Went to Haiti to attend to a business matter for a banking client. It was my first time in Haiti. Someone from my client's office thought it was a good idea to place me at the Ideal Village Hotel. Wrong idea!!! Ideal is anything but "ideal." On the outside, it seems cozy enough and you get the feel of early 20th Century architectural work. Even the lobby is not bad, with at least 4 separate areas, with one acting as a main dining area with an indoor bar nearby. There is a long dining table with about 18 seats, as well. But then the room!!! The room had not been painted in a while, the bed sheets were old, the toilet seat was off its hinges, the shower head...there was NO shower head! Just a pipe!!! No hot water! No curtains in the tub! I was given a bath towel...as in ONE bath towel... that, to put it mildly, looked no better than the rag I use to clean my car back in New York. The hotel was kind enough to give me toilet paper, which apparently is not kept in the rooms until someone actually occupies it. Food? Oh, yeah, I ordered a club sandwich. What did I get? Not sure, but I think it had ham. Whatever it was it was stuffed in between FIVE slices of untoasted...that's right, untoasted...white Wonder Bread and accompanied by french fries. The fries weren't bad excpet I had to share them with not 1, but 2 cats that, to my surprise, began meowing at my feet as soon as my plate was served. No one from the hotel staff seemed to think this was a nuisance. Needless to say, I gave my two feline friends most of the club sandwich, too. I went back to my room to check my e-mail but, oh yeah, there is NO INTERNET! There is air-conditioning, which works from 4PM to 8AM. They do have cable which keeps your mind off of things for a while...including the hotel you're staying in. Nobody at the hotel spoke English, by the way. The folks there seemed nice enough, I must say. But not nice enough to compensate for the hotel itself. I checked out the next morning and had my client place me in El Rancho a short distance away.

My husband and I went to Haiti mid June 2006. We stayed there for a few days. I have been staying at Ideal Villa for the past 7 years, unfortunately this year I was not satisfied at all with the cleanliness of my room. they gave us a dirty room with a broken bed no shower curtains, no window curtains, dirty bed sheets. The bathroom cover seat was stained and looked nasty. The only thing that kept me alive there was Markit. He tried everything to respond to our complaint by giving us another not so clean room the day we were leaving. Markit is a wonderful person, he went above and beyond to help us unfortunately he only could do whatever the owners allowed him to.
If you plan to go there ask for Markit, he will try everything to make you happy there.
Madgy

The Ideal Villa makes you feel you are on a tropical vacation, even if you are in Port-au-Prince. It is one of the prettiest hotels in the price range in Haiti, convenient, clean and friendly. You may be serenaded in the evenings by singing from the church next door - very relaxing after a noise-filled day. The only annoyance was extremely slow meal service - plan 1/2 a day for a lunch!

I was there for almost one month in August 2004. There we suffered with no a/c or light. When went to complain I received service after 2 hours of complaining. I go to haiti yearly and this was the worst experience at ideal villa hotel. I will think hard before going back there again.


sandi