I'm heading down to Jacmel, Haiti this week to help in the relief effort. My flight home leaves early in the morning in a few weeks, and I need to spend the previous night in Port-au-Prince.

Based on the reviews, I was excited to book a night at Coconut Villa. However, not only are they charging more than is listed here in tripadvisor ($100), nor offering any sort of discount for relief workers, but the key reason they are not going to get my business is that despite stating on their website that they accept major credit cards, they will only take reservations by wire transfer to a Florida account, necessitating an additional wire transfer fee. To quote, "You can take a chance and show up with no reservation and if we have a room available then you can pay with your credit card , no guarantee"

We were at this hotel during the 7.0 earthquake and actually had just got to our room and 10 minutes later th earthquake hit. The employee's and owner were very caring, loving and was up all night making sure we were safe and taken care of. I would not have wanted to be anywhere else in Haiti when that earthquake hit. The staff worked extra long hours and provided us with sandwiches that night. They brought us the sandwiches on their best china, not paper plates. They had no water and still gave us a dinner on proper plates. The hotel only sustained damage to the brick wall that surrounds the hotel. We pulled out mattresses from the rooms and placed them around the pool because we were scared to stay in the room and the next day the staff picked them all up and put them back in the room without ever expressing displeasure at having to do this. We found a young lady and her brother who was 8 and he sustained a pretty bad head wound. We put them on the pool lounger's and the staff feed them as well. The security guard never slept the entire night and was there the next day as well. The meals were always great and all staff will have a place in my heart forever.

All I can say is that I made a good choice by staying here. The value for the price is good being that this is Haiti. I really have no complaints. Since I speak Creole, there was no language barrier. The staff and management team always greeted you, they sent porters to the store if you needed them to and I was able to use their telephone for local calls. The restaurant served very good food and the bar was available as well. The locality has numerous shops and merchants all within walking distance. I walked around during the day and came across many Haitian products and souvenirs, even the sellers who sell vegetables and fruits. I saw many schools around and the hotel has a Dominos Pizza right behind it! You can hear many shops playing music and oh, many Barber shops and beauty parlors in the neighborhood. If you're there and run out of money, Western Union Services Haiti and there's an office about two blocks away from the hotel. You can buy just about anything you need. Toiletries, food, gifts, clothes, sandals and shoes, household items, liquor, tobacco, cd's ,dvd's etc. The neighborhood is full of merchants and shops. There's even a few banks, gas stations and grocery stores not too far away which I walked to, about a 7 minute walk. All in all, the hotel is ideally located and you will be and feel safe, especially because of the armed guards. I slept at different times of the day and never had a noise problem. I had a good time there.

Nice friendly staff, some problems communicating, since most of the staff speaks Creole or French. The food was good, especially the flan, the fish, and the Haitian Sweet Potatoes. The ice water was welcome after a long, hot day at our mission clinic, and the A/C was wonderful. We never did figure out how to adjust the A/C controls, so we woke up every morning freezing. The guards were nice and professional, we felt very safe. The staff was able to provide a birthday cake for my 20-year-old daughter when I requested it. It cost me $20 US, but that was fine with me !!!