EFR Seconda Casa — Hotel in Pathein

Booked a night here after reading a description of the bungalows (described as built with natural materials and set in pretty gardens), and because of the great location by the beach (so we thought). Disappointment all the way: said bungalows have not aged gracefully, to say the least, with mould in the bathroom, moth eaten window frames, and electric wiring that looks so amateurish that you don't dare use any appliances. Not that it matters that much, when you only have electricity from 6 pm (from a generator that will keep you awake until midnight with its noise and fumes, by the way). Instead of renovating these,they have built new, much smaller concrete boxes opposite, that are now the main rooms for rent (and more expensive, of course). While they look comfortable enough, these lack any charm or character. They put a roof terrace on each - a great thought, except there is nothing whatsoever to provide shade, and the only view you get from the top is of the gardens and the hotel's kitchen and laundry operations. The breakfast was cheap and uninspired (centering around 2 slices of toast and instant coffee). Then there's the matter of the beach... Though the hotel is abutting a stretch of the pretty, sandy beach, you have to meander along a lenghty grassy path past the hotel's laundry lines, garbage collection bins and all sorts of disused bric-a-brac to reach the beach. Not that anyone will tell you that there is any beach access at all - we had to find out ourselves. At the beach, you're at your own devices once you're past the hotel's barbed wire (!) fence. Nowhere to leave your stuff, let alone sit or relax. I fully appreciate that beach and sea views may not be everyone's cup of tea, and suspect local customers might not even take notice. But really, if you're catering to a varied, and international crowd, what's the point of taking a spot of prime beach property if you're going to turn your back to it? Totally out of touch. And all this for a price that will get you wonderful boutique accommodation in places like Bagan. What a...

The location of the place was great. Right in the middle of town and really close to the beach.||||The room I got, was dirty. The bedding smelled as if it had not been washed. I told this to the guy in the reception, and it was cleaned immediately (which was nice) and it helped for the bed. In the therms of the pillow it didn´t, so I asked for new ones, and I this case it helped with one of them, but it seemed as if the stench came from the pillow.||The place seems worn and need a loving hand to, fix some things, the bathroom had seen better days, the AC was really noisy, some of the plugs seemed dangerous and the bedding could be changes completely.||||Electricity only excites between 1pm - 3pm and 6pm - 6am, which mean that the rooms are extremely hot during the day.||||Besides all of this the staff where really sweet and helpful, specially the manager Morris.||I did not want to stay on the beach in front of the hotel, because it was filled with garbage. The local people have small restaurants there and are just throwing things on the beach. I was told they clean it every second day, but it was still not nice, so Morris helped me find a pool in the areal I could use (because they are not done with there own pool).||He also found a nice place to book a tour to go snorkelling for a decent price and recommended nice places to eat local food.||||Morris was pretty new to the place and told me all his ideas to the place, which seemed great. So hopefully in the future the place will be better.||||Morris was diffidently the reason I stayed instead of switching hotel and is the reason I give this place three out of five...

The manager Morris is the only good thing about this place, Electric is pretty much non-existent, WIFI is crap, the TV does not work even if there is electricity. On 1st night ordered dinner, only rice turned up, when I enquired it turns out the boy wrote it down wrong, so we went out for dinner, on our way back my husband mentions there is blood on the bedding, Morris called house keeping and it was changed, when the bed was stripped the mattress had seen better days, the bathroom has 2 showers mostly cold water due to lack of electricity.||Breakfast was bland, we was just given barely toasted toast and fried eggs, we went to another restaurant for WIFI to search for another hotel in the area, nothing available, went to the beach which is beautiful once you have got past the hotels laundry, but I can not put my finger on it, but was not comfortable maybe the lack of other westerns or people in swimming attire did not help. Decided to leave and head back to Yangon, Unless this place has a major overall it will continue to get bad reviews, NO I do not recommend this place and the paint was peeling...