Esprit Libre Restaurant and Guest House in Pointe aux Canonniers

The hotel is small, but nice. Rajah was amazing! He was very welcoming, friendly and customer focused. Our room was spacious, clean and comfortable with nice air conditioning and a nice balcony. The breakfast was very good and had a variety of cook-to-order options, although service never started on time. Location is okay. 10-15 minute walk to the public beach and a 30 minute walk to a little village, Grand Baie, where there are quaint shops, a nice mall and wonderful restaurants. There are also a few nice restaurants, a store and a pharmacy within 5-10 minutes walking distance from the hotel. The breakfast hours are 8am to 11am, but mostly didn't start until generally around 8:30am. One day, breakfast service didn't start until 9am. Also, we used hotel laundry services and was told it was a 24-hour turnaround. We submitted our laundry at 8am, 2 days prior to check-out. We waited until 6pm the following day and went to the hotel office to inquire about when we would receive our laundry. We were told it would be 9am the following day, which is the date we were scheduled to check-out and also, the exact time (9am) we had a car scheduled to arrive for transfer us to the airport (1 hour drive) for our International flight. After we told the young white guy, who working that evening (I think he was French), that it was communicated to us that laundry was a 24-hour turnaround service and that we would not have time to pack the next morning, he rudely told us that there was no way to get the clothes sooner and that it was "impossible." This was also after he told us we were "not allowed" in the office, so we had to have this conversation by the pool. No apologies, end of discussion. The clothes came the next morning (check-out day) at 8:30am and were still wet. When checking out, we went to pay our bill with a credit card(had charged dinner and 2 bottles of water to the room- as the hotel does NOT provide drinking water). We were told that we had to pay in "cash only," although we had used our credit card to pay the hotel the local taxes upon arrival at check-in. We were again told that cash was required for hotel and restaurant services AND there was no ATM within walking distance, which meant we had 10 minutes to pack WET clothes, arrange transportation to and from an ATM, which was about a 10 minute drive away in Grand Baie, pay our bill (and try to eat breakfast, which was, again, starting service late). We frantically made it happen and was late leaving. Fortunately, we didn't miss our flight. Just be aware of what is required if you stay here and the delayed services provided. Plan accordingly. I'm doubtful to recommend the hotel as the last 2 days were a customer service disaster for us.

Restaurant closed

Rooms and facilities basic and worn down. The courtyard area was a bit tacky. Staff was friendly. Would not stay here again.