Le Méridien Ile des Pins

A lovely stay. We enjoyed our ability to borrow kayaks and take them out on the water.

My wife and I had a very nice 4 night stay at Le Meridien Isle of Pines. The hotel is just a little bit tired, it has a bit of the patina of being used. Some broken tiles, a few gaps in the joins etc. But overall it is quite lovely and daily maintenance is very good. The cleanliness was faultless. I'd read of ants and cockroaches in some reviews. Absolute rubbish. It is very well kept. The location is superb. The facilities like kayaks, snorkelling gear, pool and restaurant were very good indeed. Our cabin on the river was lovely and the bed superbly comfortable. The natural pool had some of the best snorkelling, the variety of marine life and some of the corals were amazing. Fantastic. Swimming, kayaking and snorkelling off the beach was also great. My only disappointment was the evening meals. Our first night I had a tateless over cooked fish dish. The next two nights were very good. On the last night, a Saturday, they have a buffet or you eat in your room. The buffet was 4950 francs ($75 Australian $) each. We don't eat that much and with drinks it was a pretty expensive meal. The quality of the food was very good but it wasn't what we wanted and there is no choice. The staff were lovely. Some can't converse in English but they and we tried and many are fluent in both.

Set in a phenomenal location, the resort has a great hard product and very friendly staff. The restaurants could be further refined further to match the setting. Some meals were served with ill prepared food - this was a systemic issue for the resort.