Black Parrot Hotel

We were during four days in Black Parrot. The beach is not very good, witch a lot of seaweed, and the room, althougt correct, are not nice. The worst problem was the service. We cannot undestand how it´s possible that an upscale hotel close the doors at midnight. Then you cannot entry at the hotel, and they don´t notify previously! But the worst experience was that the hotel charged to us several expenses (dinners, beers...) that we hadn't ordered. If you finally decide to go to Black Parrot/Coco de Mer (we don´t recommend them to you), be carefull when you pay the bill or you may pay more services than you have ordered previosly!

We were so looking forward to staying at the Black Parrot. The good bits.......the rooms were large, clean and very cool. Bath room was clean and nice large clean towels. Breakfast was ok.The staff were very helpful and smiled alot. Lovely views. and the bad......how this hotel gets a 4*plus rating, I have no idea. The restuarant was simply unbelieveable, the food was possibly the worst I have ever tasted, this is not 4* food, bearly 2 *. The wine was very very expensive, £35 for a bottle of very very average plonk. we had a half board arrangement, and had to eat out twice because the restuarant was unbearable. They had a very poor organ player, playing 'bingo' music, how I did not go and strangle him, I will never know. The bar closed at 10.45 every night. The sister hotel Coco De Mer was closed for reburbishment, if this hotel had been open, it would of made the stay better. Check that is open before you book otherwise you will be very bored. The beach had rotting seaweed and broken deck chairs, they had tried to rake up the rotting stuff but had left it piled on the beach...nice touch! On the whole, it was a lovely unspoilt place, very under developed which was great. The beaches are quite stunning but you do need to hired a car 250euros for 5 days. It is very expensive with a decent meal being in excess of £80.00 per head and if you get stuck in the 'Black Hole' it could up being a very expensive hotel indeed. If you are thinking about it for a honey moon...think again, it is not ideal. 4*plus prices for 2* service and standards.

Breakfast just about passable. Little on offer for lunch but a disgusting mush of chicken or tuna described as sandwich filling. Piles of evil-smelling chips with all of it. All fried right next to the pool area. Mmmm. Dinner - undoubtedly the most unpleasant 14 nights of my life. Uninteresting, badly prepared, poorly presented, often cold and inedible, sometimes downright nasty. Some of the waiting staff surly, rude and obnoxious. Incidentally, the sentiments about the food were agreed with by certain members of staff. In general, run down, in need of refurbishment, maybe a lick of paint here and there (like the peeling seating at the outside bar) and a good clean. We pushed hard for a refund from our agent on our return and received a token payment. Agree with previous correspondents - claiming 4 star status for an establishment which more resembles a young offenders institution should be a punishable offence.

We spent 10 days in the Seychelles, of which 6 were at the Coco de Mer Hotel & the last 3 nights on Praslin at the Black Parrot. The last night was spent on the main island, Mahe, so that we could meet our check in time for the flight home. Overall it was a most enjoyable holiday. We visited the Coco de Mer on the recommendation of a business associate who has been there twice already (thanks Eddie!) and we will definitely return one day. First off, the Seychelles is expensive when compared to some other tropical destinations. But, you do get away from "mass tourism" and the nature is exquisite. The Coco de Mer offers better value for money then most of the other hotels we scoped out before going. We booked on B&B & emailed various hotels for sample menus & prices before the trip. The rooms at the Coco de Mer were fine, but nothing exceptional. Basically, clean, large and with the necessaries. The rooms at the Black Parrot were very large and had exceptional views, but I would still rate them good and not exceptional. I was impressed with the food - we ate in the resort all but two of the evenings. Generally dinner alternates between buffets and set menus. In retrospect I would have booked on halfboard, as this works out a little cheaper, but then we would not have been able to visit 2 great restaurants (Laurier for great local buffets & Le Roche around the corner from the Black Parrot for exceptional quality and ambiance, but pricey). We paid the same for our meals at the Black Parrot as we did at the Coco de Mer, and the style is similar. In fact, there seemed to be a larger choice at the Coco de Mer, maybe because it is larger. Service was friendly all around, much better then you could expect at any resort in Europe. Drinks were generally pricey compared to what we were used to paying. The average bottle of wine (French or South African)costs €30. However, it was cheaper then the other hotels we emailed. In retrospect, I would take a couple of bottles along next time and use my 2 bottle duty free allowance. We would recommend the complimentary bus trips to Anse Lazio beach, the Vallee de Mai walk - a great idea for a hot afternoon as you get out of the sun - and also a day trip to La digue island. We hired a car for 2 days which was hassle free (€50 p/d). We spent the last night at the Coral Strand Hotel on Mahe, but it was just really in transit so not much to say. We would both recommend Praslin, and in particular the Coco de Mer Hotel. The Black Parrot was great too, but I will spend the next visit only at the Coco de Mer Hotel. Final tip: take along polarised sun glasses - the ocean colours are amazing. Oh, visit the hotel library - we both found plenty to read.

We went on honeymoon to the Black Parrot but I was warned by the Travel Agent that the Seychelles is expensive for the type/grade of accomodation you get. The honeymoon was great but we were happy to do nothing for 10 days. NEGATIVES: Usually I like to be able to go out for a walk to local shops, bars and restaurants. There is nothing for several miles. We hired a car to stock up on water as the hotel charges over £2 for 1 (ONE) litre...the convenience store charged nearly £1 for a litre. The food was nice but repetitive and expensive. Ants invaded everything from the bathroom, bedroom to teh jug of milk and sugar bowl on the breakfast/dinner table. Everything is charged in seychelles rupees in all hotekls but you can only pay in dollars or euros so what starts off expensive becomes extortionate. Beach and sea was full of seaweed so forget swimming/snorkelling. A car lets you see the Island - but there is nothing to see - maybe one or two nice beaches and a couple of local shops. POSITIVES: Big, clean rooms with great sea views and balconies. Afternoon tea round the pool - nice touch Great place to relax too but nothing else. Overrall, if you want a luxury holiday/honeymoon you get loads more for your money not going to the Seychelles....

This hotel was perfect for our trip! I got married at the Coco de Mer hotel in March 2004, the hotel could not do enough to help us prepare and ran the day without a hitch. I spent a week at Coco de Mer with 20 of my family and friends, not one of us had any problems at all, quite the opposite it was fantastic! It is a good idea to request rooms along the front especially if there are several of you or if you are travelling with small children. The rooms are very clean and well maintained with patio doors looking out to sea. There is a promenade along the water front with hammocks under the palm trees, a coco de mer shaped pool and childrens pool. The bar is very friendly and served food and drink throughout the day, I'd recommend taking your drinks out to the jetty to watch the sun set. Meal times were very well organised with samples of each dish set out on a table for you to look at prior to ordering! Service was excellent and at all times friendly. The beach is clean and raked every day, the water is warm and the hotel is very private and shielded from the road. The staff are lovely and did everything they could to help us out. I arranged the wedding through a tour operator but liased with the hotel directly, everything was organised from personalised wedding vows, layout of chairs, flower type and colour, wedding music, photographer, video, hairdresser etc. This is not like the caribbean and there are not 100's of weddings, we only saw 1 other wedding party the whole time we were there. We got married on the jetty just before sunset. The wedding reception was at the Black Parrott suites, the hotel laid on transport up the hill to the suites, arrival drinks, music and a huge buffet meal. The manager took care of every detail and everything went perfectly. The tour operator quoted us £85 a bottle for champagne but we took a case of our own champagne to the Seychelles which the hotel served for us. The sunset from the Black Parrott suites is incredible and was a perfect end to wedding day. The suite at Black Parrott was beautiful and overlooked a deserted beach, everything was clean and the service was excellent. Trips from this hotel include Anse Lazio for snorkelling, the coco de mer national park and day trips to other islands - La Digue is very close by. I would recommend this hotel to couples, families and large groups, everyone had a brilliant time and I can't wait to visit again on our next anniversary.

After reading the reviews about the Black Parrott I was very worried about our holiday there, however, what I found was fantastic service, food, accommodation, and location, if fact the whole holiday was one of our very best!! So the moral of the story is, sometimes it is best to just go and find out for yourselves.

We spent 10 days in the Black parrot suites, they were not enjoyable at all really. Extremely basic rooms, furniture and decor in poor state of repair for a 4 star hotel which costs as much as this does. Restaurant food very poor, unappetising and poorly presented, tastes very bland indeed. Wine list small and wine often returned. staff unhelpful and appeared at times rude and resentful. Gym atrocious, a small open space with equipment at least 25 years old, rusty and in my view dangerous. Very quiet, nice views. This is not a 4 star hotel by any stretch of anyone's imagination and I am astonished they get away with advertising themselves as such and charging the rates they do. Not a pleasant experience unless you spend as much time as possible away from the hotel.

We spent 4 days in September at this resort and we have to give it 2 thumbs up. It has a very relaxed laid back atmosphere. Our room overlooked the pool and ocean beyond. The room was very spacious and clean with everything we needed. The food was very good along with the service. The have several nice beaches. There is a walkway lined with lounge chairs and hammocks.....perfect for an afternoon nap or for reading a good book. We did have alot of seaweed in the water but that is what you get this time of year.......it certainly did not stop us from snorkeling. Overall I highly recommend this resort.

We stayed at the Black Parrot for our honeymoon. We thought the rooms are nice and the views are beautiful. However, the restaurant service was terrible- several times their errors were blammed on us- not the service you expect for an upscale hotel. As someone else mentioned, the food WAS repetetive and twice a week you are required to go over to the Coco de Mer for a BUFFET dinner. A buffet dinner is not what we expected when opting for the all inclusive option at the Black Parrot. The Black Parrot is also fairly small and sometimes felt constraining. The Coco de Mer has more space, with a bigger pool, so we often walked over there. Overall, we were not impressed and probably woulld not recommend spending this much money on the Black Parrot.