromise sanitation standards.

Overall - I doubt recommending this place unless you want to have an everything-bamboo experience and a view...

Firstly, a big compliment to all the staff, from the reception to the craftsmen and the service staff. Everyone at this resort does a lot of work every day and tries to present the hotel in the best possible light. Chappeau for that. From the cleanliness after the room cleaning to the meals, there is nothing to criticise. The food was very tasty. If there was ever a minor insect problem, someone immediately jumped to the rescue - help was generally always offered immediately, even if it could perhaps have waited. The mosquitoes went relatively well, the hotel had also provided me with a repellent and if the mosquito nets on the bed were fitted correctly, there were no more problems in the sleeping tent. The only thing that could be noted here is that there were a few holes in the mosquito net, which should be sewn. What was great was that you could order breakfast at a certain time (in a specified window) and then sit down comfortably. Snacks or dinner could easily be ordered via WhatsApp. The team was also always available for questions via WA (the whole of Indonesia coordinates things via WA). As I was diving in Labuan Bajo, I was able to use the hotel's chauffeur, who also picked me up later in the city on call. It all worked out really well. The hotel facilities, including the pool, have nothing to criticise. As I spent a whole week here, I noticed that most guests were unfortunately only checked in for short stays and hadn't really explored the surrounding area - which is quite a sad thing.

I really enjoyed my stay here - highly recommend it

Kind regards from...