This is the second time I've stayed at the Lamana. Booked through Wotif.com for AUD$220 a night. The hotel is fairly new with a Greco-Roman theme! The rooms are medium sized with air-conditioning, flatscreen TVs and comfortable, clean beds. The hotel is very secure and the staff/reception are friendly enough. In terms of value for money, it is streaks ahead of the Holiday Inn nearby and the Crowne Plaza. There is wireless broadband access (Datec) in some areas of the hotel and a business centre. The Palazzo restaurant is possibly the best restaurant in Port Moresby with a good range of Italian and Indian dishes. There is a bar further away which is very popular. Thge hotel offers complimentary airport transfers. Generally, speaking the best hotel to stay if you've got business in Waigani (or the rest of Port Moresby for that matter).

With very little information to go on I was a little apprehensive about what I would find at the Lamana Hotel. I was very pleasantly surprised, then, to find this to be a hidden gem of a hotel in a place that not many would expect.

The overall ambience of the hotel is quiet, clean, modern, with friendly and polite staff always - gardeners, cleaners, and handymen - ready with a pleasant 'good morning'. The rooms appear to have been either freshly refurbished or indeed new; the combination of air conditioning and louvred windows meant that coping with the climate was easy; the facilities in the rooms were fine (flat screen TV, good bathroom, comfortable bed, good working space); the dining room was well-appointed and the food always good. The office space near reception was adequate, with up-to-date computers with internet; the hire car and concierge services all very capable.

Entering the bar area from the hotel was like going through the Wardrobe into Narnia - another world of noise, beer, smoke, and loud music from the disco. If that's your thing, great - it looked like it would be a jumping sort of place; I have to say that it wasn't my thing, but fortunately my room was almost as far away from the noise on Friday and Saturday night as it could be, so I wasn't disturbed.
Overall, I thought the Lamana was a really good place to stay in PoM and I will be happy to stay there again. It was also cheaper than comparable hotels such as the Holiday Inn down the road.

In Port Moresby you make your hotel choice based on 1) security and 2) quality, both determined in part by your budget. Of the three top tier hotels in PM, incl the Holiday Inn, the Crowne Plaza and the Lamana - the Lamana is the cheapest both on price and on quality. It is secure. The staff are friendly. But the walls are made of paper, the rooms are small with little more than a TV and bed, and the disco... the disco pumps out past midnight every night of the week. On Fridays it is open till past four in the morn. My room was on the back of the hotel and the music still made my bed shake. The Lamana bar is THE place to go on Friday nights - so the Lamana Hotel is not the place to go if you want to sleep. If you want a nice room, quiet, secure, much bigger and well put together than the Lamana, check out the Holiday Inn. It costs a bit more, but then, I like my sleep.