Lelewatu Resort Sumba

We spent 4 nights at Lelewatu whilst on a self-drive tour of Sumba. First things first, Lelewatu is a beautiful, unique hotel - right up there with the best - but it isn’t operating as normal right now. There are no tourists around, occupancy levels (and consequently income) are low, and rooms were heavily discounted at the time of our stay. We’re still in a pandemic after all, so it is difficult to give a fair rating, and I don’t want to sound over critical. I liked the place so I want to be constructive. But I think it’s only fair to rate it as I would in normal times, as people paying full rate then would expect their stay to be perfect. So here goes... Positives: - the hotel’s grounds are stunning; its location and setting are sublime. - the staff are really nice and genuinely want to be helpful, even though some of them seem shy and nervous. - the butler was good and always available on WhatsApp. - they have all the bells and whistles of a 5* luxe property. Unfortunately, our stay wasn’t quite so perfect: - our villa was beautiful, with a great sunset view, but showing its age. And the crazy wash basins are a triumph of design over practicality! - wifi unstable and unpredictable. - there were numerous maintenance issues in the villa, ie nails sticking up out of the decking, light bulbs not working, shower button sticking, TV channels incorrectly tuned. Also, because of the straw roof, there were lots of moths and tiny little midges. Not harmful, but unwanted! - on the one day we used the main swimming pool, the sun lounger I chose was broken. Ok, there were others, but that isn’t the point. - the path down to the sea was closed as part of it has collapsed and hasn’t been repaired. The wooden viewing platform at the end of the path also looked to be in a poor state. The hotel’s grounds are huge and must require an incredible amount of upkeep. - the hotel talks about sea views when working out in the gym, but the reality is that it’s virtually impossible to even see the sea beyond the trees! Not the end of the world, but they shouldn’t promise things they can’t deliver on. - they seem to stream the music in the restaurant but the WiFi/signal isn’t great so the music was forever stopping and starting. And the speaker playing it was distorted when played too loudly. Not good at all. - we borrowed bicycles one day. They were ok but would benefit from a service and some TLC (stuck gears, wonky saddles). Our food and beverage experience was the big let down - it simply is not up to scratch for a hotel at this price point: - the food overall was really hot and miss. Some things were top notch, but many things were poor and not worthy of the price or the location. - visits to the restaurant were usually awkward affairs, but this depended on which member of staff was working. One (female) waiter was good, but other staff acted a bit like rabbits in headlights. I get that hospitality is a relatively new thing in Sumba, but my travel companion was Indonesian, so there was no language barrier to allow for. - some meals arrived quickly, others took an age. Lunch on our first day took almost two and a half hours (a club sandwich and a pasta bowl). The quality was great, but we just wanted a quick bite to eat before hitting the pool. - we were given a bar code link to the menu, but it was slightly different to the printed one. We were also given a wine list via WhatsApp which was different to the other two (!), with different products and prices. Someone somewhere should be checking these details. It causes confusion and problems. - when we tried to order a bottle of Balinese wine, it was out of stock, so instead we chose a Spanish wine for 900k ++. Dirty glasses when it was served. Then at the end of the meal, the waiter told us the price on the printed list we were given was wrong and the price was actually 1.6m ++. $135 for a standard bottle of wine! I quite rightly refused to pay the ‘correct’ price. - they had no sparkling water, or soda, throughout our stay. - the restaurant was unattended when we arrived for lunch one day, and we had to walk into the kitchen to find a member of staff. Apparently the waiter was on the toilet. Too much information! - bizarrely, there was a chicken dish on the room service menu that wasn’t on the main menu. We were told we couldn’t have it in the restaurant. No idea why! Similarly, a couple of dishes were listed with different ingredients depending on whether you ordered in the restaurant or for room service. The head chef told me these couldn’t be interchanged. Again, no idea why. - one time when we went for dinner we were greeted with the news that we couldn’t have cocktails because the barman wasn’t working. They said they could make a mojito and a gin and tonic, but it took them half an hour to prepare the drinks. Meanwhile we waited for someone to take our order for dinner. When the drinks arrived, my friend’s bamboo straw was gross - totally clogged up with some kind of black gunk. - on our last night, we decided to try out the room service menu as we were bored with the other menu, and I wanted to try the mystery chicken dish. We also wanted to relax rather than have a long drawn out dinner in the restaurant. We were given the bill to sign when the food was delivered, but three of the prices were different to what was on the menu. And that chicken dish I ordered was truly awful. Tough, tasteless boiled jungle chicken. I only ate it because I was hungry and didn’t want to wait an age for a replacement. I didn’t want to make a fuss but I felt I just had to complain to the butler. He said he’d speak to the head chef. I’m not sure whether he did, but we were still charged for it. Also, despite us asking for them to be collected, our dishes were still outside the villa next morning. An overnight treat for the local wildlife. Poor. - there was no consistency to ingredients or contents. Because the menu was limited, we ordered the same dishes more than once but some were served differently each time, eg listed ingredients missing. This was especially the case at breakfast. - breakfast was always difficult. Five options. Seemingly fixed and unchangeable. And really badly thought out. One of them was basically all bread and pastry! Tough luck if, like me, you just wanted some eggs, toast, fruit and yoghurt. I’d have had to order 4 different breakfasts! They seriously need to simplify it and loosen up the options, and allow people to choose items from a list. It really doesn’t work. The Asian breakfasts were lovely, but it would have been nice to have some fruit and a pastry too. Too much cheap frozen/processed food on the American breakfast. Awful. Half the plate was yukky deep fried hash browns or pom pom potatoes (mini hash browns!) Cheap frozen food. They couldn’t make toast or soft boil an egg. No egg cups either! Yes, breakfast was a stressful start to each day! - overall the menu is clumsy and lacking in balance. Too many small dishes, not enough mains. No chicken dish (unless you have room service!) Little by way of salads or light/healthy options for lunch times. Poor mix of Indonesian and international dishes. Much of the Western food was basic. Burgers, club sandwich, pasta, pizza, fish and chips. Maybe ok for lunch by the pool but not for dinner in a 5* luxe hotel. We were there for 4 days to relax, and there’s nowhere else to eat in the area, so we were quickly bored with the menu and short of options. During our visit, both the hotel manager and head chef seemed to be having meetings. With each other and with others. Often in the dining room/bar lounge. Not sure whether that’s the best place to do it? They clearly have some issues. The manager intervened when we encountered a problem. The head chef came to talk to us three times during our stay (he’s a nice guy and I wish him well). Suddenly online reviews dating back a long time seem to be getting replies from management. As it stands, if you arrive expecting a Maldives experience, you will be very disappointed, but it seems like things are happening. And I got the feeling they are trying to sort things out. I hope they do, because it’s a wonderful place.

Luar biasa tempat nya indah banget, bener bener treatment nya luar biasa, sangat di jaga kebersihan nya, pokok nya mantap banget. thank you for Lelewatu Resort Team dan Pak Bayu dari Sales Team yg sudah arrange liburan di Sumba

villa nya sangat private dan bagus banget. bersih dan fast response sekali. makanan oke, tempatnya ok bgt. spa nya juga enak bener2 back to nature banget. Staff nya juga sangat friendly. Recommend bgt untuk yang butuh private moment liburan

Kami menginap 3 malam di Lelewatu Resort Sumba dengan pengalaman yg sangat menakjubkanIni pertama kali liburan kami ke Sumba dan sangat menyenangkan dengan Resort terbaik ! Villa mewah dengan view lautan luas. Terima kasih buat Pak Bayu (Director of Sales) dan Lelewatu Resort team yang membuat kenangan terbaik di Sumba"

Saya menginap dengan istri dalam rangka ulang tahun pernikahan, pertama sampai disambut oleh kak Orfi yg ramah. View resort tempat kami menginap luar biasa menajubkan dengan pool pribadi dan kamar yg menghadap langsung ke lautan lepas..sungguh pengalaman traveling yang tidak akan saya lupakan dengan istri saya. Oiya ada satu lg yg bikin saya betah disini selain pelayanan karyawan yg ramah adalah Makanannya yang super enak.. untuk yg satu ini tak lengkap rasanya jika tidak berterimakasih kepada Chef Hanif Aditiya dan team.. thank yous chef Hanif atas makanan yg enak dan lezat.. I Love It ❤