The Ravenala Attitude

As part of the package we had about 8 options for dinner every night that one can book in advance. The Kot Nu restaurant offers many different Mauritian dishes that you can try. The foods were so delicious, with rich combination of local herbs and spices. The food portion is rather small but sufficiently fulfilling. You'll start with appetizer, main dish consists of several stuffs, and finally the local deserts. We can recommend Kot Nu if you're up for a culinary adventure! Read less

We visited for our honeymoon for 2 weeks this month. Overall, lovely hotel, wonderful people and great food, however we did experience a few issues and feel some improvements could be made. Have summarised our positives and negatives below and also our advice for other couples looking to visit: POSITIVES: - SUNSETS ARE UNREAL!!!! - FOOD - Great food and so much to choose from. Our favourite restaurants were Madame Ming and A Tavola (the owner of the hotel is apparently Italian and ensures the quality is top notch!) - QUALITY OF SERVICE - staff cannot do enough for you. Special thanks to Kishan for constant drinks on the beach, Bruno at A Tavola - the most friendly, caring person I've met. He went above and beyond to help us when my husband fell ill! To Sami and Sachin at Madame Ming, Sneha from reception and Roshan's juice bar!! - ROOM CLEANING - good frequency of room cleaning - ACTIVITIES - Loads of free activities to do, you won't get bored here - LAYOUT - of hotel is well thought out - MOSQUITOES - I usually get eaten alive on holiday, especially in tropical climates. However whilst we definitely did receive our fair share of bites, it wasn't anything like other places we have visited (e.g. Mexico). But would def advise not wearing perfume/moisturisers in the evening. - GOATS CHEESE TART - starter for lunch at The Bistrot is off the charts amazing. Obsessed NEGATIVES: - ADULTS ONLY SUNBEDS - We paid a lot of money to upgrade to the adults only so our sunbed/beanbags were meant to be reserved. We had multiple issues with other people using our sunbeds and the staff would still serve them drinks on the beach even though they were not their beds. We wasted half a day sitting in our room trying to speak with the hotel to sort this out. We also noticed people who weren't in the adults only section sneaking onto the adults only beach and using the beach beds - the staff didn't stop them. Really annoying when you're paying a premium - we could have paid less and used the adults only beach anyway! - SHOWER - There was a rainfall shower and a handheld shower head - the handheld shower head did not work at all - ROOMS - are pretty tired, they definitely need refurbing. The style of the rooms is lovely, they're just very worn - paint chipping, flooring damaged etc - VENTILATION - bathrooms need better ventilation to prevent smells and moisture lingering - BEACH BBQ - I would avoid this. Lunch time is hectic and unhygenic. For dinner you cook your own food on a mini BBQ which is a nice novelty, but my husband was violently ill for 24 hours after this so perhaps safer for staff to cook the food. - SPEED OF SERVICE was VERY slow, we often spent over 2 hours at dinner each night - POOL MARKINGS - the pool has different depths, with 'ledges' inside the pool - the ledges are not marked so you cannot see them when you're in the pool. My husband was swimming and hit his knee very badly on it and it bled so much. This is really unsafe and different levels in the pool should be marked clearly, just like the pool steps are marked. - NIGHTCLUB - sadly the nightclub was closed when we visited due to COVID. Such a shame as a lot of people would have liked to carry on the night after 11:30pm! Hopefully it will be open again soon. - BEACH - loads of others have said this and I was aware before I booked, but beware that the beach isn't that 'postcard' Mauritius beach you're probably expecting. The river merges with the ocean here so the water is a bit murky, but we made up for this by visiting other paradise beaches throughout the trip (go to Trou aux Biches and Le Morne!) -FLIES - are relentless. Appreciate there's only so much the hotel can do about this, but perhaps more repellant devices in the restaurants/on tables would be helpful ADVICE IF LOOKING TO BOOK: - If your budget allows, upgrade and book the adults only section. The location is great, you're close to everything in the hotel, the views and sunsets from the rooms are gorgeous and whilst the organisation of the 'reserved' beanbags is a nightmare, they are really comfy and it's nice not to be surrounded by screaming children - As of April 2022 you are still required to wear masks in the main buffet area when serving your food. This wasn't a problem, just a heads up as we weren't told this when we arrived and then got told off in the restaurant. You also need to wear them in cabs as Police do checks and can fine your driver if you're not wearing one. - If you book the adults only rooms, ask for a room on the first floor. The ones on the ground floor don't have as good a view and also have less privacy. - Do not miss our on Roshan's juice bar! - CABS - Cabs are SO expensive, literally London prices. It's definitely worth hiring a car to do your day trips. We would do this when we return. SUGGESTIONS FOR RAVENALA: - A pool bar with service inside the pool would be great - Room renovations are needed - You need to close off access to the adults only beach so only authorised people can be there. It's not fair for those who have paid a premium to be there for others to come and use their beds - this was really really poor. - More variety of entertainment would be great. The occasional dancers were fantastic - more of this! Rather than only live music most nights. Definitely some improvements to be made, but overall we did have a lovely stay. Read less

Thank you to the great team - Jean Daniel Ross, Trineta and Selwyn and his awesome boys for the amazing service and support during our team building event. The training room facilities were top notch. Tea breaks and lunch were great and special thanks for the complimentary birthday cake! The outdoor team building activities were fun and so well organised! Keep up the good work!!! Read less

We have returned from the ravenala today after spending 10 nights there. The food was a winner for us as was having all the choices and excellent service! There is a few people who we felt were significant to making this holiday stand out and kudos to how hard people work. Every single restaurant was amazing to eat at. People like Sami ( always having a smile despite being rushed off his feet to make sure sure everyone was fed ), Sachin who has the most gentle vibe! Dev in reception ( being supportive with a late check out and giving advice on lizards ), Sunni and the staff in the Bistrot ( we ate here alot and who offered to take our order on our last day to let us eat an hour before our pickup so that we were not hungry or rushed was the kindest offer ), the guy who collected my huge bags and did not complain as there was no lift to support him and the staff at the beach/pool who made sure we were always hydrated with creole coffees ( Rajini and I can't remember their names but all of the beach bars staff ! Sorry!) - The great staff at KotNou! ! Was exemplary ! The shower 🚿 rooms before you leave is an excellent touch to a hotel although it gets pretty hot in there 😂.. Understandably this is a big hotel with many rooms and alot of tourist traffic but I did feel a deep clean of the rooms is perhaps needed. Some parts of the rooms need some tlc. I won't write too much of this because I don't want to bring a negative to this great place. Also! Do remember to make your bookings for food soon as the restaurants get booked up and sadly for us, we absolutely loved the dinner at the Italian place but was unable to get a second night there. Bruno! Keep up the good work. We miss you too. Its not widely advertised but it should be , in that you can have a dinner on the jetty. We saw it whilst having an evening walk and it was too late to then make a reservation there. There were also items from the shop where you can replenish your mini bar, which ended up on our bill that we never took. We laugh about it now but having to negate that we never had banana chips was an easy conversation to have with reception staff who promptly dealt with this. Great idea 💡 for sustainability either way. We had a few spa treatments and the staff there were excellent too. The treatments were super relaxing as was the facility. Thank you for a great holiday to you all at the ravenala and for our agent Joe Bradley @Destinology who made this happen. The gym staff need a mention - great guys too! All in all we had a fantastic break and this was our first trip after the pandemic. Read less