La Digue Island Lodge

We stayed at La Digue Island Resort for three days earlier this month, and unfortunately, our experience was far below expectations. Pros: Great location. Cons: The staff were unhelpful and unwelcoming, which made our stay less enjoyable. The rooms were not clean and appeared to be in serious need of renovation and a thorough deep clean. The food was another major disappointment. We had dinner on the day we arrived. The staff charged us X amount for wine and the next day informed us they charged us more??The dinner was not good at all! The prices were ridiculously high for the quality of food served, which was often below par. I am genuinely glad we did not pre-book the half-board or full-board meal plans, as the food simply did not justify the cost. Considering the hot and humid weather on La Digue, the air conditioning in the room was inadequate, and the absence of fans made it even more uncomfortable. The room did not provide the level of comfort one would expect in this climate. One particularly frustrating incident involved housekeeping. We returned to our room around 6–7 p.m. after being out all day and found that the housekeeping staff were still cleaning. We later discovered that the room was full of insects and flies because the door had been left open while the room was being serviced. The door was still open when we arrived. Leaving a room open like this, especially in a tropical environment, reflects a lack of basic care and common sense. While the location is undoubtedly a positive, it does not make up for the poor cleanliness, uncomfortable rooms, disappointing food, and unwelcoming service. Overall, this was a very disappointing experience, and I would not recommend La Digue Island Resort based on our stay. The property needs significant improvements in cleanliness, room maintenance, food quality, and staff hospitality to justify its prices.

This was not our first stay on La Digue, but it was our first time at **La Digue Island Lodge**. The location of the hotel is very good, although La Digue itself is a relatively small island. The hotel is situated next to a small beach which, in our opinion, is not particularly attractive. On the other hand, the swimming pool is quite nice. There are local shops and Take Away restaurants right next to the hotel, although the one immediately beside the hotel was not among the best, in our opinion. The resort itself is beautifully green and has a real tropical feel. There are palm trees, flowers, colourful birds and beautifully maintained paths. It is obvious that the gardener puts a lot of work into keeping the grounds in such good condition. Walking around the resort was genuinely a pleasure. The restaurant was nothing particularly special. We had dinner there once, choosing from the à la carte menu, and the food was tasty and reasonably well presented. There was also a buffet available, although we did not use it. The pool bar was pretty much what you would expect from a pool bar. The drinks were good, although prices in both the bar and restaurant are certainly not among the cheapest — but this is the Seychelles, so that is perhaps not a major surprise. Overall, you could say that the hotel is "okay" — **but unfortunately, there are some serious issues that made our stay disappointing and confirmed some of the negative reviews we had previously read from other guests.** From the moment we arrived until we left, we had the strange feeling that we were more of an inconvenience than welcome guests. It felt as though our money was welcome, but our presence was not. During our entire week-long stay, not a single member of staff greeted us with even a simple "Hi" or "Good morning". Even when we greeted staff ourselves, we were often completely ignored. This happened repeatedly and really made us feel uncomfortable. The reception was another disappointment. There seemed to be a great deal of chaos hidden behind the "magic doors". Our check-in involved three receptionists, who seemed to take turns starting the procedure, stopping, and then handing it over to someone else. Everything was conducted in the local language, while we stood there for around 20 minutes without really knowing what was happening. Again, there was no proper welcome, no explanation and barely a word directed towards us. We stayed in a **Garden Apartment**. We were not expecting luxury, as we already know the standards on the Seychelles, particularly on La Digue, but we did expect something a little better. The problem was not really the equipment or furniture. The room simply was not properly clean, despite initially giving the impression that it was. The floor was unpleasantly dirty, and some of the grout between the tiles was disgustingly black. There was a noticeable amount of sand under our feet, particularly in the bathroom. In our opinion, the rooms are in need of a serious renovation and, more importantly, much better attention to cleanliness. I will not go into every detail regarding an incident with housekeeping, but the service was far below any standard we would normally expect. After three days, our room had still not been cleaned. The housekeeping staff member did not forget to collect the tip left for her, but somehow forgot to clean the room. When we raised this with reception, we were told that there had been a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. A supervisor was sent to speak to us and, rather surprisingly, asked what the problem was and essentially suggested that nothing serious had happened. Eventually, the "cleaning" consisted of changing the bedsheets and pillows. We had to take the rubbish out ourselves, the terrace was never cleaned, and the bathroom was left in a condition that certainly did not meet the standard we expected. In our opinion, the hotel has a **serious management and staff-service problem**. I do not necessarily blame the individual employees. What is much more concerning is the obvious lack of management, training and customer-service standards. The problem was visible in many different situations during our stay. The one exception was the bartender from Nepal working at the pool bar. He was the only member of staff who consistently demonstrated the kind of customer focus and friendly, polite approach that we would expect from a hotel of this type. There are definitely positive aspects to La Digue Island Lodge — particularly the beautiful gardens, tropical surroundings, location and pool. However, these positives were unfortunately outweighed for us by the poor cleanliness, housekeeping problems and, above all, the lack of basic hospitality and customer service. **Would we return? Probably not.**

We were so disappointed at our choice for 4 nights on our extended honeymoon/25th anniversary trip. Worst place we stayed out of 9 over a month. The people make or break an experience on vacation and this was the wrong choice for us. We ended up eating and drinking at other properties the last 3 days. The rooms were dated and only beach front if you're okay with a public walkway, stone wall and row of bushes between you and the sand. 1 small water bottle a day for 2 people, $7US each cappuccinos, drinks are costly, room 16 had a urine smell, room 2 was tiny, dated and humid, wifi only works in your room or reception not in common areas, bike rental only associated with lodge until something goes wrong (the bike company also had us go to lodge to resolve so it's a real run around), the food was meh went offsite to eat lunch and dinner (I ate protein bars instead of inclyded breakfast at a $550+/night place?!) coffee was even bad, pool is dated but one of the nicer experiences when Pradeep at the pool bar. The lodge should look at expenditures and easily see the 1 happy person they have resulted in more profits for them. Smiles, attention, helpful attitude, willingness to listen, providing options when issues are all simple things when service is a priority. I don't think the staff is treated well, why would they be so glaringly unhappy and unhelpful? Conversations with other guests resulted in comparisons and we couldn't find anyone happy with the lodge. 5 star price, 2 star service, regret our choice. We had to change rooms the last day since we couldn't book 'beachfront' for all 4 nights. They insisted we leave room by 10am and couldn't get new room until 3pm. We walked past new room at 11am and the cleaner was finishing with room, we still couldn't get it until 3pm. OMG, they just don't care, in fact a very unpleasant call with Dora who never apologized to me. Sat night, all dressed up and ready to enjoy a lovely dinner off the menu, we go to restaurant and told no one there to cook for us. What! We'd have to eat off the buffet - yuk and expensive. We ended up eating and drinking at La Repaire and Lo Lans (about $500 worth) and totally wished we had booked there. More boutique size and actually fun with live music Sat night, great employees and food. The people were fun, way happier because they were being treated properly. We also did the BBQ place beside there and Mimi's twice in 1 day on our bike ride. You've got to try the coconut cheesecake!! The island is great, the beaches rock but picking the right place to stay can make or break your experience. We failed on this choice and it's easy to see from my 100+ reviews I'm usually pretty generous with my comments and ratings. Good genuine people experiences go a long way! This place is a worst experience for us after 33 countries.

09/21/2026 Not sure you'll post this, but TripAdvisor and Booking.com and any other reviews site will... sooo.... Here we go... Having travelled the world extensively, documenting our journeys and writing about the places and hotels we've stayed at over the years, this travel adventure was for our honeymoon after being together 25 years and deciding to marry. It commenced 24 days ago in Kenya for safaris, through Rwanda for Gorilla/Chimpanzee trekking then to The Seychelles to cap off an amazing journey with some much needed relaxation. We stayed at 10 different Camps/Hotels and Resorts before landing at La Digue Island Lodge, and by all accounts, this is the place where happiness goes to die. Don't get me wrong, the grounds and beach are outstanding, and if that's all you want, the place can deliver. For me, a place no matter how beautiful, can turn ugly by the service you receive from the people working there, and the people that work at La Digue Island Lodge, are deplorable. Aside from the pool bartender, Pradeep, who moved to The Seychelles from Nepal, the entire staff was disinterested in being helpful, let alone smile, engage in conversation or fake that they enjoy working there. You can tell a lot about the management style based on how happy the personnel is, and based on how miserable they were, I can only summize that the management is a complete failure at providing a positive atmosphere to work in. In a place that costs over $500.00Cdn a night stay in, you should never be told on your Saturday night dress up dinner with your wife on your honeymoon that the "A la cart" dinner is not available because there is nobody there to cook it. But you could take the buffet option for $1,100 rupees ($80US) before a drink is served. Based on the food choices I surveyed for that, it was a solid "no" This was the point where everything turned for the better thanks to Nedy, the food service supervisor, at the on site restaurant that told us there was no one to cook food for anyone unless you're eating at the buffet. I know, I was confused as well. Although disinterested in solving the issue on site, his advice was to go down the beach to the adjacent hotel as they had an Italian restaurant. We did just that. The place is a boutique hotel and was charming, the service wonderful, the people working there, happy and service oriented. That night, we ate at the beach bar on site called "Lo Lans" We enjoyed the vibe so much, we made a reservation the following night for dinner while we were back there for lunch the next day, in fact, we spent the balance of our time at that resort to enjoy the food and cheerful ambiance and escape the dreary attitude at la Digue Island Lodge. I strongly suggest if you want to stay at a place that is interested in creating a good atmosphere to be in, book your stay there. It is called "Le Repaire" it's half the price and although we tried to get in for our last night on La Digue, it was fully booked... no surprise! Of course if you want to stay at a place where the motto is "We're not happy, until you're not happy" then La Digue Island Lodge is the place for you. We also wanted to move to Le Repaire as we were only able to acquire a beach view A Frame room for 3 nights then had to move to a Garden View A Frame for the last night. The process was lethargic and although it could have been quick by cleaning the new lodging first knowing we were just moving to another unit, we were made to feel homeless until the 3pm check in time. When my wife explained her frustration with this process, she was yelled at over the phone by the receptionist whose name was Dorra. Just another employee who had no understanding of customer service. On a side note, do not rent a bicycle from Twin Wheel - located at the hotel entrance - the bikes are in poor condition and in my case, the tires were so worn out it went flat 3km into my ride. Apparently, it was my fault, and I should have returned it immediately, but walking back with a failed bike was not high on my agenda, visiting beaches was. Seems like even the places associated with La Digue Island Lodge have been poisoned with a negative attitude and are more focused on providing a poor customer experience through lack of customer service. "It happens" was the comment after blaming me did not resonate. La Digue Island Lodge is a beautiful place that can appear ugly if looked at through the lens of the people working there. There is a reason they have a present rating of 3.6 stars for service, and in my opinion, that is generous. Go to "Le Repaire" instead, you will avoid being disappointed. ....and to the owners of La Digue Island Lodge, it feels like your hotel is on a downhill trajectory. On our 4 day stay, we had 3 dinners and one lunch at your competitors locations due to the terrible service the employees of your establishment provided. We were not alone. My advice... you may want to groom and fast track Pradeep to a hotel management position before it's too late... if it's not already. Cheers.

Our experience was absolutely terrible here… it took an hour and a half to get checked in it was very unorganized and then were told to come back at 3. Housekeeping doesn’t exist no new towels, toilet paper and not even touched! The property is clearly not sprayed because the mosquitoes are terrible! The food is terrible as well! The bed is so uncomfortable and hard as a rock, woke up every morning with my back killing me! Such ashame because the grounds are beautiful…it is so bad we are checking out of here 4 days early and booked a self catering apartment! They didn’t even ask why… which baffles me! For me I would not recommend this place at all!