This hotel was the highlight of our trip, for several reasons. First, the proximity to the beach and to a town that was safe to walk around in alone. Second, Air conditioned and well maintained rooms. Third, the great owners, Gary and Baholy, who went out of their way to make us welcome and to help us plan additional adventures.
Stayed here a year ago and also used its service for travelling to see the Avenue of Baobabs and Tsingy de Bemaraha. I stayed here twice - when I arrived Morondava, and when I came back from Tsingy.
General:
It is by the beach. Just step out of the hotel area, and it is already the beach. The beach is not private, and I saw hotel staff guarding the beach entrance.
The hotel has some huts, which I stayed. There are other rooms that are not huts. Last year, the hotel website did not have the complete information of each room, but now the website has the details.
Chez Maggie was next to another hotel, and some huts were very close to the other. From what I saw, the huts in Chez Maggie look better than the others.
My room:
I stayed in Room 11 and 12, which are huts made of wood and reed. Looks traditional with Malagasy style.
The huts are comfortable with ceiling fan and mosquito net. As in many such places in Madagascar, I found the lighting not bright enough during night time, but it was Ok. The decoration is simple.
The bathroom is good and spacious. But the first time, the shower in the room was not working. So, I went to another room to take shower (not the hut) after the hotel failed to fix it. Those rooms are for family and are much bigger, but I found them not as quaint as the huts.
The second time I stayed there, the shower in the hut is perfectly OK, with hot water.
The food:
The food are not bad and I enjoyed my meals there. I tried once eating at other place in Morondava, and I would say eating in Chez Maggie was better.
The owner:
The owner is an American who lives there with his family. He was friendly and helped me stored my chocolates bought from Tana when I travelled to Tsingy. He also responded my e-mail promptly before my arrival.
Trip to Tsingy:
My trip was fine. The jeep used was in good condition. The English of my guide was not very good but managed to get the message across.
Overall, my stay in Chez Maggie was a good experience.
After several weeks of non-stop rainforest and tsingy exploration and 3 days camping on the Tsiribihina River, decompressing at Chez Maggie for a couple of days was absolutely delightful. The hotel is beautifully situated right off the beach overlooking the Mozambique Channel, with lovely fishing outriggers lined up along the shore. The collection of cylindrical thatched buildings are very nicely appointed, and our bungalow was clean and comfortable, with good hot-water showers. The surrounding gardens were also lovely, staff was friendly and helpful, the menu varied, the food very tasty, and the drinks a real treat.
We especially appreciate all of the effort and concern that the owners, Gary and his wife, with Remote River Expeditions, put into arranging flights, cars & drivers and guides, park fees, treks and other meals & accommodations for us throughout our 6-week adventure. We recommend them to everyone interested in similar adventuring. WiFi available in common lounge areas.
We slept in a beach hut. The room was very small, we could not fit our bags into it (not if we wanted to reach the bed) and had to put some in the bathroom. The bathroom smelled like urine, was relatively clean though. The front window kept opening in the middle of the night, with an unpleasant breeze blowing through it. The mosquito net had holes in it (with 2 mosquitos inside of the closed net), and, worst of all, there were like 50 small insects walking on my bed. I didn't sleep all night and was so happy that we only had to spend 1 night there. The pool is dirty and I can't imagine swimming in it. The beach itself is nice, but the "private" beach is overgrown with plants and the furniture is worn out. In fact, everything looks worn out.
Diner was good, the owners come to personally welcome you, but it felt anything but spontaneous. Breakfast was poor, but comparable to other hotels we stayed at.
There's free wifi.
The room was not very clean. The sleeping arrangement is ridiculous with the double bed crammed into a low ceilinged loft. The food is not good. The staff seem to be untrained. The service is extremely slow and although only a couple of people in the dining room we only received our meal about 2 hours after ordering. We mentioned our dissatisfaction to the wife of the owner, whereupon the owner reacted in an extremely unpleasant and irrational manner. We changed hotels after spending only the one night.
she ignored us, but the owner
