Hotel 4-Star di Maluku, Indonesia

Booked here due to it having a swimming pool, even though we knew it was a little out of town ( it was a 30min walk but up hill coming back so a bit of a pain - we should have got an ankot back and saved our effort!) We booked a deluxe king suite room, it was a good size room with a living area and bar with kettle area, plus bedroom, balcony and separate bath and shower, great for a soak after walking up the hill!! We got a welcome basket for snacks and drinks when we arrived and everyday got 6 bottles of water and tea/coffee, which was great. Also has slippers and dressing gowns. Hotel is above the farmers market which is open 9-10 everyday so easy if you need extra drinks, nibbles or toiletries. The breakfast was good, mostly Indonesia so great to try a small bit of everything without worrying you might not like it! And the staff were helpful on the bits we couldn't translate. The pool area was nice, only a couple of sunbeds, but plenty of chairs to sit on and a great view across the bay. The traffic was crazy outside the hotel, so plan where to cross the road when going out to eat and see my other posts for ideas. We stayed 5 nights. The only negative was the noise from the call to pray for the 4 mosques near by, especially the one at 5am as they are for 20mins and the room (1502) let in all the noise!

The service is very good and the food in the skybar upstairs is delicious.

Location is great, far from the city and close to Tulehu (harbor), therefore very quiet compared to the rest of Ambon. Swimming pool is clean and well maintained. Breakfast is also very extensive. Unfortunately the restaurant and staff working in the restaurant are downright terrible, every day we waited an hour to 1.5 hours for our food, sometimes they even forgot our orders. If you ask for a menu you are told that there are no more menus available.