Ela Beach Hotel & Apartments — Hotel in New Guinea

Where do I start…

My father and I had booked this hotel a month in advance. As someone who has stayed in most hotels is Port Moresby and Lae and never had any issues. Ela beach hotel was the WORST ONE! They advised 2pm check in we arrived around 2:15pm to check in and the receptionist was so stand-offish. She told me to sign and take a seat we’d be get the key soon.

So we sat and 30 mins went by still nothing, another 30 went by and still nothing so I went to the counter and asked for an update. The latest receptionist (Ruth) was like mute or did not understand English and completely ignored me. I went and sat down again and another hour had passed! At this point I was so tired and hungry i told the receptionist i wanted to speak to the manager. Manager came out and said that the issue was the last guest checked out late and that house keeping was cleaning the room. I asked in that case can we put our bags somewhere secure and that we were going to have something to eat.

After another HOUR and 30MINS MORE. We came back to the same bs as before still no update still waiting on housekeeping. I again asked for the manager and was ignore I was nothing but friendly to the staff but they just didn’t seem to care that people had been waiting 3 and a half hours for a room. Never in my life have I experienced such poor customer service and poor communication. After being ignored yet again I had my father call twice from AUSTRALIA to understand what the wait was.

Finally after 4 and a half hours of waiting they gave us a room (408). This room was DISGUSTING. Mould on the roof and in the shower, lights not working, wifi cuts in and out, Ash and dirt all on the balcony, mould growing on the bed head. Live mosquitos and bugs flying around in room! (Mind you we are paying over K5000 to stay for 14day). After informing my father in the room we had waited HOURS for he called reception yet again. They advised him that they will be moving us out of the room the next day. Next day came around no one came to inform of new room status, I had to walk to reception 3 times to get updates. Finally got a room change at 5pm and cherry on top new room key didn’t work at all. Had to chance around the staff for the master key, then had to chance the maintenance team to fix the broken door.

New room was cleaner only still had mould and bugs in shower and kitchen appliances did not work at all. Also no phone is this room to call for room service or anything in general. The restaurant staff were lovely and the guards at the gate but that’s about it. Food is overpriced and breakfast is not inclusive no matter how much you spend on a room.

Do not recommend staying here. I’d rather pay the extra money to stay at the Hilton, Stanley, Crown, Grand Papua hotel or holiday inn to get the quality...

Customer Service ~Very bad customer service experience I'd rather say 0/5 for that . I booked for two nights from the 25.09 to 27.09. I had no issues with my check in as a friend was able to check me in however I find other approach very irritating and unprofessional. Starting off with house keeping, I had to call the reception or speak to their house keeping staff about when they will make my or my families room,2pm and I had to chase them for this.|Down at the restaurant, I asked a staff to make me coffee as their brewed jug ran out of coffee. The lady sort of gave a look and said ok,no apology was offered,very unprofessional. She then assisted another customer who was an Asian but he came after me,served him coffee while I was still there, I felted discriminated with my rights as a customer so told her, "I'm still waiting for my coffee and how long does it take to make one?" Again no apology what not and few mins later she served me.|I again came to order pizza at the restaurant. I asked if it was possible to be charged to the rooms and I'll sort the bills later when checking out, a lady who was at the till said it was ok and I have to place my order through Enzo which is the pizza place.As I went there, I waited ten minutes to be served and when my turn came, I was referred to the hotel reception. The staff who was referring me was a duty manager and I explained to her I was told it was possible not from the hotel reception but the restaurant and now you are asking me to go back,why all this referrals rather picking up your telephone and calling them,again unprofessional.|Asking a staff member to deliver us towels as house keeping was running late to do our rooms, she said yes but never delivered.||Facilities,the stairs were run down,bathroom walls were disgustingly black, dish washing liquid was supplied in a 200mls fanta bottle which I had to change this to actual packing.|Toilet and laudry facilities in the common area were very dirty and un hygienic,needed cleaning.|I disagree with a 4/5 stars rating. I had a terrible experience and came back home with a very bad diarrhoea.|I promise to never be there again in the future.||My 1 star is only for the airport...

The staff a wonderful and try really hard. I'd like to note that the people of PNG are amazing-so friendly and helpful. This review is a reflection of the hotel experience only. The room was cleaner than its cousin, The Gateway, but still by no means clean. There was also no hot water for the shower, pretty sad at the cost. Talking about cost, at $100 for a $20 bottle if wine, you'd expect it to be at least the right colour. Asking 3 times (ringing the room) which wine we wanted, then still bringing the wrong one, bordered on being comical. No glasses either. We also had to go back down to the restaurant to pay for our room service, as it couldn't be added to our room, which defeats the purpose. It was sooooo noisy all night. Our room was tucked on the outside between fire escape and pool and people seemed to be coming and going continuously, banging on doors and shouting. Not the best nights sleep. Alright for a stopover but wouldn't stay again. Especially...