Mahamaya Gili Meno

Once again Mahamaya provided us with excellent service and a beautiful relaxed stay. This is was our 3rd stay at Mahamaya and we have seen it grow into an well run hotel with excellent staff that always go above and beyond. Stayed in a beach front villa and a pool suite. Beach front villa has been upgraded since our last visit, with new furniture and bathroom. Food as usual was an excellent standard. Only gripe is that the breakfast offering has changed this year, the previous menu offered more choice with a smaller buffet selection. Will be returning for a 4th visit.

No tv, no phone, no room service, first 4 wines ordered not available, noisy room because 2 sliding wooden doors and open show room and iritating smell device spewing every 5 min., bedside reading lights: forget it. Lousy food. Competition, hurry up.

We stayed in a pool view room for 4 nights in July having visited Ubud (Bali) and Lombok earlier in the holiday. I'd agree with the previous ' very good' reviews on TA. You need to remember that Mahamaya is a boutique hotel on a small island with logistical challenges in getting provisions. We watched the long line of staff unloading the boat from Lombok from the reef with the weekly provisions which put it into perspective. However, the hotel has everything you'd need for a short stay on this small island. The rooms are a decent size, with a great open shower. Other positives are the provision of refillable water flasks and water chiller in the room. Rooms are clean and comfortable, air con is sufficient. The only opportunity would be storage space for clothes as there are no drawers in wardrobes to ' unpack'. ( and only 6 hangers for hanging clothes). Tea and coffee are provided but comes in the form of sachets of Nescafé and a kettle unlike previous hotels in Bali and Lombok we had stayed at where coffee machines were standard in rooms. Meals are served either in the restaurant or beachfront. There is a contrast between lunch/ dinner quality and breakfast. The food quality for breakfast is a big opportunity as you can order eggs and use the limited buffet for fruit, cereal but it felt like a different hotel compared to the lunch and dinner quality which are superb. Service was generally very good with attentive staff keen to ensure everything was OK. We only experienced one delay at breakfast where 2 boiled eggs took 35 mins to prepare. Service at lunch and dinner was very good. The restaurant does get busy with non residents due to the lack of other restaurants of this type on GIli Meno so booking in advance is recommended. Twice weekly there is a fish BBQ where you pre select your fish and it's then cooked and served on the beach front. All the food we had was excellent quality. In terms of location - the hotel is located on the reef( Meno wall) which for snorkellers is superb. The visibility is generally good and I saw turtles every time. Like other reviewers the beach is coral so you need shoes to access the sea. Tides are extreme here (5mtrs) so access to the sea is only really at high tide ( morning) as after that the only way to access the sea is to scramble over the exposed reef which is difficult and can't be good for the reef. The underwater statues 5 mins further away ( outside the Bask hotel ) are worth a visit - ( go early to avoid the excursion boats). The only negatives ( not linked to the hotel) was the use of horses for transport and building materials. I fully appreciate this is a traditional requirement on an island with no motorised equivalent. However- most of the tourist taxi horses we saw were clearly struggling with the heat and to see them in not great condition and no water provision was upsetting. The island is trying to improve its Eco friendliness but be prepared to see a significant amount of plastic and rubbish on beaches and across the island.