Tanoa Tusitala Hotel — Hotel in Upolu

I always enjoy my stay here which is why we keep returning.

Temple, Agnes and the other male reception staff were fantastic to deal with at front desk. They could teach some of the other female staff in the reception area a thing or two about how to deal with customers appropriately and always greeting people with a smile and putting the customer first.

The porters serviced the guest well and were consistent with their approach always greeting people, friendly smiles, super helpful and prompt when required.

The lady at Discovery (the Discovery owners daughter) was super helpful and pleasant to deal with. She assisted with my nieces transfer booking which was part of her package to the airport. The hotel reception lady didn't bother to check the computer and just sent us straight across to discovery, only for us to return with in seconds as it was on their reception computer and not Discovery's. Lack of attention to detail with a few things from some of the reception staff.

Bar staff were nice and friendly especially the older gentleman, and Moe who we saw regularly. They were very friendly and attentive with guest. Some of the other bar staff were great too.

Breakfast was nice but you do miss the traditional breakfast on offer like suafa'i, kokolaise (we did have twice but it was a bit skint on the rice on one of the days, and maybe some supoese would have been nice too. (Excuse my spelling if I've misspelt words). Some of the breakfast staff need to smile or at least look like they enjoy working and serving others at that time, especially one of the lady's at the front desk on entry. The standard here has dropped a bit from our previous stays as the breakfast use to be one of the best on the island and so was the service on our previous visits.

It was a shame you don't have a restaurant for dinner as there were times where we wanted to stay in and eat but a lack of selection for a nice evening meal forced us to go elsewhere.

However, the bar menu for food is quite basic and good for the kids and light meals.

I didn't see the Fiafia night here but some of our family did and were disappointed with the food and average entertainment.

The pool is at a very warm temperature which was not pleasant to swim in and put a lot of people off swimming during our stay On another note, the kids pool was refreshing to cool off a bit as it was cold.

On a more positive note, the gym is a good size for a hotel, I used this a few times and can't complain. It's a bonus to have filtered water in there as well.

Housekeeping in 100 & 200 block were such a pleasure in the mornings with their friendly, inviting smiles and attentive service of the rooms. There is a nice more matured aged lady who has been at Tanoa a while now, I remember her from our previous visits. It was lovely to see her there again and she has such good customer service, always so helpful and greets you with a nice big friendly smile.

The rooms are a good size, comfortable and pleasant to stay in with a decent size bathroom and shower. However, the internet wifi is sparodic and wasn't as good as our previous visits. Very patchy. For the amount you pay to stay it should be included like previous stays and was faster as well. Not sure what changed here but became very annoying for guest on site.

Location of the hotel is fantastic, close to or wit, in walking distance to a lot of the shops, a few restaurants and the markets.

The hotel needs a sign out the front higher at the fence level so you and taxi's don't keep missing the entrance and driving past.

The gift shop is a little gem to have on site too and reasonably priced.

Overall, we did enjoyed our stay and may return another time. I do hope the service at the reception, internet and breakfast improves, as well as reviewing the pool temperature, so guest can enjoy cooling off in a cold pool without having to go to the kids...

Having stayed here in July 2014 for work and here again in January 2018 - there is a marked difference in a number of aspects of this hotel and not for the better. In 2014, the whole experience was very crisp from booking to arrival to the food to the departure. The staff in 2014 were friendly and clearly well versed in their roles. What a difference 3 and a half years makes - the standard has slipped significantly - in 2014 I would have rated this hotel a 4-4.5 out of 5 now in 2018 I would rate it 2.75-3 out of 5. From the booking there were issues, I was asked to send my flight details through as I had requested and paid for airport transfers on arrival and departure - so I sent my e-ticket which clearly stated 9/1/18 - my name and the flight details on arrival - yet reservations had booked the transfer for 10/1/18 - OK a mistake perhaps and I got a taxi from the airport - which are in themselves an "interesting" ride. Facing oncoming traffic in 35km/h zone at 65km/h overtaking a truck and 3 other cars whilst less than 50 metres from a speed hump - now speed humps in Samoa are not little by any means - thank god I had my seat belt on else my head would have hit the roof - no mean feet for someone who is only ft 6" !!! The taxi driver said the fare would be 60 WST which he said I could claim back from the hotel on arrival with the receipt he was going to give me once I paid - now the last time I was here the taxi drivers carried receipt books - not this guy - he told me to write my name down on a dog-eared piece of paper he ripped from some form of diary/book I could not distinguish which. Upon arrival there was one face I recognised from my last visit so I made a beeline for her hoping that she would recognise me and the process would go smoothly - yep - far too much expectation on my part! I made sure the taxi driver did not leave before I handed over this sullied and begrimed morsel of fibrous pulp of wood which once resembled paper - the receptionist just held it between finger and thumb and incredulously asked me what she was supposed to do with it - at which point the taxi driver came sauntering over to explain it was his version of a receipt and not some biological weapon! The receptionist looked further into the saga of the airport transfer and said someone from reservations would be in touch - but asked who I had been communicating with regarding my reservation, I replied (I won't name her here) to which she responded as if this was a regular occurrence. I had booked a double deluxe room - which having stayed in one in 2014 I was fairly certain that this room was the one for me as it was clean spacious and had a desk where I could complete my evening reports. Again, what a difference 3.5 years makes - the room looked like it had aged 15.5 years not 3.5! Although it looked relatively clean upon first glance - on closer inspection there were stains on the furniture, a chipped vase which was ornamental and not practical, the paintwork around the fixtures was all cracked - the safe did not work (which was remedied after complaint) and the kettle which to fill up you have to dunk it at 45 degrees to fill - but only halfway as it spills out - works by turning it to the "off" position - now why would you turn something off to work??? I had a call from reception asking me to return to the desk to obtain my 60 WST refunded from the intimidating taxi journey. I decided to head to the pool bar/restaurant as I hadn't eaten much on the plane as it was an early flight - the staff here in 2014 were friendly welcoming and efficient - not so in 2018. They gathered around the bar area like it was a youth club and less than attentively casually asked after I had been standing there for 10 minutes - the only person at the bar I might add! - would I like something to...

Last 4 nights in Samoa, wanted to give the family a better quality stay compared to the previous few attempts we had trying to book accommodation in Apia.

The Tanoa hotel chain gave the impression of a westernised hotel with higher standards of cleanliness and service etc that you'd expect for the price per night. Upon arrival you are pleasantly greeted and presented with beautiful architecture and gardens with a very Samoan/island-resort theme, which unfortunately fades as soon as you leave the front gates. On the flip side, the location is near the markets and close to the city. It costs $5 Tala to travel anywhere around the city in a Taxi - and make sure the drivers don't try and rip you off.

The hotel has a nicely laid out bar, restaurant, and outdoor pool area with 2 pools: one for kids and a larger, deeper one which is heated. Breakfast is continental buffet style, served in a separate building to the bar. A nice addition was a cook with their own station with eggs cooked on demand to your liking.

The rooms were spacious and pretty clean, with your own kettle and fridge with basic consumables. You get a TV with the usual Nickelodeon and Nat. Geographic type channels. Beds were comfortable and large enough.

The hotel staff are all friendly, however there seems to be something like a difference in experience with the staff compared to other hotels around the world with similar rankings and price. I don't expect the people who work here to be widely travelled and have a complete appreciation for the hotel/resort industry, but maybe some training and motivation would help with the following negative parts of our stay:

Every night there were nearby guests who would make a lot of noise at late hours, slamming the door to their room and being rowdy for hours. We complained to the reception every day, and nothing was done until we spoke to the manager on our last night.

There were a few mistakes or errors with the food. Our kids are young, and the kids menu pasta had pepper in it, which for them was like eating chili. A second round of the margarita jug we ordered didn't contain any or enough alcohol and tasted like juice, which appeared to have been made by someone other than the bartender. Room service made the wrong meal, and delivered beef instead of fish.

A positive which became a negative is the laundry service. You can pay $10 Tala to do your own laundry wash and same again to dry which is fairly well priced compared to other places. There is one pair of public machines per ~100 rooms. I was really disappointed when I waited for someone's load to finish, only to see that one of the staff came to empty it and it was a load of restaurant napkins... There's literally an industrial laundry room per accommodation block that the staff are meant to use right next to these machines where they wash the linen etc.

House keeping would come daily and clean the rooms. They'd sweep, mop, wipe down surfaces, and make the beds. It has been a while since I've stayed in a hotel so I could be mistaken, but I expected clean linen and towels daily, and this didn't happen. We were lucky if we got clean towels and our beds made (with the same linen...).

All in all what could have been a nice place to stay just added to the overall disappointment it ended up being staying in various...