Gili Air Santay Bungalow & Restaurant — Restaurant in West Nusa Tenggara

The only thing authentic were the really cool and caring boys working at Gili Air Santay. Other aspects fell short of a 5-star experience:

Santay bar: I have seen more passion for food and drinks in other places, in same price range. It's not compelling to get me up from the sofa. Public toilet next to bar is a bit smelly.

Check-in was chaotic, and Hannah wasn’t there, but other guests and bar staff helped out. When we informed Hannah about a dirty toilet, she apologized for not being there and invited us to the bar for cocktails. We thought this was a gesture of goodwill, but we were billed for the drinks at checkout.

Bungalow: The bathroom needs updates, some things are too aged or not working properly (broken shower arm, adventurous drainage, yellowed toilet); old stains on bedsheet. The bed is comfortable.

Check-out: We asked Hannah for help with our heavy suitcase, if it could be transported to the harbor, which is a 5-minute drive away, using the hotel scooter. Although she mentioned that the staff would be busy and unable to help, she did not make any effort to find an alternative solution (other than horse-taxi, which we refuse to use). During the entire check-out period, the scooter remained unused, and nor the staff or the bar did appear extremely busy. Despite Hannah's warm farewell, we left fully packed without any assistance.

Usually, these issues aren’t a problem in any hotel category or Airbnb. I got really frustrated when seeing other island guests getting help from their accommodation, using scooters or bicycles.

To me simply being friendly isn’t enough; true hospitality involves proactive and genuine actions. Our stay with a local on Gili Air was far more helpful and welcoming.

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A personal request to all tourists: Please avoid horse-taxis. Carrying your own luggage and walking the island helps you appreciate the horses' everyday struggle. As the island already lost its cultural authenticity I question why this horse-taxi business is supported by guesthouses. Thank you for...

This view is about the restaurant as I did not stay in the bungalow. It was great food, but we got scammed. The food was really delicious and with affordable price. It was our fist choice when we checked in to nearby villa, and we decided to come back, but then my friend got into conversation with a man working there. He wasn't a waiter because he would only engage in conversation and bring the bill, so he might be more like manager or someone alike. He said he got us a great deal for a snorkelling trip. Since he engaged in conversation with us prior to that, and he seemed to be nice we trusted him. It was our mistake. The next day when we reached the snorkelling company we came to know that everyone paid less than us. The snorkelling company is within 5 mins walking from the restaurant so just do not buy anything at their place. It is sad that I leave this review, but this experience had a great influence on our stay overall, because we trust less to every "offer" that we had found ever since. And since he did work in the restaurant I believe that it is fair to leave it as part of...

We booked this place via AirBnB based on the various good feedbacks, but somehow we regret it. The area of the Bungalow is super dirty like the bungalow itself (dirty bed, spiders, mosquitos, no mosquito net, fishy bathroom), lots of construction areas around, noisy mosque (4:30 - 5 o’clock in the night, even with earplugs we couldn’t sleep) and not even shampoo / shower gel was filled up… everything on a very low flame … also the restaurant is overly rocked out and you can easily find better places, because the vibe does not fit to the rest of Gili Air!

The host (Hannah) is acting super nice (she calls everyone darling) but when it’s about returning money she likes to miscount! Nothing personal, but we didn’t feel comfortable (fake person)

The room is not cleaned either, the blanket is only stretched and room spray is used, that’s it. During four overnight stays, the towels weren’t changed once!

All in very disappointing and we can only recommend to look for another location if you don’t want to sabotage...