L'Escale is a small hotel close to the airport and Victoria. Simon, a gentleman from Kenya working at the reception was the star of our stay. He understood well, was helpful, resourceful and not forgetful. The rest of the staff... quite the opposite. If even the lady running the spa cannot explain to you what the treatments are, if in the restaurant a full buffet breakfast gets served one day, that the next day is only half size and the following day gets completely forgotten (or considered too cumbersome to dish up), if after booking you need to confirm your arrival or transport time 4 times to 4 different people, you know you won't come back. We did come back, as we booked upfront twice for three nights at the beginning and end of our 5 weeks Seychelles stay, and we wouldn't do book here again. The location of the hotel is great, the setup is very nice, but the people working there make it a mission to be a guest. The guest is not the center of the attention - it is rather that the staff makes their problems yours by asking the same questions over and over again, or making promises that don't get delivered upon. On top of that the rooms are visually nice but technically a disaster. We stayed in both of their two bedroom pool villas. TVs either not turning off at all (Villa 1 lounge) or randomly turning on and off by itself (Villa 2), air cons resetting to default 19 degrees though we don't want air con, a light that didn't turn off until we removed the bulb, a telephone flashing to alert you to ”99+ messages”... what a mess. We encountered housekeeping staff cleaning floors/shower with unused towels, and we had turn down service ringing the door bell at 21.30h while we were in bed. Loose shower fittings... you get it all. Management clearly lacks. That Villa 2 is noisy because of the proximity to the vibrating water pumps is an added motivation to look elsewhere. The pros about this hotel are certainly the location, a good gym and yoga room and a very nice layout - and the possibility to moor your super yacht.
