HotelChatter

staff not helpful

Upon arriving the first thing you see is an abandoned rat infested 12 story building less then 50 meters from the Meridien Noumea.   A lot of the local teenagers hang out in this abandoned building.

However, the windows of the rooms all face a court yard that is pleasant enough.  The grounds of the hotel are very small.  From the pictures I thought the pool was huge but it is not.

The rooms are spacious enough and the staff are friendly.  However, the staff make many mistakes.  On our one week stay they:

1.  Lost half our luggage for over 3 hours!  We ended up waiting around in our room rather then enjoying a splendid afternoon.

2.  We booked a day trip with pick up at the hotel.  We asked the front desk and door man if our bus had arrived.  Both said the tour was running late and they would call us.  However, the bus was sitting out front and we missed it because the hotel gave us false information.  This cost us a great deal of time and money.  The hotel did not appologize in any way.

3.  They claim to have free bycycles but they only have 5 or 6.  We booked in advance ... but they never gave us a bycycle.   Reservations mean nothing to this hotel.

4.  They have free boats.   Everytime I asked for one the staff said they were "too busy".  We also never got to use a boat.

5.  The breakfast had many flys all over all the food.  It this grosses you out ... don't bother with the breakfast.  They run out of food after about 8:30.  It is the same every day and gets really boring eventually.

6.  They over charged us when we checked out.  (charged us about $100 US for a restaurant we never even entered).

You have to watch the staff very carefully.  Actually it was a relief to leave this hotel.   The constant mistakes on the part of the staff were really stressing us out at a time we should have been relaxed.  I wish I had stayed at a 3 star ... because thats really all the Meridien at Noumea is.

If you already booked this hotel ... you will probably be okay ... just don't trust the staff and don't waste your time arguing with them.   If you have not booked yet try something else!   The pardise hotel on Ouvea is great for example.   If you have to stay in Noumea most of the other hotels are just across the street from the same beach as the Meridien.  (this beach is not so fabulous by the way).