Anantara Iko Mauritius Resort & Villas — Hotel in Plaine Magnien

We had a 2 night stay. I'm not impressed for a 5 star hotel and I’ve stayed in many.

Many staff have attitude issues and there is a severe lack of polish in service quality and detail. Definitely not at the standard of a 5*.

Right off the bat, they didn’t help us unload the luggage out of the car and just stared at us as we took out 6 suitcases one by one.

The lady who walked us to our room was so quiet that none of us heard her. We are in our 20s and 30s so we aren’t hard of hearing. She was just quiet and spoke away from us instead of to us. She wasn't rude or anything but it was a sign of things to come.

One staff at concierge/front desk ignored us when we asked a question in the evening. She didn’t even answer and just rolled her eyes at us.

No hellos from staff when you walk past them - a bare minimum at any hotel.

We booked a room for 3 and there were 3 beds… but only 2 towels, 2 sets of slippers, 2 robes, and 2 sets of everything else. We had to ask for extras which is poor in this price range. EVen then they only brought the towels.

The pool is small and has a very limited number of loungers. Big missed opportunity to not have a much bigger pool and closer to the beach. No parasols on the beach.

To eat at the restaurants you need to reserve one day in advance…so expect no food on your arrival day.

Other examples of service failings which show a lack of attention to detail included: We asked for a reservation for dinner and said we wanted to eat asian food. The lady made the reservation for 7:30pm for a restaurant (we didn't know the names so she chose). We turned up the next day and it turned out the restaurant only served asian food at lunch - dinner was buffet with no asian food. Our in-room TV was damaged and not able to be viewed properly. Sound proofing in the rooms is very poor - at 5am every day you hear the birds chirping - it is so loud it is like they are in the room with you. You'll also hear every single plane taking off and every trolley and other person walking past. No printed materials in the room such as room service menus, timings of restaurants etc. They have a bar in the evening but they serve no light bites, no snacks, nothing. Just drinks. The evening before checkout day we asked for late checkout - this was rejected - the 'Do not disturb' sign was on the door and yet they still knocked twice at 9:30am and 9:40am. Checkout was at 12 and they knocked at 9:30... We waited 28 minutes for checkout despite only 1 couple being in front of me. They then proceeded to check someone else out who was queueing behind me first, despite knowing I had a taxi booked. They had ONE desk at peak checkout time. This desk was dealing with checkins, checkouts, concierge and more. At checkout they gave a very light apology for the issues we faced but offered no form of guest recovery.

The hotel also has a discriminatory policy in the evenings for all the restaurants. Men cannot wear open shoes but women can….this is pure sexual discrimination in 2023. You cannot wear 200$ Birkenstocks sandals but cheap $20 mismatched shoes are fine. This even applies to the buffet which is far from a fine dining ambiance. I told them my shoes were wet as they’d just been washed and the server just shrugged his shoulders sarcastically and didn’t care. Poor.

On the positive side: food was good overall but very expensive. The facilities are well maintained. Nice location (but windy). We had one amazing member of staff (Elodie) at lunch and breakfast at Horizon. She was the only member of staff who stood out.

It’s just poor for the price you’re paying. Especially discriminating based on gender…that’s unacceptable at any price.

Essentially it is a style over substance resort and the service is lacking. Not deserving of a 5* due to the CONSTANT service failings.

You can see their generic response to this review... showing a lack of care. They asked us to explain the review the evening before we left by confronting one of us and had an opportunity to put it right at check out - did they?...

What a disappointment to the Anantara brand. The name is worth 5 stars yet it is a 2 star capability. This Anantara needs major improvements and training on staff. I will break into the following problems:

Reception Check-in: The process was chaotic. Despite paying for the booking weeks in advance, the receptionist insisted we hadn’t paid, nearly double-charging us $600+. After 10-15 minutes of email checks and a consultation with accounting, they nonchalantly confirmed payment—but with no genuine apology.

Dinner Inquiry: Reception staff seemed disengaged and untrained. When I asked about dining options, the staff member cut me off repeatedly, was unaware of the advertised packages, and misunderstood my simple questions. It turned into a long and frustrating interaction instead of a quick clarification.

Restaurant Service: At the buffet, we were repeatedly asked, “Are you with Emirates?” It was odd and unwelcoming. When I asked about drink inclusions, the server promised to check but never returned. Learning that Emirates crew stay daily made the $185/person buffet feel even more overpriced.

Now next day, around 17 and a half hours later at 10:30am I am packing way earlier than check out time of 12pm, I am in my underwear packing. My husband is taking a last swim and said he will be back in a few. I hear the door open and I assume it is him. Then I hear an old lady’s gasp and quickly shuts door. At that point I realize oh dear cleaning lady saw my butt.

Ok so your housekeeping doesn’t even need to knock? No door bell? Guess what, I even had the “Shhhhh” bag out and I hung it on the door nob outside and in my limited knowledge of the hotelier world that is a DND sign, no? She could have at least said sorry after her gasp.

Airport Transfer: Now the last part. We had a pre arranged airport drop off as it is included in our stay and we had a rental car to pick up at the airport. Anantara doesn’t disappoint yet again, there is no driver to drive us. Can you imagine if we actually had a flight to catch? While we were waiting my husband spoke to the manager, I believe the same man at check in who didn’t do anything. Like a glass of water would have been nice as we were waiting about 45 min by now.

We got our glasses of water. I don’t know where they found a car to drive us but it was a car burning hot inside what looks to be just taken from sitting out in the sun for over a day. Luckily we were only going to the airport to pick up a rental car and not a flight. The driver helped us contact the rental car company as well so he was being helpful in the end.

We stayed here on Christmas Eve, paying over $600 USD (after taxes) for a basic room facing trees and grass—worth $120 at most. The room was small and uninspiring.

The staff wore smiles but lacked training and teamwork. Most seemed inexperienced and overwhelmed, with frequent miscommunications. The management appeared indifferent, failing to oversee or resolve issues effectively.

Over breakfast at Anantara, you will see a vase containing one dying rose and some fake plastic plants mixed with confetti and stuffed with more confetti in the bottom. This is what each dining table should have for a luxury hotel chain? I expected fresh flowers Anantara.

Overall, Anantara fell far short of expectations. We’re now at our second hotel, where we were greeted personally by multiple managers and reassured within hours of check-in. The difference in effort and professionalism is striking. The staff at Anantara do not seem to understand following up, resolving problem and making up. They seem to like to ignore the problem. It is either with lack of knowledge, experience or pure ignorance. I live in Vietnam now and was planning on visiting the new Anantara Mui Ne and the other locations within Vietnam. Now I don’t...

Not sure where all these people are coming up with the bad reviews. We stayed 5 days at Anantara Iko and this was one of the best hotels we have stayed at all over the world. We have travelled to 45+ countries and this hotel was very amazing. Of course like everywhere, there are cons, but the pros out weight the cons and just because of a few cons, doesn’t mean they should lose a star in their review.

Hotel room : hotel rooms are very beautiful, amazing decor and bed, shower, bath, balcony area and all. The housekeeping always respected our do not disturb sign, and whenever we wanted them to clean, we had everything cleaned perfectly, with new linens and towels.

Food : we ate at the main buffet for breakfast and dinner, we also ate at Sea Fire Salt and Zafran. Each of those restaurants had incredible food, and amazing service. I believe the “dress code” that everyone complaining at doesn’t apply anymore, my husband wore sandals and short sleeve shirts to dinner and nobody has mentioned anything.

Beach and pool : Beach was amazing. The water is very clear, very private feeling beach. The sand was nice, I recommend to go snorkeling too. There was always beach seats available and they would always put umbrella for us whenever we asked. There was an area to rinse sand off feet near the pool. The pool was very beautiful with great views of the ocean. Have no complaints for the beach and pool.

Spa : we had couples massage and they took great care of us. Let us use the steam room after the massage for half and hour even though that wasn’t included in our massage package. We were also given a tea infusion after the massage. We did the Mauritian couples massage and it was perfect, felt amazing.

Service over all : Staff was very friendly, always helpful with anything we needed. All staff was kind and respectful, had not encountered a single person with the staffs “unfriendliness “ that other reviews are stating.

Excursions : we did a snorkel boat tour as well and it was amazing. We got to see amazing fish and coral reefs at the Blue Bay conservation area. We also did tea tasting which was really nice to try local and different styles of tea.

Location : great location, much more private area than other parts of Mauritius. Close to the airport but it’s not bothersome, we liked how we landed at the airport, drove 10 mins, and arrived at hotel. I loved how there was no big city area with a lot of shops, it was more secluded and that’s exactly what I like. The location was very quiet too, no loud music or anything. Just lots of nature and bird sounds which was so amazing to hear. Also wanted to mention, that If you have a car, there is a waterfall called “Eau Bleau Cascades” that is 20 mins from the resort and the waterfall was amazing, I posted a picture of it. It’s a short steep walk down, takes 3 mins, and it was amazing to swim in!

A few cons that I had during the trip was, 1. We tried making reservations to restaurant, we wanted to go at 6, they reserved us the restaurant at 6 but the restaurant only opened at 7, this was fixable and not that big of an issue. 2. Yes, there were flies everywhere in the outdoor seating area, but what do you expect when you are eating outside. We had staff bring us a spinning thing to...