Avila Beach Hotel — Hotel in Curaçao

We stayed in the La Belle Alliance 1-Bedroom Apartment. We had a very "meh" experience. For the price it was not worth it. We could have gotten a much nicer hotel in New York City (ie, a very very expensive place to stay) for the cost. I will detail our stay below starting with what we enjoyed.

"The good" -

Location is top notch. Across the street from the best restaurants on the island. 20 minute walk into downtown - restaurants, bars, shopping, etc.

The beach is small but nice. You can snorkel outside the lagoons though it does get choppy. Stand up paddle board available for use. Watch the sunset from the beach or pier.

The La Belle garden area was very pretty and well manicured.

We enjoyed the resident iguanas as well.

"The bad" -

** Dinged 1 star for room reservation & check-in experience. When I booked the room, I called the hotel and explained that I would like a 2nd floor room. This was very important to us for privacy and safety reasons. Woman on phone explained they do not book over the phone but that I should add this to the notes while booking online and she would know it's me and take care of it. I also explained that if i was going to get a first floor room I'd prefer to book the oceanfront room OR one of the suites instead. We didnt need that much room but if it guaranteed a higher floor, I would opt for it. Anyway - I followed the advice. Long story short, at check-in we got a first floor room & there were no higher floor rooms available to switch. From 5 stars we're down to 4 stars right away. If it was not possible to guarantee 2nd floor room the agent should have guided me to another option.

** Dinged 1 star for room quality. As noted we upgraded to the apartment room. It was certainly big and had 2 bathrooms but the space was not efficient. Due to layout, we found living room area was unusable. The TV for example was in the bedroom so if my wife wanted to nap, I couldnt go to the living room to watch a movie or something. Living room had a couch, two chairs, and table. The TV was a small computer monitor size and no smart features (eg netflix).

Remember our privacy concerns about 1st floor room? The way the room was layed out, the shades came together at a corner into the space and you could see into the room from the garden. Also one of the shades was see through and we found we could look inside from the garden. Also this would not have solved the issue but it did not help that the curtains did not quite close all the way. The path from the garden to our room was private to our room but did not stop guests from coming to our patio. Again these are all things we anticipated when asking for a higher floor.

The garden patio was nice but not super usable as the keyed room entrance was in the back corner of the building (weird). We could not leave and enter through the patio unless we kept the sliding doors unlocked.

Room overall was outdated. Popcorn ceilings, outdated kitchen. Floor tile and bathrooms seemed to have been new-ish.

** Dinged 1 star for cleanliness. Overall room was clean but we found a cockroach one evening. Gross. It seems it potentially crawled out of a rather large gap under the kitchen cabinets. We looked in there afterward and there seem to be other dead bugs under there. Ew.

Other comments - I did not ding any stars for these but I almost feel like I should...

The Pen restaurant as other reviewers and guests mention is probably the worst food I've ever tasted. Service ridiculously slow and prices way too high. I knew this coming in so I ordered basic things like the burger, which I figured was hard to screw up. It came out spongy. Honestly, really really terrible. DO NOT EAT HERE even if starving. Only positive was I did not get sick, if that's a baseline for restaurants nowadays.

The drinks at the bar were bad. Best thing I eventually started to order was gin & tonics. Again, sky high prices for what you get. As far as I can tell they use mixers for all drinks. No fresh squeezed juice. I make better cocktails at home with a limited bar...

Visually, the Avila is a lovely property with private beaches, well-tended gardens, clean rooms as well as clean and well-appointed common areas, such as the hotel lobby and the outdoor seating areas. The hotel room was wonderful as were the amenities. The property has many other positives with a state-of-the-art gym, a Spa and a small business center. Unfortunately the positives are marred and tainted by a total absence of customer friendliness, a lack of service and any sort of warmth or hospitality towards guests. In a nutshell, this was my experience with the Avila — a beautiful property that unfortunately suffers from big problems with service and staff.

First impressions matter. When me and my girlfriend arrived at the Avila to check-in we were not greeted. We were not welcomed. Not even so much as a smile or a hello. We said we would like to check-in and that was about the only communication that occurred. Subsequently, the receptionist subtly tried to put us in a different room category which was not an upgrade. Politely, we declined and said we would like the room we reserved. We were told that they would “see what they could do”, making it seem like were doing us a favor for us wanting the room we reserved in the first place. This is not a professional approach and it made us feel uncomfortable. It is absolutely not ok to make guests feel uncomfortable for wanting what they paid for. Eventually, it was sorted out but it did not make for a good first impression.

We had reserved a La Belle Alliance Oceanfront room which we were very happy with. They are newly renovated with a large, very comfortable box spring bed and a beautiful full oceanfront view from your own balcony. The room is quite well-appointed and includes nice “Rituals” bath products, a Smart TV, a safe, plenty of closet space and European as well as American and British Standard electrical sockets. The room also comes with a modern coffeemaker, a water cooker, a basic set of plates, cups, bowls and cutlery as well as a empty fridge which was very convenient. And while convenient, it did not make the room feel cheap. We were also very happy with the housekeeping services.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, the hotel property itself is beautiful and the private beaches are a huge plus. There are plenty of beach chairs, cabanas and parasols. The sand is soft and the water it calm. They also offer snorkeling gear and stand up paddleboards for rent. Other than that, there are no additional watersports and thus the sound levels at the beaches are nice and quiet. The hotel also has a really nice gym with State-of-the-Art Technogym equipment and a broad selection of both cardio and resistance training equipment that overlooks the ocean. There also is a Spa. Me and my girlfriend got a couple’s massage which are offered both in- and outside. The experience with the Spa was good and we enjoyed the massages a lot.

There also is a business center with two desktop computers and a printer which is convenient in the current corona situation to print test results for example. Corona tests (PCR/ANTIGEN TESTS) can be done on site at the hotel which is very convenient. There also is a Budget car rental desk located within the lobby of the hotel. The Wi-Fi connection is good, both in- and outdoors though you may have to reconnect a few times. Lastly, there is a guest relations/concierge desk which is always nice to have.

The issues with the Avila really lie within the areas where direct and personal interaction with the guests are required. Such as the reception or food & beverage areas. Particularly the food & beverage offerings are characterized by a total lack of hospitality in pretty much every aspect.

The waitstaff are excruciatingly slow. The wait times for everything are long and incessant. The food itself does not do much to alleviate these frustrations. Staff do not know the menu, do not how to answer questions, get orders...

I have nothing but praise for this lovely hotel & their charming staff. From the moment I booked our stay they were friendly & helpful & prompt in responding.

We arranged a shuttle through the hotel to pick us up from the airport & I was pleasantly surprised at the detailed instructions I was given prior to arrival how to connect with our driver. We arrived before our room was ready & they went to great lengths to make sure we were comfortable while we waited. They stored our bags, let my girls change out of travel clothes into beachwear & had cold delicious drinks at the ready. Our room was ready very quickly & before official “check in” time. That evening we enjoyed live music & a fun atmosphere of drinks & dancing without it being obnoxious for other people who want a quieter night.

We are a group of 6. My husband & I, our 2 teenage daughters & my parents. We opted to stay in the beachfront apartments. We booked a 3 bed/3.5 bath & it’s perfect, very spacious. My parents are in the primary bedroom & have a huge balcony. There are king size beds in 2 of the rooms & 2 queens in the 3rd bedroom. The beds are very comfortable. There is also a pullout sofa in the living room. We are on the 2nd floor which gives a lovely view from the spacious balconies. At first I was disappointed at not being on the ground floor to be able to walk right out onto the beach but have since decided this is better. Better view, more light, more secure etc. The apartment has a full kitchen & a washer/dryer. There is AC in every area of the apartment & is very efficient & keeps your bedroom so cool for sleeping comfortably. We were surprised at how dark & quiet the rooms were. Everything is brand new in this area of the resort. Overall, the Avila Beach Hotel - Curacao & it’s grounds are immaculately maintained. The apartments also receive full housekeeping services daily. The entire property is gated & secure. Although I do want to note that we have felt nothing but safe & welcome everywhere we went.

There is a shuttle that runs twice a day if you don’t want to make the 20 minute walk to downtown. The sidewalks are narrow and nonexistent in some spots but we managed fine walking. It was HOT in the afternoon & the sun is intense so regardless have sunscreen on always. We brought our own but the resort does provide a dispenser of reef safe sunscreen by the towel hut. It’s almost always breezy here so the spray sunscreen is difficult to use. I recommend a lotion style instead. The hotel has snorkeling equipment & paddle boards for guests to use.

There is a small convenience store very close by that had a variety of supplies. We walked over & bought supplies for breakfast, lunch & snacks, drinks for the kids & of course lots of cold beer for us. It’s saved us a good amount of money to not eat out for every meal. There is another, larger market about a 10 minute walk away that had more supplies as well. If you have a car, there are large markets about 15-20 minute drive that are more like American markets. If we had the option to order groceries ahead of time & have them delivered I would have gladly paid extra for that convenience but it was quite easy to do it ourselves. The hotel does have a Budget car rental desk on site if you want to rent a car. It’s a 2 day minimum rental & was $60 US/day.

The restaurants on site are decent but a little more on the expensive side. The restaurants near the hotel have been EXCELLENT & affordable. It’s a good idea to make a reservation, especially if you’re a larger party. It was very easy to get same-day reservations while we were here.

Avila is the oldest hotel on the island but you wouldn’t know it by how well maintained it is. The area around the hotel is interesting. Some very run down spots alongside beautiful homes, restaurants & shops. Feels a little like a more intimate, authentic experience vs. other resorts. HIGHLY...