SANTAI TORAJA anmeldelser

This is a new hotel on the outskirts of the small city of Rantepao, overlooking rice fields and with a beautiful view of the rural landscape from my room and the public area. It's just a short walk from the middle of town, or you can take a becak for a dollar or two. My room was upstairs, which gave it good airflow and a great view. The room had a ceiling fan and also an air conditioner, which I used sometimes. (The outside air was cool enough at night, but there were no screens on the sliding door and I was worried about letting mosquitoes into the room.) The whole hotel has a very attractive style and design, understated and modern but with nice local touches. The breakfast is really good, and I ended up having most of my dinners there too because the dinner choices were also very good, some Indonesian and some international. It just seemed a lot better than the restaurants I checked out in town, and it was so nice to relax there after long days of sightseeing. The staff is just delightful. The hotel during high season was a bit expensive by Indonesian standards but I considered it a very good value for such a nice place. I did have one serious problem but I'm not letting that affect my overall rating of the hotel. I arranged with the hotel to be picked up at the airport when I arrived, and then to go on a tour for the rest of the day. But the driver was more than an hour late (although there were plenty of other hotel and tour drivers patiently waiting at the airport when the flight arrived), and then instead of starting the tour right away he drove me all the way to the hotel (another hour) to pick up the guide, and then we drove most of the way back to the airport to a place to start the tour. I figured I lost at least three hours that could have been spent touring. Neither the guide, the driver, nor the hotel could provide any reasonable explanation for why the driver was so late or why the guide wasn't ready when I arrived, and I felt the guide and driver were lying to me and just thought I was a stupid tourist who would put up with it. Also, during the tour that afternoon I found the guide to be somewhat patronizing. We just didn't hit it off. (Fortunately I found much better options for my other days in Tana Toraja, some days with guides with other people, some days on my own. And I really loved my stay in Tana Toraja!) Anyway, I strongly recommend this hotel, but I would certainly avoid the airport pick up service and guide service they offer. There are much better options available for transfers and guides.