laïla, Seychelles, a Tribute Portfolio Resort — Hotel in Mahé

TLDR: AVOID at all costs. Basically a dressed-up Ibis or Moxy with zero customer orientation, charging luxury prices for a half-hearted IDGAF experience.

As an Ambassador Elite member who’s stayed at over 100 Marriotts worldwide, this was among the worst. Was asked for a charge to confirm early check-in (first time ever!) despite empty rooms and prior notice through my Ambassador (standard practice as per the GM), no one to help with bags despite us visibly struggling, and front office staff seemed more interested with warning about €25 towel fines than welcoming guests (more about this later).

The “Senior Terrace Suite” (upgraded using a voucher) was ordinary at best, which worries me as to what the normal rooms are like. A single room with a terrace facing bushes and bugs, no bathtub, no view, nothing remotely suite-like. Last I checked, suites have separate living and bedroom areas. The property itself feels like a hostel, most rooms overlook a crowded pool, others face a VERY BUSY road or the adjoining petrol station. The “beach resort” marketing is a joke since you have to cross a busy road to get to a seaweed-choked beach with hardly any plain sand stretches (easily the worst on Mahe).

Service was laughably bad and the water situation deserves its own comedy sketch. At 3 PM, we asked for a couple of extra bottles (you only get two small bottles with the room). I was told water had to be paid for, else use a refilling station down the hall. This is a so-called luxury hotel in the Seychelles, not a hostel in Thailand. Upon insistence, the associate reluctantly agreed to send two extra bottles as a ‘one-time gesture’. Hours later, nothing arrived. Multiple calls, Bonvoy app messages, still nothing. By 7:30 PM, we gave up and walked to the nearby supermarket. Only after a final angry call did someone finally show up. Imagine a luxury resort where hydration feels like winning the Hunger Games.

Now for the towel circus. CAN YOU BELIEVE that you can’t get a towel at the hotel’s own beach bar Kafe Kreol? You need to walk back across the busy road, go around to enter the hotel, exchange your little plastic voucher at the pool desk, and then you’re rationed exactly one towel per person at a time. Lose the voucher? That’s €25, thank you very much.

And the high tea from 4-5 was awful as well. Sad watery flask tea/coffee, and two bite-sized pieces of cake that disappeared faster than the service staff. When we asked for more around 4:45, we were told, with a straight face, “Finished.” Tables stayed uncleared for nearly an hour, giving the reasonably pretty lounge area a college cafeteria vibe. We entered expecting an afternoon treat and instead faced the leftovers of a budget office meeting.

Staff at the beach bar were rude, pushing minimum spends even in the afternoon, and when we said that we were staying at the hotel, two of them said something to each other in the local language (that sounded quite mocking and rude from the tone).

And then there’s the beachfront kiosk at Kreol, which is supposed to offer kayaking, paddleboarding and snorkeling, but none were available during our stay. We asked about kayaking around 3:30 PM and were rudely told NO because the sea was “rough,” even though it seemed calm. We negotiated for couple of snorkels, only to be kicked out at 5:20, with our bags dumped in the sand before closing time because they had to clear out the deck chairs. My towel was sandy but I wasn’t prepared for the excursion back for a fresh towel. Seemed like we were freeloaders rather than paying guests. No where are we expecting Ritz level service, but at €350++ per night, the service is shambolic.

The pool is nice if you win the deck chair lottery, and there’s a supermarket and couple of takeaways nearby that were our real lifeline. Compared to Constance Praslin or Four Seasons Mahe (where we stayed the previous day), Laïla feels like a con.

All in all, a disaster of a stay. Save yourself the misery and book literally anywhere else, we stayed at FAR better self-caterings on La Digue at one...

Laïla hotel looks cute and elegant at first glance, but it is not at all up to Marriott usual standards. I was disappointed not only by the behaviour of some of the management staff we encountered, but also realizing that the photos displayed of the hotel are not fully accurate. Yes the hotel is by the beach which is truly great (just a small road separating them), but most hotels in the Seychelles are by the beach by default… However if you don’t mind being next to a gas station and a very frequented noisy road, this hotel could be a good option for you. It gives more of a big concrete auberge type of hotel vibe and not the peaceful location where one would chose to rest and recharge batteries. The hotel is still rather new (less than a year old) and you can sense it also from the staff whose training is not up to Marriott standards in my opinion. We have requested a cancellation and a refund a few hours after arriving. First the hotel wrongfully charged our credit card one week prior to arrival while the reservation specifically said that payment would be done on site upon arrival. This was against the payment condition of the reservation. We had flagged this to the hotel. They consequently admitted it was wrong and they should not have done this (although it was not the first time as other reviews mentionned it. Thus in order to make up for this wrongdoing, they have apologized and decided to allocated us an upgraded room upon arrival. However, upon arrival, there was no upgrade whatsoever. The hotel claimed that we had actually booked initially a lower rate room which was completely untrue based on the booking reservation and the amount that was charged on our credit card. Over and all, the hotel seemed very confused about our booking despite the fact that we had a Marriott Bonvoy Gold Status. Once the hotel finally admitted their mistake and confusion, they said they could not upgrade us as « it is based o availability » and proposed a complementary dinner (while we were already on a half board plan…) OR a massage for 2. The revenue manager was basically bargaining with us to make us stay. The whole approach seemed like a scam and very unprofessional for Mariott : 1) our credit card was charged wrongfully (against all reservations conditions) ; 2) the hotel decided to correct the mistake by upgrading us ; 3) the upgrade never happened on arrival while the hotel had already charged us, giving us then no other option but ti stay with them. This is basically forcing clients to come and to stay in. I wish Mariott pays more attention to how staff treat clients in general, and especially when those clients have a Bonvoy gold status with them. It is truly a shame. Guest experience is one of the main this that clients look at to when choosing where to spend their vacation. In the end we booked our stay at a Hilton Hotel and it was all that one could have expected. I do not advise too book...

Put simple: if you go to the Seychelles, go for another option (and maybe spend a little more) to be fully satisfied. Laila is the kind of place that leaves a bitter taste on a variety of aspects:

no direct access to the beach the rooms with mountain view overlook an ugly parking lot (the pictures on booking do not seem accurate). no recognition of status members at Marriott Bonvoy they charge your credit card without authorisation, so keep track of it

We had a longer conversation with the manager and it had a scammy vibe right from the outset. We had „booked a room that was on the ground floor, facing inside“ and due to the mishaps before arriving, they were „so generous“ to give us „a room with a view“. When we showed our booking of that exact room the manager wanted to sell us as a special treat, he insisted that it’s an upgrade still. You can imagine the akward vibe of such conversation when you feel and know that someone tries to trick you. The upgrade was a) promised by the hotel due to the errors made by them and b) because we have a high status at Marriott, we are eligible for upgrades when available. Turned out that all they had to offer was a 2pm checkout (which status members usually receive without asking). The manager then asked me what I wanted, and I replied that I am not seeking to negotiate like this when I pay good money for a room, yet the service doesn’t meet the standards that we know from Marriott. They made an error and it should have come natural for them to make the guests feel welcomed and deliver what is promised. I was very disappointed by the attempt to gaslight us with special gestures that weren’t any.

We did a walk-in at a fine Hilton facility where we were met with great hospitality, a generous offer on the rate and an upgrade for a room that was more spacious with a much better view while having great privacy. It was a bit more expensive (+~140 per night), but the overall package is so much better. Most people come to visit the Seychelles once, maybe twice in a lifetime and it’s special. The start that Marriott, especially the management of Laila, gave us, could have ruined our whole trip. I’m thankful to Hilton that they know how to meet certain standards, that they kept it up the whole stay and still managed to add to our experience. It was not 100% perfect, but they knew how to make you forget the little mishaps that can happen anywhere. My lesson: rather spend a few hundred extra on a dream vacation than expose yourself to such mediocrity and still having to pay good money at Marriott. It’s my last ever booking at a...