Le Meridien Port Vila Resort

Have just spent 8 wonderful days at the Le Meridien in Port Vila, Vanuatu. The resort is a little old and in need of some refurbishment but it was clean and comfortable. Staff extremely friendly with service being unrushed but helpful. It offered a wide range of FREE activities including, catarmarans, surf skis, kayaks, outrigger canoe, tennis, table tennis and golf. Other activities were organised for the energetic such as catarmaran and swimming races, volley ball, basket weaving etc. This resort is kid friendly with a kids club.The restaurant served delicious meals for breakfast and dinner. WE only ate at the pool side area for lunch which served up some large portioned tasty meals. Meals are on average the same or a little more expensive than Australia but one expects to pay for quality restaurant meals and fresh seafood. Drinks are expensive VB approx AUS $6 and cocktails AUS $12 approx. The lagoon was clean and picturesque with coarse white sand. You need to wear thongs in to protect your feet, but most time was spent in the lovely pool with swim up bar. WE spent one night in the overwater bungalows which were being offered at AUS $160 upgrade and it was worth it.

Some restaurants we enjoyed in Port Vila were: Chantillys, Iririki Is Resort (very expensive drinks), and The Rossi, all being close to the water. Just outside of town, The Tamanu Resort restaurant has a lovely setting right on the beach and also Sunset Bungalows restaurant was excellent for lobster and coconut crab.

We did the Coongoola day cruise where we snorkled in magnificent blue waters and had a beach BBQ, Hired a taxi AUS$150 for 4 people to see the cascades waterfalls (15-20 mins to climb and thongs are OK to wear), snorkle at Hideaway Island and lunch at Tamanu resort. On top of the taxi fee we had to pay for addmission to waterfall and hideaway island, snorkling gear and for our lunch. WE also experienced a traditional Melanesian feast put on by the Mele village people. Quite good with no western influences which may or may not be evident at the resort Melanesian nights.

Some tips: Shops and markets closed on Sundays. Don't shop when cruise ship in harbour as prices go up. Buy duty free alcohol in duty free shops in Port Vila not at airport as they are much cheaper in town. Wear 30+ SPF and you will still get tanned. Wear mossie repellent at night. 6 minute phone card costs AUS$24. Cool casual clothes, long pants not needed for dining. Resort supplied beach towels.

To wrap up ,I would recommend the Le Meridien and the activities and restaurants we chose. The weather was warm to hot with some cloud and humidity. It only rained once for a couple of minutes during our stay.

I am a rather fussy person and like to stay in nice places. For the price I couldn't fault this resort. I had read up on the internet and knew that you couldn't really swim in the lagoon- I found the pool to be very nice (except for the weekend- where we found the hotel hosting some sporting carnival where locals took over the entire resort), the restaurant was nice and room service was adequate. The room was not flash however it was very clean and the staff were all very warm and friendly. One tip though- I would avoid the melanesian feast at the hotel and try the feast provided by the local village- better value for money and more authentic!

Stayed in June, 2005, yes I agree it could do with a bit of a paint job in the rooms. I must say that it is the first hotel I have been in where I could actually lie on the bed without my feet hanging over the end. (I am only 6'1)

The rooms were always kept very clean and were a credit to the housekeeping staff.

Meals were a little slow in arriving, but hey, who goes on holidays and wants averything to be rip tear bust mode. The meals were in my opinion well presented, the staff very very friendly provided you treated them with respect.

Pool side bar the staff were again a great bunch of people. the children were well cared for in fact I think they spoilt them a bit.

the sports guys were really great taking the time to explain to the kids which Island they came from and telling the legends of their Island

Only thing I could fault was the arrogant attidue of the (white) food manager and assistant manager, They certainly appeared to have a large chip on their shoulder, as they could not in the ten days stay they could not bother to say a word even when spoken to.

All up we fould the local staff to be very friendly and very very helpful

perhaps if people do not wish to be in a hotel which allows kids they could stay at the kids free hotels

Price wise, it probably is a bit on the dear side however the staff more than make up for this slight problem

i loved this place! the pool was great. When there the bigger of the two pools was closed the staff/hotel more then made up for it by having free ice water to drink and also free fruit cabobs that they went around asking if anyone wanted! Also the rooms were very nice and the shower was awsome. Also the casino was in good shape. the service was a bit slow but it is anywhere in tropical destinations.. island time! Also the staff was great.. when called to get luggage picked up someone picked it up withn 5 min! all in all a great hotel for the price! Best big hotel in Vanuatu!

Stayed at this resort prior to Easter and it was wonderful.

My wife and I were very impressed with all the facilities, food accommodation, services and people.

Would definitely recommend staying at this place for anyone.

I agree wholeheartedly with all the other reviews written here. Even before arrival you can see that the external paint of the property has been neglected. Whilst the wooden contruction of the lobby looks reasonably tasteful, we could not help anticipating the worse as we walked down the dark, musty corridors towards our room. Reality hit us as we saw the room, with stark and marked tiled flooring and old, distasteful furniture and finish. The balcony was raw cement finish.

Whilst the setting looks good from a distance, you soon realise that this is no paradise. The beach is a narrow strip of coarse abrasive sand, and the water in the lagoon was murky. Furthermore, the service was totally and utterly poor. It is usual for a drink to be served 20 minutes after ordering, and a main meal may take more than 1 hour to be served.

2 good things to say: The steak was excellent, and the staff in the kids club were excellent. They really seemed to enjoy their work (nobody else did) and related well with all the children. Even though the kids club itself is spartan and unattractive in appearance.

This hotel was undoubtedly one of the worst hotels we have ever had the misfortune of staying in. On arrival we were informed that the rooms we had booked, sea-facing, were unavailable as the resort was overbooked. Had we known we were to spend our holiday overlooking a carpark, being forced to listen to burnt-out taxis through the night we would not have come. The rooms smelt damp and musty, there was no hot water in the tinydelapidated bathrooms and one of our rooms had no water pressure at all,making showering virtually impossible. The food in the main restaurant was totally inedible and the service was slow and surly to boot.No effort was made to fix any complaints and the attitude of the management was absolutely dismissive.The hotel itself is dark and musty and is in desperate need of a revamp.We saw many guests terminating their stay early to find alternative accommodation

This was very disappointing and overpriced. Apart from some anicent poker machines not else appealed to me. I ordered a fruit platter by the pool one day its contents were a quarter of an apple, a minute piece of watermelon, half a passionfruit, two bite size pieces of pineapple. When it arrived I sent it back as they charged me the equivalent of $12.00 aus dollars. The pool was very dirty. In desperate need of a revamp.

The generally OK and sometimes excellent Meridien chain really neglect this property, consigning it to downmarket Australian package tourists. We stayed here 19-21 Oct 2004 and were shocked by the general state of maintenance and the grubby terrace restaurant with its broken chairs, scuffed tables and fairly disgusting self-service breakfast. A newish-looking pool was full of beer-swilling tourists and screaming kids. Service was lazy throughout. The lagoon here is murky and we saw no one swimming. Our room was an overwater bungalow which was quite atmospheric and had a lovely view; best of all it was away from the main hotel. Quite one of the worst hotels we have ever stayed in.

We visited Le Meridien in June 2004 looking for a beautiful beachside romantic escape.

Look carefully at the web photos.

The beach is actually on the edge of a lagoon which is very green and full of weeds - definately not inviting. The rooms seemed to be circa 1970's with a token nod at a renovation with a lick of paint in the room and in the bathroom the old sinks had been replaced with wooden stands the old bath and tiles still remain. The towels were so thin and grey i would have consigned them to be pet towels long ago. Definitely not the romantic escape we were looking for.