Review – Hilton Northolme Seychelles

Introduction

In a previous post, I mentioned the main reason why I chose this Hilton was due to the free breakfast.  Plus I had read and heard some good things about the hotel; Trevor from Tagging Miles had stayed there in the past and liked it.

 

Getting to hotel

We had emailed the hotel about a week before our trip to ask the best way to get to the hotel.  They said they could arrange a pickup for 65 EUR.  After reading FT, I think the cabs were around 50 EUR for the one-way ride.  I felt paying the extra 15 EUR so I didn’t have to deal with haggling with a taxi driver was well worth it.  Plus, I like seeing my name on signs people hold up; makes me feel like the 1% for that split second.  However, a reader noted he arranged his ride for 40 EUR one-way, and if I had known about that option earlier, I would have done that.

The hotel was about a 30 minute car ride since it was on the opposite side of the island from the airport.  The driver gave us some quick sightseeing tips so that was an added benefit.  We arrived around 4PM.

 

Check in

When you arrive, there is an ‘arrivals’ gazebo-like area.  The porter noted our bags and then drove us down to the lobby in a golf cart.  When we were seated, we were given towels and complimentary drinks (I chose the mango juice, which turned out to not be fresh mango and my wife chose the sparkling wine.)  After handing them our passports and waiting for a bit, the receptionist came back and told us we had been upgraded from a garden view to a beach villa with private pool.  SCORE! 

A quick aside – I had emailed general manager a week before asking if we could be upgraded due to our Diamond status and anniversary.  He said he would try to accommodate us, but wouldn’t know until we got there.  I have a post on that later.

As a Diamond member, we got a free ‘afternoon tea’ snack at the bar, which you’ll see below.  I do have to admit that my Gold status in Moorea and the Maldives really didn’t get me much.  The Diamond treatment here and the Labriz was definitely stronger, and I’ll be MS’ing to get Diamond every year.

 

Wifi

I believe wifi was name and room number.  We were only limited to 2 devices (maybe 3) if I recall, so I got an access code for our 4th device while we were checking in.

 

Room

The room was so awesome that instead of going out for dinner or even doing something the next day, we sort of lounged around the room.  Our driver had said the island La Digue makes for a great one day trip.  We were tempted to do that, but we figure it couldn’t be much better than the other island the Hilton Labriz was on or Hawaii, Moorea, Bora Bora, or the Maldives.  Plus it was pretty expensive for the tour (something like 200 EUR per person.)  We thought about taking the bus into the downtown area, but after driving through town, I lost interest in exploring it.  While we never went around the main Tahiti island, I imagine it’d be similar to that (imagine driving through downtown Puerto Vallarta or Cancun but not as nice.)  I’m sure there are parts that are nice, but we chose to stay in our room and hotel.

 

 

Food

The free breakfast buffet was a bit small, but satisfied our hunger.  I believe it opens at 7AM, and since we were so jetlagged, we were the first ones there.  There was an omelette station and champagne.  What more do you need?

We had room service because we were too jetlagged and tired to walk to the restaurant.

View from breakfast:

Diamond amenity included the below and 2 free coffee or tea drinks (could use it on a coffee martini too)

Room service menu – divide by 12.5 for conversion to USD

 

Conclusion

The general manager had told us this was actually the smallest Hilton in the world.  I’m not sure if he meant by area or by rooms; I’m guessing he meant rooms.  There was also a spa and a gym there.  The beach area was pretty small and we saw people snorkeling.  The pool area was pretty small and we only saw a few people there.  I couldn’t see us staying there more than we did unless we did do the excursions to La Digue or exploring the town.  Even if you did those 2 things, 3 days would be plenty and you’d be bored out of your mind.  The reason is that the hotel is on a hillside and there’s not much around it.  You can’t easily cross the street to go to the beach or even a market or food stand.  You’re kinda trapped at the Hilton unless you want to pay the outrageous taxi rates.

I think once you see the pictures, you’ll know why we stayed in the room.  If you’re heading to the Seychelles, I’d maybe stay a night or two here in hopes you get upgraded to the infinity pool room.  If you don’t have Gold or Diamond, then forget it and go straight to the Labriz.