Chez yolande — Hotel in Nosy Komba

I had read amazing reviews about this place, which made me decide to come to Nosy Komba for a few days before visiting Nosy Be. ||||I was very disappointed.||||First of all, the staff was not nice. I always felt like I was disturbing them when I was asking for something (whereas it was for directions, activities, or even a repair in my room). And I'm NOT one of those customers with super high expectations who complain all the time. Not at all! I'm used to youth hostels and cheap places. I don't even like luxury :p I just like people to be nice and ready to help, if they can. But there, man, the vibe was weird! I never met the owner. Maybe things are different when she's there?||||The other thing I was disappointed about was the beach. There is no beach on that side of the island. And nowhere either to just chill. The property includes a restaurant where you can sit, but you have to order something and it gets quite full. So you can't just sit there with a drink for hours. There are no hammocks, or a place to sit on the beach. So you have to go to the other side of the island, to the village beach, or way further (40 minutes walk around the island), to the very nice beach. Which is fine, but not the peace and quiet I had come to expect. ||||On the positive side, my room was super nice and always clean, and the food at the restaurant was good.||||In the end, I left a day early, without reimbursement, because I could not deal with the unhelpful staff and the "no place to chill". I didn't know what to do with myself :p If I was to go back, I'd splurge on one of the hotels on the nicer side...

This hotel was terrible and didn't at all Mach any descriptions that were written about it. We booked the hotel through booking. It was written that there's wifi available is all areas which was a total lie,the wifi is only available when the owner of the hotel is there, and he is a really unpleasant grumpy old man, so there is wifi for like 5 minutes and then it shuts down for the rest of the day. same goes for the private beach that was promised. During the low tide there was some sand that was revealed but it was all smelly and not very pleasant, but during high tide, which was most of the time, you couldn't go further then the hotel balcony. The parameter of the hotel was small as well so there was really no beach at all. There was also supposed to be a canoe that you can go out on which was the main reason we chose this hotel, but when we got there, we were told that it is broken and cannot be used, nothing about all this was mentioned on booking ot anywhere else. The staff was also very unkind, Yolande, the wife of the grumpy old guy, would get mad at us for not turning the lights off when we leave, she never asked us to, and she would accuse us of things we didn't do like putting our feet on the tables and slamming doors. The only thing that was good there was the restaurant, the food was tasty but really really expensive.

Overall it was a terrible experience and a bad hotel. I recommend going to the other side of the island to Floraly Comba where there is an actual...

Wonderful hotel that is great value for what you get. Rooms are clean and comfortable, with good showers, comfy beds, good mosquito nets, lots of shelves to put your bits on, a working safe, etc. No fan or AC but there are tiny (very quiet) head fans rigged up inside the bed. That won't be enough for everyone but it was fine for me and my friends. View when you step out of your bedroom in the morning is knock out: you are right on the sea! Every room has their own day beds just outside so you can relax there easily. Tide comes right up to below the balcony twice a day which is amazing. When the tide is down there is a small beach that is more of a harbour and has people fishing, coming in with boats, etc. Great for people watching. We only ate breakfast there but it was very good, and we saw lots of groups coming from other islands/the mainland just to get lunch here. Super friendly staff who are happy to help with anything. They also lend our snorkel masks and a kayak for free! Wifi isn't very strong and you have to pay 3,000 for 250mb but hey, you're on an island in paradise! Town is on your doorstep along with loads more restaurants, the crafts market, more beaches, etc....