Disappointing on many levels.
Until we arrived we had no idea how remote the property is. A bus fare of AU$25 to $30 each way to Port Vila adds up after a while, and with only 1 quite expensive restaurant within walking distance it was either pay $50 a day in transport or hire a car. And driving the 4 km of incredibly bad potholed dirt road out to the house was challenging to say the least.
The property itself was not up to scratch for a premium rental. Very tired and showing a lack of maintenance. Kitchen cupboard doors sagging and unable to close, window shutters were broken and would crash open giving everyone a fright, dish washer top rack is seriously broken making it unusable, lights on the outside paths are broken and remained so after promises they'd be fixed. Plus no plugs in sinks in any of the bathrooms (makes shaving tough).
The last two days we had no water - ended up having to use a bucket to scoop water out of the pool to flush toilets. Most of our party left and chose pay an additional 2 nights accommodation elsewhere to shower and have flushing toilets. Every time we asked about the water the only answer was "it will be back on soon".
And just to make everything a little more weird, one of the neighborhood dogs has learnt that tourists have lots of food. We lost all our breakfast pastries and bread first night, stolen by a dog out of the pantry and then had food taken from the kitchen on following nights. Very clever animal - one of our mob watched him open the closed door early one morning, so we had to close and lock the doors every night to keep it out.
A lovely door, plenty of room, beautiful outlook, but certainly not up to scratch for the money we paid.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Sep 22, 2015
Hi there,
many thanks for the review. At first we were unsure if you actually stayed with us but realised you were our only booking this year through an agent who hasn't told you most holiday homes in vila are between 15 to 30 mins from Downtown Port Vila. We are one of the closer ones of course. Im sorry you expected something different and it appears a hotel in town may have been more appropriate.
I never heard from you during your stay nor any communications subsequent so was most surprised to read your review and am sorry the property was not suitable for you.
Bus fares are from $2.50 into Port Vila per person. An entire mini bus for up to 10 passengers is $25. Access to town has never been raised before.
Im unsure what the issue you had with the water is but we have an artesian water supply and its never failed us. Ill check with the house staff but have no record of any issues.
The property had a full maintenance check up with several additions since Tropical Cyclone Pam. I will let the previous reviews speak for themselves as to the standard of accommodation we provide. From time to time we will have some usual maintenance to be done which we attend to between breaks in our busy season where gaps in bookings allow.
Im sorry you have had an unwelcome visitor to the kitchen. They must have been some great french pastries but again, I have pointed this out to Wendy and Anna, our fab house girls, that this occurred and to be on the look out for an unwelcome pastry thief.
Again, apologies if The Reef House was not to your your liking. I will talk to the travel agent about ensuring guests they book are aware of where the holiday homes are.
Thanks again for the feedback, we welcome all feedback and appreciate the time you took to write a review.By all means if you are back over here, feel free to contact me personally via email or phone, its much easier to put something right when we know about it.
Tropical regards
Glen
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.