It is with much regret that I am writing this review for hotel Santika. My partner and I stay at this hotel frequently over the past few years as the dive center at this hotel, Thalassa is the best in the world. Over the years, this hotel is showing its age and it is not maintained well at all. We stayed in the beach bungalow in 2010 and in Jan 2011. Particularly, this year, it looks as if the hotel has been affected by the economy downturn. The toilets don't flush well, the lounge chairs in the pavilion is dirty. There isn't a beach at this hotel, so it would have been nice to sit outside in the pavilion, or even at the pool. Unfortunately, the pool was leaking while we were there and the pool water turned yellow. I saw frogs swimming in the pool, last count 4... the suntan chairs were either broken or dirty.

The hotel staff spoke very little English and it was difficult to communicate with them, ranging from the restaurant to the reception. Sad to say, even though this hotel has beautiful gardens, and a great dive center, it is badly managed and badly maintained. Even wanting to dive at Thalassa is no longer enough to make me stay at this hotel. Next time, I will stay at another hotel and dive at Thalassa.

We stayed in a Bungalow. The first night we complained about no hot water for the shower. The 2nd night we finally got hot showers but the front door lock didn't open so we had to access our room from the back door. The 3rd night (Christmas) they let off some fireworks at 11 pm and didn't forewarn the guests, so it kept us up late in the night wondering what it was since we heard the launch (what sounded like rockets), but no fireworks was heard. The next day we confirmed it was their fireworks last night. Would have been nice to know. The rooms are pretty old, but they do keep it tidy. The toilet don't flush well and you have to do this weird 360 degree rotation with the toilet handle for it to work. We had limited/no internet conection in our bungalow and had to go to the lounge to access the internet. The hotel food is average and nothing special. The drinks are expensive; especially if you order gin and tonic (two drinks set us back 226 Rp...about US $25. There was hardly any gin in them. Overall and so far, I am not impress and probably won't return. One positive is the hotel attendee are SUPER friendly!

"Unpretentious" was my strongest impression of this hotel. In a similar situation two years ago -- choosing the hotel because the dive service was located there -- I stayed in a really over-reaching hotel in Labuan Bajo, the jump-off for Komodo. This hotel was much more comfortable, an easy place to relax. I did think the rooms were perhaps a bit overpriced for what they were given the location, but I had no major complaints. The view from the main restaurant was stunning, the breakfast buffet was perfectly adequate and a good start to a day's diving, and the grounds of the hotel were pleasant.

We didn't have hot water at first, but after we told the front desk they sent somebody down to fix it immediately and the water was almost TOO hot after that. Service at the hotel restaurant was very slow one night due to a private party at one of the cottages, and the restaurant should probably be avoided for dinner. Take a taxi into Manado (50,000 rupiah one way) and have dinner there instead, or walk over to Four Fish and eat there.

First the good bits: the dive shop attached to the hotel, Thalassa, is excellent and perfectly located to dive the wonders of the Bunaken marine reserve. And the spa does good massages.

But you don't have to stay at Santika to use Thalassa, and we recommend that you don't. The property should have everything going for it: good buildings, nice pool. But the service was truly awful. There was no-one around who could help with any questions, either because of lack of English (or any other European language) or because people simply didn't know the answer. The concierge desk was never manned (it transpired that the concierges had other jobs as drivers), and virtually none of the activities described on the hotel's site appeared to exist.

We were in the "Cottages", supposedly the best rooms. They were large enough and adequately appointed but by no means luxurious. Dim lighting made them rather dingy, and the first signs of poor maintenance were definitely there (plumbing not working quite right, door locks not quite fitting).

Food was very poor, buffets lacking in variety and freshness, a la carte service taking up to 90 minutes at times. On one night, they simply closed down the whole of the main restaurant because of a corporate event, leaving 50 guests to be served by around 3 staff in the "Big Tree Cafe".

The atmosphere was described by several people as "like a morgue". Two families, both return visitors, said that the place had deteriorated since the previous year.

We voted with our feet and found alternative accommodation after a week.