Sylvia Beach Villa — Hotel in Flores

Let me start by stating positive notes we have in this hotel. First, we rented a one bedroom beach villa which gives us a great private view of Waicicu Beach. Second, the place is quiet and perfect for people who loves to relax in silence. Lastly, the restaurant staffs are nice and polite but the main highlight was meeting an awesome staff, Om Bonne, who's very accommodating and pleasant to talk to. He always takes initiative on our needs and very proactive when we have questions around the place during our stay.

Now why we are DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMENDING the hotel is because of the following:

(1) POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. We have to dial 3-4 times every time we try to reach reception for inquiries. And sometimes we don't even get a call back at all. Upon our arrival, garbage from previous guests were scattered around our villa (we later found out there were animals causing this litter). We called the reception twice to have it cleaned, they responded they sent someone already but whole day passed and nobody took care of it. That's when we met Om Bonne and asked him directly to clean it for us. There was also a time when we requested a shuttle a day before scheduled at 7:30am but it came 8am instead. We hope that there is respect when it comes to time.

(2) NO WIFI during our stay. We had to call several times to have it fixed but to no success. Reception says they couldn't determine the issue and suggested to just access internet through lobby/restaurant instead. Not a good hotel option if you have to work while on holiday.

(3) We knew prior our arrival toilets will be outdoor. But we didn't expect water supply to be so low & water heater to only work for very short span of time, it's fine in the afternoon but we usually shower at 5am/8pm so we had to deal with freezing cold water when taking a bath.

(3) It is understandable to see insects around the area but finding lots of mosquitos inside the room and a scorpion under my husband's pillow while we sleep came quite a shock for us. Believe it or not, it was really there and it was hard for us to go sleep again.

(4) Water kettle is rusty. We didn't bother using it at all.

(5) Restaurant staffs are nice, food is relatively cheap but not tasty.

In summary, people & the view are nice but service and facilities are not worth...

This review is about the "garden-view" rooms. Another set of "beachfront" rooms seem to be newer, so some remarks may not apply to them. Overall we were happy of our stay, which was also cheaper than expected (the nice lady at the reception offered us a room for a price which was one fourth of that advertised on well-known travel sites). The beach is very nice (and nobody is around if you stay here during the day), with some decent snorkelling spots at swimming distance, and fantastic sunsets with the Sangean Api volcano smoking in the distance. Breakfast was good, but dining was average and overpriced. The room was comfortable, with a large bed. The striking thing was that, everywhere one looked, all details were ludicrously wrong. Just to mention a few, the bathroom was smelly (probably, a missing siphon at the shower drain), the bathroom ceiling was badly repaired and bent inwards, water was spilling from under the toilet, a solitary old flip-flop lied in the hedge in front of the entrance door, the edges of the steps leading to the swimming pool were worn out, some tiles in the swimming pool were also missing, yesterday's trash lied not taken care of well into the morning after,... An impression of poor maintenance hang on the place. All this said, it was nice relaxing...

Please note that the bathroom is outdoors, which may not be to everyone's liking. I thought it rather nice though.||||Sylvia Beach Villa is in the same area as Sylvia Hotel & Resort. Reception is the same, restaurant is the same, so I don't really understand why they are separated on all booking sites and TA. We stayed in one of the villas right on the beach. Highly recommended!||||The hotel offers transports to and from Labuan Bajo, but for a cost.||||+ We booked rather late and got a good deal||+ Was pleansantly surprised and found it much better than some reviews. Room nice!||+Drinking water container in room, so had cold water all the time||+ 2 pools within easy reach||||- Shame they don't serve alcohol, apart from lager. I would have loved to have cocktail on the beach while watching the sunset||- Menu uninspiring||- Rubbish on the beach every time the sea level changes. Staff do try to clean up and sweep, but could try harder, I'm sure. It¨'s a general problem with rubbish in the water. ||- Not enough sun chairs||- Strange layout of the resort. The reception area is huge, but there's nothing apart from the staff at the desk and some seating. No tourist information, swatch book shelf in different languages, info on services...