The staff was VERY accommodating here, helpful in so many ways from getting us a car to additional room items to arranging a 2:00AM shuttle. It is located upstairs and is a bit odd to find it adjacent to a massage studio, but otherwise the location downtown is convenient to restaurants, bank, shopping, etc.
It is expensive, too. Maybe all hotels are expensive, but really overpriced for the quality.
Hotels.comHotels.comHotels.com
This is a simple hotel in Palau and the description provided by the website is fair. I stayed there for one night, on my way to a liveaboard trip. Location is ok, as there are cafes, little markets and restaurants nearby. Good for a short stay.
It is scary looking. You have to go up a flight of stairs to reach the check-in. There are no elevators. They charged us for warm bottled water and the fridge didn't work. The AC was so loud we couldn't sleep. Internet is expensive.
They failed to mention that you can get Palau wi-fi for $20 for 10 hours and sold us their hot spot wifi for $5 for 2 hours. They said we could share it but you can't.
The fire alarm went off and nobody knew how to shut it off. Waited 2 hours for maintenance to show up and shut it down.
They give you instant coffee in the morning.
No pool, no restaurant.
I had very low expectations going into my four night stay at West Plaza Desekel while I was diving nearby, but I was pleasantly surprised. The rooms are basic- what you would expect from a two or three star hotel - but they are very clean and the bed was comfortable. The staff is also very helpful and familiar with all the tour operators on the island. The location is also ideal as I was able to walk to most of the restaurants in no more than 5-10 minutes. If you're out the majority of the time diving or otherwise, it is a good idea to stay here.
I booked this hotel as a solo traveler who was in Palau to dive so I only need to please myself.
If you want a quiet, clean room with a hot shower after diving at the days end close to Koror this is ideal. The staff were really friendly and having a supermarket downstairs was a bonus, give the staff at reception the Powerball tickets you get when shopping there. You can walk to the main area of Koror for a meal (beware when it rains it really rains) and as most of the shops are open till late you can browse at your leisure for souvenirs.
There are no amenities here but after diving all day who needs a pool, you have already seen great scenery and a bar is not far away in Koror.
Fellow solo divers staying in other hotels said they felt a bit isolated as the hotels had few guests and you had to get a taxi to get to Koror for a bit of night life.
Location is not an issue when diving as the dive shop will pick you up.
On the last day they have a room that you can shower in for $10 which was great to freshen up before the flight.
Palau is not Asia, hotels are not cheap so compare this one to other Palau hotels only and you will see its value.
For the price of $124 per night, i would have at least expected free Wi-Fi or possibly a pool, nope, nothing, no water in the fridge when i arrived at 2am after a long few flights.
The room was nice and clean, bed comfortable, decent size with a fair amount of TV channels, good but a little noisy a/c but that was it.
Some of the staff were very helpful and always cheerful, but some just didn't understand what was required.
I asked if i could extend my check out time to 6pm, they wanted $62 for an extra 6 hrs, very expensive i thought, if the hotel was busy, then fine, but it was pretty empty.
I had booked through Expedia, when i checked out i still and to pay extra for the taxes at 12%, it is not just the hotels that rip you off, i feel that it is the Government of Palau ripping all the tourists off, i won't be back due to this, pity though as the diving was awesome.....
It seems the norm that hotels are every expensive in Koror, maybe they just get away with it, but I'm sure it will come back to bite them....Pity....
