I travel frequently to Mauritius on business and occasionally on vacation. This is the first time I have stayed at the Sofitel, and while I cannot fault the location, room decor, cleanliness etc there are several areas where the Sofitel falls below my expectations (and the expectations of my team and clients, who are also staying here)
1. Very limited room service menu, nothing very healthy or simple as an alternative to the usual stodge and burger/fries, pizza etc. No snacks.
2. Tried to visit the alternative restaurant: Jacaranda, with clients and it was closed. Embarassing, so we went to the Hilton instead, where 2 alternative restaurants to the buffet were open
2. Not all of us want to indulge in a vast buffet every evening, especially after lunching out with clients, and I would expect either lighter options or bar snacks to be available at night in both the Beach bar and Pink bar. Hotel managers must cater to business travellers too, as many of us return again and again bringing important revenue to the island and form strong brand loyalties with Hotel chains when our needs are met, see also next point
3. Erratic Wifi - although mine was ok, 1 of my clients had to move rooms as the wifi coverage does not fully cover the whole property. This really needs to be improved and extended to the entire property.
4. On first evening I arrived back to my room to find water pouring out of the ceiling from the AC all over the floor. I would add that this was dealt with very promptly and courteously.Talking to other customers this is not uncommon, so an upgraded system is required.
5. A/C - on hot days this is just about adequate, as long as the cleaning staff do not change the settings!! I came back one evening, to find my room like a furnace as someone had changed the temp and fan speed in my room...
6. I have stayed in hundreds of hotels around the world and can honestly say that I have never, until this week, managed to lock myself out of my room and be trapped on my balcony..... This should not even be possible, such a safety risk, what if there is a fire??? You should only be able to gain entry from the balcony by key card, and the door lock mechanism needs to be changed to something more sensible. This was ridiculous as I had to virtually scream over the noise of the evening entertainment to finally attract some attention. The most bizarre door lock/security I have ever encountered. Ok, I can see the funny side, but honestly this is too bizarre!
7. One beach towel per person rule - really?
8. Room service never answer their phone, this is an ongoing issue, so you have to go through the same protracted performance every time, try calling them, no response, try via operator, puts you through to voice mail, call operator again and ask them to get someone from room service to call you back. Every. Single. Time. When you have had a long day and are coming back to the supposed sanctuary of your "5 star" hotel, things like this can be very irritating.
9. Its not all bad!! The breakfasts are nice, layout and decor is very pleasant and the spa is nice - the beach setting is lovely, beach is nice and wide here and the sun loungers are really well spread out, plenty of room for everyone, but that's the least you expect and Sofitel has a lot of competition here. I'm sure that you can have a great vacation here, but I will be considering my next business trip very carefully. GRIFF

This is a lenghty review, but i think for Indians this will be really helpful.

Landed in Mauritius on the 17th October 2012. We were picked up from the airport by our tour guide and was straight away driven to Sofitel in Flic & Flac. The moment we entered the resort, we felt that the place is amazing and the hotel itself is built beautiful. The view from the front office to the pool and after that the beach was very nice. We would say picture perfect. We were welcomed by the front office person with a very warm smile and we did the check in formalities which went on without any snag and we were allocated our room well before the check in time which was a nice feeling. The welcome drink, it’s not a big deal, but was a very nice touch and the drink itself was very good. The front office person who attended us was very pleasant and gave us the details of the resort.

We checked in to our respective room "212" and "214" and found that the room was quite good and very neatly arranged. we were there with the package from our tour operator where we were given the option of having breakfast and dinner. The entire stay at Sofitel was very good when we see from the resort perspective and also the place in which it is situated. Now getting into the pros and cons of the resort and its staff

Pros

1. Resort is absolutely good and it is situated in a picture perfect place. The resort is very cleanly maintained with good security.
2. The pool is really good and well maintained and you can relax in the pool side which is absolutely good.
3. The best part of the resort is the beach, you can relax and walk in the beach with utmost peace and you will never forget that.
4. Some of the staff in Sofitel are really good and they know what service does mean especially Pravind and another person whom i have forgotten his name but was there in the main restaurant. He not only helped but also understood our requirement very well.
5. Indian Chef - at least there is one person who knows something about Indian food.
6. Coffee replenishments given as you ask them which we felt it was a nice touch, since we are coffee drinkers and have many number of cups of coffee a day.
7. Without any question we were offered a late check out, this is was good one from the hotel management, but unfortunately we had to check out much before our stipulated time.
8. It was my birthday and my wife had approached the staff for a cake and the resort people had readily accepted that and did bring in a beautiful cake served at dinner time. It was really a good one and they did not charge for the cake which they offered.
9. In one of the dinners, where we took my parents down to have dinner after a lot of persuasion, we were dumb founded to see that there was just plain rice for vegetarians. I had no choice but requested the staff to call the sous chef. He was kind enough to understand our request and said he will prepare rotis and dhal within the next half hour. It was pretty frustrating to see that there was no food for us, but felt good when the staff was kind enough to help us out.

Cons
1. The front office needs to learn that customer is first and rest all is next, especially Dorothy who was there in the front office and when i went there to change the defective room keys, she made us wait for nothing for more than 10 minutes and at last when we raised concerns asked another person to help us out. She was acting though she was too busy looking at the monitor of the computer. Her attitude sucks and just because of one person mistake or carelessness, my opinion about the hotel changed and even thought there is discrimination for sure, which i didn’t feel with any others.
2. The door keys not working properly. We had to walk to the front office at least 10 times to get the room keys activated. This was an irritating fact and the front office people were good enough to keep rectifying the issue, but never provide a root cause and give a onetime solution.
3. Charging of water - there were three people in my room i.e. 2 adult and 1 child, but still only 2 half liter bottle of water is provided. We believe strongly that water is one of the essential item for a human where it should be provided as much as needed to anyone without hesitation, but looks like Sofitel wants to earn that extra bucks exorbitantly, so any extra bottle of water comes at a huge price which you have to shell out from your pocket
4. Charging of water in the restaurant - this was very funny that they serve food and when we ask for water, they again ask you to sign for charging and that too a whopping 130 bucks where in you get the same water for 20 bucks in a shop outside, which by any means you cannot walk and get. So you have no option but to grin and sign the receipt. This is again a way of strategy for Sofitel to earn additional bucks.
5. AC - no complaints about the air conditioner effect, but when you switch off the air conditioner, then in some time, you can see water seeping off from the lights and dropping off to the floor. An irritating factor.
6. Indian Food - they have a Indian Chef, but in all the 6 days of time we ate there, we felt that the Indian chef does not know enough of Indian Cooking or does not have the facility or ingredient to cook real Indian Food. Making Indian curry with leaks and watercress is something no Indian will eat, i don’t know if the chef really understands this or not. The only thing which was good was the nan which he made. All other Indian food made are not with authentic Indian spices or vegetables which we generally use for Indian cooking. Not blaming the chef entirely but probably as i said, looks like the Indian chef might not have all the necessary ingredient to cook real Indian food.
7. Linen change - there is a card which mentioned that if you keep that card on the bed, the linen would not be changed. But in my entire trip i did not keep that card on the bed but never in my entire stay period the linen was changed. Looks like the house keeping department has clearly trained the staff not to change the linen even if the card is not placed in the bed. I had to call housekeeping and request them to change the linen, but looks like that information never reaches the person who really does the job. So we had to put up with the same linen for our entire period of stay which was disappointing.

Also before getting here we was constantly verifying trip advisor for all the details which the travelers enter and in most of the comments entered by the travelers, we feel the CONS which i have faced were also faced by other travelers and the general manager has ensured to reply that corrective action would be taken, but we did not see anything coming into good, since we too faced the same issues when we stayed in Sofitel.

The handling of customer is primary for a business which is in the service industry, but for Sofitel, there are a handful of staff who really makes up for all the issues which we face. But for a 5 star hotel resort, we would definitely expect more from them.

Overall, the resort is a fantastic one to stay and relax in the beach, use their beach toys which is part of the package and also the pool which is very nice or relax in one of their beach beds which is a fine touch. But all these comes with a lot of conditions like you should have a big pocket with lots of additional money to spend for drinking water, you should be a person who should eat all cuisines and not be a vegetarian( by any means this is not a vegetarian or Indian friendly hotel for food in spite of all the note which was mentioned in trip advisor by the general manager). Would recommend this hotel only for people who are comfortable to eat cuisines which are not palatable for Indians.

Do not alarm yourselves .. I am not referring literally to a serpent ...nor Eve! :) My Review is very much in line with many of the other previous ones. I wish I could give this hotel a 5 star rating ...but I cannot! Sofitel has a beautiful Setting. As soon as you enter the hotel, you truly feel yourself being transported to some place magical. Actually, aesthetically speaking, I felt this through the whole 7 days of our stay - aesthetically speaking-. The built and decor of the hotel, its location, the pool, the garden, the beach - all very beautiful , very Mauritius. Unfortunately though there are many factors that dampened our stay ......maybe if we where staying for just 2 nights, we would not have felt this. I am not one to let things ruin my holiday, or stay looking for things to complain about, but - for a whole 7nights it is impossible to ignore all the flaws of this hotel.

Check in went nicely and smoothly - nice people and a yummy welcome cocktail. As soon as we arrived at the room there was a puddle of water in the middle - AC problems - not a big deal, maintenance was called and they came to fix it. The housekeeping came to clear the mess ( all at their time, but you know, island people :) !) Housekeeping noticed that there was still a drip from the AC and tried to call maintenance from our phone - phone not working! So after just a few minutes in the room we can already conclude that the Maintenance Department really needs to up its standards and efficiency. - Everything was back to normal as we came back after dinner.
Speaking of hotel departments - Housekeeping need to learn some love and consistency. They have very good standards set but they are not being met by all the staff - Some days I find chocolate at turn down, some days not. Some days the bed sheets are not even pulled, other days, perfect. Some days my papers and my clothes are left scattered around, other days everything neat and tidy. Walk-in wardrobe infested with tiny ant-like insects. What a pity! Housekeeping I am writing this not just to complain but truly because I believe that with tighter supervision and training you could be perfect!

Food and Beverage - The hotel advertises 7 restaurants from which to choose from - even during check - in we are told we can choose - this is a load of crap - the main restaurant is open everyday, then just 1 or 2 other restaurants are open, which you have to book before 3pm and pay supplement. Maybe it was because it was September and not high season ....but still.... The main restaurant offers stupendous food which we enjoyed - compliments to the chef - different every night and good standard.....why the false advertising?? The f&b staff, I have to mention also ... most of them are really very nice and professional. I am sorry I do not remember the names as there are some in particular I would have loved to mention. Nice people ....but....because there is always a but at this hotel .... some staff do not understand English and do not like to admit it ....so when you place your drink order, you get a smile and a yes, but not what you ordered! This was amusing to us, we never complained, also because they do not have a dispense bar at the main restaurant, and if you order a drink which is not wine, water or juice, they will tell you to wait for 7 minutes while they walk to the bar, this is not a problem really, but it will be inconvenient if you send them back to bring what you actually ordered!! - F&B management, it is super easy to solve this problem - in the rest of the world, when one makes an order, it is read out back to him for confirmation - just inform your staff to start doing this. Another example of inconsistency in this hotel is the food at the beach restaurant. I ordered a pizza one day ...mouth - watering, delicious pizza! I had to have another one before I leave ....did not get it! :/ different cut and amounts of ingredients resulting in a much lesser standard! Also, I must mention the super price tag on everything! Particularly for us, we suffered from the circa 23 euro per little cocktail. ...We love to sip a cocktail or two ...or even three while we are laying on the beach, but with these prices we really could not do this ...infact we noticed that no one was sipping any cocktails! Management do you not understand that if you have reasonable prices, the guest will be happier, buy more, and you will still get your profit! Lowering prices is really a win - win situation.

Front Office - same same, many positives, many negatives ..... I cannot write every single experience but I will mention this, the major negative experience of our stay. We desperately needed late check - out .... we had around 20 hours of travelling to do to get back home and our taxi was picking us up at 1800 to start our voyage ..... we asked repeatedly for this late check- out but reception refused to allow us one and had to leave the room at 1200! Now dear hotel manager, do not write back on this review saying that it was because our room was booked and you could do nothing about it. I have worked in front office and housekeeping departments and I know very well how things work! This was not peak season and we hung out at the hotel and there was nearly no one around and even reception told us that a large group was checking in at 1700 ...so you could have left us with the room at least till 1600 ( cleaning departure room takes max 1 hour) .....the least, because you could have easily allocated any other room to the arriving guests ..... We where told to get out because it is easier for housekeeping to schedule cleaning and easier for reception to allocate rooms, but at this hotel standard, with the brand name and your rates, the customer has to be first , second and third, then the staff! Having said this, I must admit the 6 room-less hours where not so bad, we stayed on a bed in the garden ( yes they have king size beds in the garden/beach - another lovely touch) , used the pool and where allowed to use the Spa ( which bdw looked stunning), to have a shower before we leave. Still I could not get rid of the upsetting feeling of being "kicked-out" of the room!

Any way, I could go on forever with this review, AC is controlled and you are not free to use it on all the time you would like, lizard sharing our room, could not sleep one night because of too much loud music and noise from an event being held etc etc etc .... I have made my point.
To my fellow travelers I am not sure what to say .... Maybe if you are going to Mauritius this is the standard to expect ... we encountered many experiences all through our holiday which had so much beautiful plus a little rotten! ...I could compare Mauritius and Sofitel to a fresh juicy apple, with a worm inside!! :) But then, maybe this is not the standard everywhere, so my advice is to read and ask around before you book anything, If all standards are so sloppy then I could recommend this hotel, because it is soo beautiful and the food is good, but if not, do not go any where near it!

To the management: Mr Carlier, you have such a good product, there has clearly been a large initial investment on the property, and it set in such an amazingly beautiful place but it really needs to start working better! I would like to suggest a firmer hand, training and supervision to reduce and avoid inconsistency. Staying away from an attitude that anything could ever be good enough and truly embracing putting the customer first. Also, lowering the prices is a good idea which you will feel its benefits both in the short them and especially in the long term. Please do not mistake my comments as pretentious complaints because they are truly out of love for this industry and because I wish you well.

it was my second time staying at this property.

lunch at the tamassa by the ocean is really pleasing and helping you to forget it all.
Rooms are well equipped, with a nice view to the ocean as well, hence all you need when on vacation in Mauritius.

Buffets are full of tasty options and the traditional evening themes are done with great flair.
Spa with adriana carembeu products made me feel like a model :-)

One thing not to miss is the dinner on the beach at the Jacaranda !

Definitely a place i would return to for vacation.