Hotels Near Tafa Tafa Beach in Vaitele

The facility was clean and modern, but the shower didn't drain fully leaving a slippery puddle away from the drain hole. Housekeeping wasn't consistent. On separate occasions the mirror was left wet, the bins unemptied, the towel unchanged and the bed not made up properly. The programmable safe didn't open once locked, and the key card had to be reprogrammed to give access to the room. Once, while resting in my room in the early afternoon, someone tried to enter my room but the latch stopped them. I quickly checked outside, thinking it might have been housekeeping, but no one was there except someone - a burly obese island man in singlet, shorts and jandals - walking quickly around the corner. I believe it was another guest who'd somehow gained access to electronic access cards, and who was raiding other guest's rooms. It was after that incident that my key card failed to work, and I had to visit reception to get it reprogrammed. The staff were generally courteous and kind, but really only going through the motions to fulfil their role. No one stood out as loving the work they do. The egg station couldn't make poached egg. That had to come from the kitchen, and they had to boil the water first and it was an inordinately long wait. In a previous visit to Samoa, at a hotel in Savai'i, the egg station had a pan with simmering water for poached eggs, and they delivered poached eggs as quickly as any other style of egg. I visited other hotels for events around Apia on this visit. I'm now open to staying at other hotels after this visit.

We only stayed two nights at The White House Hotel, leaving very early the next morning for our flight home. The best that can be said about the hotel is that the room was relatively cheap, it was clean, the air-conditioning worked and it was well located for walking in Apia. On the negative side, the bathroom fan was incredibly loud and the shower veered from searingly hot to ice cold within moments. Breakfast was advertised as starting at 7.30am and we went down at 8.00am to find no plates, no mugs, no butter, a few sad looking lukewarm sausages and a couple of spoonsful of scrambled egg and no attendant at all. There was a small selection of fruit – tiny bananas – a toaster with slices of bread slowly going stale in a basket, and some jars of jam. After repeatedly finding a staff member to provide the missing utensils we were left unimpressed. Also, communication with the hotel prior to arriving was non-existent – we had sent a message asking about transfers to the airport on checkout and never received a reply. We organised our own taxi instead.

We stayed here only 2 days after they reopened. The facilities are beautiful, but at our time of stay we weee clearly informed that they were only partially open, so there were a couple of tiny kinks to iron out. We still had access to a pool and beautiful buffet breakfast. We didn't dine there for dinner, but guaging from the breakfast, it would have beautiful. The beds were insanely comfortable! And staff incredibly welcoming! We have booked to stay there again in a few days time. We loved it.

Wonderful hotel, an old colonial house set in a garden on the outskirts of Apia (not really walking distance to town but an easy taxi ride), there are several types of room. Downstairs the rooms are modern and air-con, the advantage being they are cool, the disadvantage being that they lack character. Upstairs, however, the rooms are old style, fans rather than air-con (since they are not airtight...), delightful and with character, some with ensuite and (I think) some with shared facilities. If you stay upstairs remember that this is an old house and the floorboards creak...! In the garden there are fales, Samoan-style huts, all facilities shared, aimed more for backpackers. Generally, the place is well kept and clean, linen was changed regularly and both sheets and towels were in good condition and always smelt fresh. Our only complaint here was that the first day we had polyester sheets on the bed, which were very unpleasant, but we asked for cotton sheets and they were immediately replaced, so not really a complaint. The breakfasts are great, filling and different every day, and although there are no other meals offered, the kitchen (and the fridge) is available for guests to use, which is very useful if you're staying for a while (as we were, we were there for two weeks) and don't want to eat out every night. All in all, highly recommended, the staff are all, without exception, friendly, smiling and efficient and made our stay extra memorable. With an eye to some other reviews, remember that this is not a five star hotel, it is budget accommodation. Still, the range of rooms make it suitable for most guests, and particularly those staying for a while.