Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort and Spa

I'm a Hilton Diamond member for many years and regretfully, this is the first time I would not recommend a Hilton brand hotel. If you are a couple on honeymoon or just vacation and really want to visit Silhouette island, book just 1 or 2 nights, and then move back to Mahe or Praslin, you will spend more quality time with much less money. I expected more from a 5 ??? Hilton hotel. During our 5nights stay I compared it to the other 5star island Hilton hotels (eg.Hilton Malta, Bangkok, Mauritius or Bali we stayed before ) and in terms of service and food quality it didn't come near to the expected 5stars or to the previously named chain hotels. The resort is above average expensive for what you get in return. Few take aways, good & bad: 1. Arrival - boat trip extremely overpriced. 145 Eur x person, it's the same as an AirSeychelles return ticket from Mahe to Praslin, except you get the nice views from the plane and it's much more fun than a boring boat. Nota Bene: Don't expect the return boat to be the same as the outbound one, they might put you on a small boat that smells badly from the engine gases. 2.Location - remote, in the middle of the nature, not bad for detoxing from the city and crowd life. But being a tropical island, watch out for bugs, mosquitos and everything that comes from nature, including some cats (WTH?), which are constantly begging for food. 2. Accommodation - we had a beach villa and we really enjoyed the beautiful architecture of the villa, it's amenities and the nice ocean water in front. We slept good with ocean waves in the background. 2. Breakfast - good, but could be better. Few selection of fruits, melons and watermelons were not tasty at all. Even though they raise papaya on the island, only 2 out of 6days we had papaya. I also had an incident during my first breakfast. Asked for fresh orange juice, got a tetrapack one. Complained, from the second day the issue was solved. Tip: you have to complain if you don't like smth, even though it's annoying to be on vacation and do that, seems it's the only way it works there. 3. Staff - very vfew staff are really professional. I'd thank Dinesh and Suresh on this occasion, the 2 great guys, for making our stay memorable. They are very passionate in what they do and they are representing Hilton brand at a high standard- kudos! But some still require to be properly trained to meet guests' expectation. For eg. I asked couple of times for a fresh fruit smoothie, I was brought 3 times tetrapack juices, even though I clearly stated I was looking for fresh fruit. Again, if not for Dinesh and Suresh who intervened in several occasions to clarify the matter, I'd be left very disappointed. Also, I found some misinformation going on among personal at the reception. I asked 3 days in the row to several reception staff to have the boat at 3pm on my last day, and one day before departure I got a letter saying our check out time is at 8:00am (again WTH?) 4. Spa - beautifully built in synergy with the mountain and nature around. The messages we had - go easily in my top 3 list. This I would highly recommend. 5. Restaurants - interior is aged, needs updates. Prices - extremely exaggerated. As it is the only hotel on the island, they take full advantage and price monopoly of this fact. Food quality - from average to bad. 6. Pool - very nice, except when it gets very crowded with nasty kids and careless parents. 7. Gym - outdated. All the machines are like more than 10 years old. Overall we had a nice stay. However, because of the constant incidents we experienced, we're extremely skeptical to return and recommend this hotel. Some incidents I reckon as really unacceptable for a 5stars Hotel aiming to be awarded.

Not much more to say than this was an amazing experience. We left snowy Zurich to head to the Seychelles. Planning was a bit difficult because of COVID restrictions . Our scheduled flights on Turkish and then Edelweiss were cancelled, but we were able to arrive on Emirates via Dubai. You need a negative PCR test within 72 hours. A vaccination certificate helps. Once on the island, expect to wear a mask in public spaces and temperature checks at every new venue. Hilton Seychelles Labriz is on a separate island; so, the first step is a 20 min taxi ride to the dock. while waiting for the ferry, they check you in at the dock... how smart is that?! The ferry takes about 40 minutes to cross, and you are greeted by enthusiastic welcoming staff and a golf cart giving you a tour and taking you directly to your room. you luggage arrives about an hour later. The resort is an enclosed and encapsulated environment. All the staff were COVID vaccinated, but everyone wears masks, and maintains distance. We felt completely safe. We had a beachfront room which was clean, well designed and beautiful. I especially loved the outdoor shower. Housekeeping had an odd propensity for coming immediately pre-dinner, but they were friendly and did an excellent job. We made dinner reservations in advance. It sounds like this is a good idea. There are several restaurant options, but some sell out. We ate at the Creole Restaurant and the Teppanyaki restaurant. Both were excellent. Teppanyaki was a bit expensive, but the food and presentation were amazing. The Creole Restaurant was excellent. Breakfast was buffet style and good. Getting around the resort was easy with the bikes provided at the activity center. Bikes were a bit rusty, but functional. The gym was nice and cleaned before every new user. If you want to use it, reserve a time in advance. There are lots of activities that appeared targeted at kids. I have to admit that the miniature golf course shamed me. We took two dive trips and recommend it, especially for beginners. Dive sites are close and uncrowded. The dives are shallow; so, you can have long dives without worrying about air consumption or decompression. The dive staff and especially the dive master Jaydan (?) were jolly, helpful and excellent. For the final dive, we were confronted by strong current, which made the dive a bit challenging, but it was all good. We were fortunate to make advance online arrangements for activities and restaurants with Ayasha, who was extremely friendly and helpful at every juncture. In fact every staff interaction was outstanding. All in all, this is a beautiful, well maintained and managed isolated island vacation venue with excellent food, activities and staff. It's a great place for relaxing or taking advantage of the activities such as diving hiking, kayaking, spa etc. I wish we had more time here.