Palm Beach Hotel

My husband and I stayed at this hotel from 23rd February until 9th March. The hygiene and general cleanliness of the hotel was appalling. We realised that we were going to a poor country but this was far worse than we imagined. We were lucky enough to be given a seaview superior room but only after flatly refusing to stay in the inland superior room they gave us on our arrival. Even so, when we settled in we found a broken toilet seat, the bathroom door handle broken (impossible to shut the door for the 14 days duration), the full length mirror was cracked from top to bottom and secured with masking tape and the pillows stunk so much we had to request new ones. The faults were eventually fixed but only after lots of nagging. The laundry consisted of numerous women sitting around a large tub of water in a filthy area adjoining the hotel. This explained why the sheets and towels never look ed crisp and clean.We could see this clearly from our staircase. Dustbins around the complex were left unemptied and on most mornings as we went to breakfast these could be seen with all the contents flowing over the ground. On the subject of breakfast-this was more like a battle and if you happened to be in the dining room at peak time between 8.15am-9.30pm, you were lucky to be able to find a plate, cup and saucer or glass to eat and drink off. It was a question of waiting for the staff to wash up used/dirty ones. This was done in the corner of the dining room and they were wiped on a dirty towel.The dining room did not appear clean and the outside patio area was disgusting. On one morning the coffee that had been spilt the previous morning was still there. The area was full of cats which wandered in and out of the dining room and at several times into the kitchen. In one corner, underneath a plant display, there was dried up cat poo which was there the day we arrived and still there when we left 14 days later. For 3 consequetive evenings we had no water for a shower and on the first occasion I had a head full of shampoo when the water stopped. There was often low pressure or no supply at all in our block although others didn't seem to experience this problem in the rest of the hotel. Towels were taken away whilst we were at breakfast so hard luck if you wanted a shower or needed to wipe your hands when coming back. There obviously were not enough towels and they had to be washed every day and re-distributed. We could go on and on. Suffice to say we spent most of our holiday trying to get what we had paid for. So many people standing around but not doing anything. The 1 evening meal we had was awful, overpriced and we waited an hour for it. However, the Gambian boss drives an expensive Mercedes! What a shame this 5 year old hotel (whioch looks 30 years old) was such a dump. We booked it as a 3*plus. Misleading. It could have such a lot going for it as it is in a beautiful setting on Kotu beach. At least the weather was good and we found some nice restaurants to eat at. We are both agreed that this is the worst hotel we have ever stayed at in the whole of our lives. We are widely travelled people and we have owned a property in Greece for the last 25 years. Therefore we know what "basic" means! This experience has put us off ever going back to The Gambia again!

this hotel is really bad where do i start we arrived and were given a room with big holes in the skirting and when i looked at the bed there were massive rat droppings it it !!! i complained to the manager and were given one of there best rooms??? which the toilet leeked into the main room every day we had to use the towels supplied (that were grubby and had holes in)to stop the flow of the water then that night i saw a rat in the pool room it was bigger than a cat i was told they were gerbals who eat seeds but another person told me thay had opened a bin and one was eating the rubbish in the bin beware of the staff they will rip you off the people who change the money will short change you she did it with me and i was £15 short when i counted it and another trick is for the waiters to run after you after you have ordered a few drinks and paid your bill when you leave and tell you they didnt put 2 drinks on the bill so you hand over about £3 and they pocket it the gardening staff were constantly trying to sell us drugs and by the second week we had given up trying to stay clean i ended up cleaning the pool with the net myself every day as there were loads of bugs in it i was in the room when our cleaner came in to clean and i could not believe it she used the same cloth to clean the toilet (which was yellow and brown in the bowl)and the sink i could not believe a hotel could be so dirty if you are going to cambia the only hotels i would recomend is the sengambia beach (which we went to and looked in the rooms and nearly cried cause it was a proper room not a dirty one) or the bay hotel the couple staying next to us were in the 'honetmoon suite' and when the took the cover off the bed there was so much dried in blood on the mattress it look like someone had bled to death!!!!! this is a horrible hotel and the staff are rude and unfriendly and try to get money out of you at every opertunity AVOID THIS HOTEL AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok the hotel was only 2star. you do have to ask for towels and the rooms are basic. there are bumsters and you have to wait a while for food. you are in gambia !!! it was lovely. enjoyed being totally out of the uk traffic and rain and wind for a perfect winter destination. only went for a week and was great. weather fantastic,people friendly,good value and reasonable priced food and drink. beach fantastic and transfer times from airport to resort brilliant. just need to chill when you get there and enjoy the surroundings. the hotel is basic and there are nicer ones but for a cheap week away in a developing country it was great! :) ENJOY !!!

We were quite surprised at some of the negative reviews for this hotel as we had a very pleasant stay here. We chose the 'Superior' room option which may account for some of this. Our room was clean (we saw no live cockroaches-just one very dead one in the wardrobe!) and apart from having to ask for towels a couple of times, we didn't encounter any problems. We always had hot water and the air conditioning worked fine once we had changed the batteries in the remote control. Beds were a little uncomfortable but nothing that affected our holiday. Our room had a balcony with a partial view of the beach/countryside and it was nice to wake up and see birdies, lizards and palm trees. Staff were friendly and helpful. Beach was beautiful with sun-beds and sunshades and a beach-bar with service to your sun-bed. Beach was also relatively un-hassly and although people would come to your sun-bed to try and sell you things, it was well policed so you had the choice of whether to enjoy the bartering or just say no. Hotel pool was also good and although quite busy it was always possible to get a sun-bed. Pool service was friendly although they could do with making more regular poolside visits as it was not always easy to get anyone's attention. Food at the hotel was poor. Breakfast buffet was not too bad with cheese, ham, French stick, tomatoes, mushrooms, ‘Spam’ (ew!), weird looking sausage, luke-warm beans and porridge being the daily fare. However, the snacks and evening meal menus were very basic with only two choices for evening meal, and no vegetarian option. A right turn along the beach will take you to the main part of Kotu (come off the beach through one of the hotels about three buildings down) which only has 3 or 4 restaurants and a couple of very small supermarkets. Recommended here is the ‘Captain’s Table’ that does a wide range of relatively ‘authentic Gambian’ food in a nice setting with two unusual but lovely veggie options. Also try the yummy Tempura Vegetables starter! A left turn along the beach will eventually take you to Senegambia/Kololi (30 minute walk) with bars/hotels along the way. You may find the beach walk a bit hassly depending on what time of day you do the walk, also not sure about the safety of a walk back along the beach at night. A good tip if you are approached as you walk along the beach and a simple ‘no thanks’ is not enough, is to walk into the sea- the locals hate to get their trainers wet! If you walk out of the front of the hotel along a dirt road and turn right at the main road there are 3 or 4 restaurants. This included our holiday favourite, Ali Baba, with a wide range of options, including curries and the best veggie pizza Rachael “had ever had” and Richard enjoyed his mushroom Tagliatelli and said it was possibly ‘the best pasta he had ever had’! Although the walk to this strip of restaurants is quite dark and you may be subjected to some minor hassle, we were assured by our rep that it was safe and we encountered no problems coming back at 11pm. Other options for eating out are to get a taxi which seems to cost 400D’s (8 English Pounds) return with a couple of hours waiting for pretty much anywhere you go locally. If you don’t fancy the beach walk to Senegambia/Kololi the taxi is an alternative option and Kololi has many more restaurants as well as supermarkets, money exchange and internet/phoning home options. Best restaurant we found at Kololi was the African Queen with an extensive and varied menu catering for all tastes. Kololi is also home to the Monkey Park and you could combine a late afternoon trip there with a meal in the resort afterwards. You can also get a cab to Fajara which has many restaurants including the highly recommended ‘Clay Oven’. Although we liked it and the staff were desperate to attend to our every need, the prices were much more expensive than elsewhere. Our meal cost 1700d’s plus 400d’s taxi which made it an expensive night out even by UK standards (generally a meal in Gambia was around 400d’s each). As for trips- on my last visit to Gambia I was very disappointed by the price and content of the organised trips which involved big coaches, lots of picking up time and very often added on stops at markets where it felt like they were on a commission. This time we did the obvious local attractions by cab. We did a 7 hour trip for 1000d’s plus tip which came out at half the price of an organised excursion. Our trip took us to the SOS Orphanage where staff will show you around for just a donation. Contrary to expectations, this is a reassuringly positive experience where it is clear that many of the orphans actually have a much better lot in life than the local ‘street kids’. The little tots will want you to cuddle them and see the houses in which they live) Our tour moved onto the Crocodile Park (where you can stroke the crocodiles and get mobbed by local kids when you get your school pens out for them!) and then the Monkey Park (where you can take a lovely walk around the jungle and feed the baby monkeys). We still had time to stop off for an evening meal and wander around the nice market at Kololi- be prepared to barter-go in at quarter to a third of anything they suggest and work up to no more than half. We much preferred the freedom and options of a taxi and it was far more enjoyable to sit in the back of an open 4 x 4 taking in the sun and the sights than on a crowded tour bus. Birdwatching tours by foot are also available from the local guides situated on the bridge at Kotu (which is a left turn out of the main hotel entrance). We did one organised excursion which was optimistically and romantically entitled-‘Birds and Breakfast’ in order to see the ‘dawn chorus’. This was nice but unless you are a bird-watching fanatic, it was not worth getting up at the unsociable hour of 5.30 in the morning for! There were few birds, and certainly no ‘dawn-chorusing’ going on down in the mangroves. We felt that a more sensible starting time just to enjoy the mangrove river (minus the lazy birds) would have been a better option for us. For anyone new to Gambia and potentially put off by hassle, our top tip is not to get phased by it. It’s always worse on your first day when you are a new, ‘milk-bottle white cash cow’. Once you get a bit of a tan and get into a chilled holiday mode, you become less of a target, it is easier to deal with and you will soon find your own ‘evasion strategy’ to cope. Just don’t be put off on the first day and miss the benefits of getting out of your hotel. All in all we had a lovely time and the hotel suited our needs for a relaxing, sunny holiday. Oh and Gambia Airport must be the best in the world- within 5 minutes of getting off our transfer bus we were sitting outside sunning ourselves in departures with food and drink service to our table :-)

I stayed at the Palm Beach Hotel from 2nd to 16th February 2007. I booked the holiday from the Odyssey website. I liked the hotel and it was good value. I loved The Gambia, which was my 49th country. The Palm Beach is in a good location, 2 minutes walk from the beach, and 10 minutes from Kotu village. The popular Eldorado beach bar is part of the hotel, and a good place to hear African drumming. The hotel has a good African atmosphere, and I think it is unfair for reviewers to compare it unfavourably with hotels nearer home. The Gambia is a developing country. Some things work and some do not. My room was cleaned every day, with a fresh towel every day; and fresh sheets every two days. It had a good hot shower. Some of the old air conditioners were very noisy, and they kept me awake a few times. The rooms near the pool are inevitably noisy. I checked that the sliding windows in my room were locked shut when I left the room. I had no problems with security and I didn’t hire a safe deposit box. The Hotel’s internet café was out of use. I used the internet at the nearby Elton petrol station. All of the hotel staff were very friendly and attentive. The French general manager was courteous and approachable. I ate at the poolside restaurant in the evening. The food was good and I had no tummy troubles. The service was slow sometimes. The live entertainment shows every evening were usually pretty good. The buffet breakfasts were large, well mine were, but the menu was the same every day. The breakfast restaurant should be made non-smoking. I rented a bicycle for two weeks from Lamin the Bike Man, opposite Badala Park. Lamin is a very good man to deal with, and his bikes are well maintained. Bring your own bike helmet, it will keep you cool, and a lock and chain from home. The roads are flat and the bike gives you some freedom from the bumsters. I soon became known as Bicycle Man! You can change money at Palm Beach, but the rate is better in Kotu village, and better still in Bakau. Palm Beach Hotel is in a great area for bird watching. I went on a morning’s birding with Jancuba, one of the professional guides, who charged a reasonable 200 dalasi or £4 per person for a morning. We saw nearly 60 different birds, and I soon became hooked on birdwatching. The guides are very knowledgeable. You can hire one from the cabin by Kotu Bridge. I also hired a birdwatching guide at Abuko and saw another 35 different birds. I cycled to Bakau town and the crocodile park, which was fascinating, and to the fishing village at Bakau. The lovely Botanical Garden at Bakau is a welcome break from the heat. I visited Samba the weaver on the corner of the Bakau Craft Market. He makes woven bags, which make good presents, but he drives a hard bargain. I visited the plant nurseries on the highway, and talked with the growers. The fire station at Bakau also welcomes visitors. Their three fire engines were donated by Avon Fire Service in the UK. I used the Rough Guide, which has good town maps. I also cycled to Serrekunda Market, best on a Sunday when the highway is quieter, and to the Monkey Park, to the Senegambia strip and to Fajara. I was at Fajara Beach near Kotu on 15th February when a young Gambian lad was lost in the sea. The sea currents in The Gambia are very strong. The search for the missing lad was very perfunctory, and I didn’t see any effort made to collect statements from witnesses. Safe deposit boxes. The Palm Beach Hotel charges a hefty £15 per box per week. The boxes are all in one room. The Odyssey rep urged visitors to rent a safe deposit box, as soon as she started the Welcome Meeting. The hotel has 120 rooms, and later in the week about 100 boxes appeared to be in use. If this was indeed the case, they were raking in £1500 per week! This would probably pay the entire hotel staff wages. What a clever wheeze! The Gambia is a cigarette smoker’s paradise, with cigarettes costing just 50p per packet. Many of the tourists, especially the Dutch, who made up most of the guests during my stay, were smoking non-stop. The hotel should make some areas non-smoking. It was good to see that the airport departure lounge was all non-smoking. Excursions. I went on the Roots trip, organized by Gambia Tours. A very sociable two hour boat trip each way with good sightings of dolphins, and a visit to the village reputed to be the family home of the slave Kunta Kinte, in Alex Haley’s book and film. We had a good lunch on board the boat, and a swim on the way back. The trip was quite expensive at £37 per person, and at least 40 people attended. We were asked to give donations many times, but I wondered how much of the money we paid to Gambia Tours found its way back to the villages. I enjoyed my first trip to The Gambia. The people are the most friendly I’ve ever met, with a great sense of fun. Hiring the bike made it more enjoyable than walking and using taxis. Everybody there speaks English and you are made to feel very welcome. Don’t expect a cheap holiday, and don’t expect it to be like Tenerife. It’s much better! Give the Palm Beach Hotel a try. Peter from Conwy, North Wales (Bicycle Man)

What can I say, people were friendly (some really over zealous)but could handle that, weather beautiful, sunny and hot did chill down slightly in the evenings. Hotel situated right on the beach which was really nice, a lovely chill out fortnight. Well what about the hotel, staff were friendly and helpful that was the good point. We arrived at the Palm Beach on 30th January at 5 p.m. and guess what, our room was not ready, waited about half an hour. The room was very basic (which I knew being a 2 star), sink was hanging off the wall, didnt dare touch it in case it fell, toilet cistern broken and did not flush, bathroom door was so ingrained with dirt, I even wrote "please clean me" (which was never done, so in the end, I got a bucket and cloth and cleaned it myself). These problems were eventually sorted out, to a degree (Gambia standard). Bar staff very friendly and polite, but could never get any cold beers or even bicardi. Bar menu was limited and each meal we tried to order, they never had, so never ate round the pool area or even bar. So cannot really comment on the food. I could carry on but it would turn into an essay. Oh yes just one other thing about the hotel watch out for the cockroaches, there are plenty in this hotel. We did enjoy the holiday my husband and myself, yes we would go back to Gambia without hesitation, but would definitely not stay at the Palm Beach Hotel, once bitten twice shy.

a terrible hotel rooms are a disgrace, changed hotels as soon as we had a look at our rooms, one of the worst hotels we have encountered in all our travels not for older generations kombo beach hotel a lot nicer graham somerset

First room had live cables showing in the room from a broken AC, went to reception to ask for towel and toilet roll but could not unlock the room when I got back. A guy managed to get into my room by opening the window from the outside & climbed through... Door could not be fixed, so after 3 hours from arriving, managed to get another room. It was comfortable but the few little niggles always took days to resolve. For the first week I had to go to reception each day to obtain a towel & it took five days before I could pick up the two channels on the TV (I always make sure I can have access to a news channel when I travel). Nice swimming pool & area. Drinks service very good, but a long wait for food - normally an hour, once 1 1/2 hours. After a two hour wait for food (chicken & chips!), and being told repeatedly it was on it's way, I left vowing never to use their facilities again. Customer service in the hotel means apologising profusely but not addressing what went wrong. As this is my line of work back home, I found this particularly frustrating. The hotel is right on the beach & a great restaurant- Kunta Kinte - could be found here for lovely food. Bumsters found in great numbers on the beach. To be honest, the bumsters were a problem and have ensured that I never will visit Gambia again (but will travel to other parts of Africa). I like to wander around places and markets & meet people, but here it was impossible. I had the feeling I couldn't trust anyone I met as they were trying to rip me off. Many times I'd sat down at restaurants to be joined by unwelcome attention. Normally a firm "not interested" would suffice, but that didn't work in Gambia. GMD50 would get a taxi into Senegambia for a nice range of restaurants. Ate at many of them & only had one bad meal - African Queen - where the food was not cooked fresh. A fantastic bar above Ali Babers showed sports and probably was the only place I could hang out with the locals and make genuine friends.

We got back a week ago and still missing it. This hotel was very basic but clean & tidy. You can't expect anything else in a poverty stricken country. We had no towels twice, met the cleaner one afternoon and reported this in a nice manner and she kindly left them for us in the night. I can't understand people who get so angry about this, your on holiday chill out relax! these people working here have no idea of the 'rat race' in England they work at a pace which suits them. The restaurant was nice food but we realised it was a lot cheaper to eat out at the restaurants on the road, also the service was very slow at Palm Beach. We waited 1hr for our meal one night. Didn't eat there again! Overall it was a great holiday, the people are really friendly and you can soon tell the 'bumsters' from the genuine guys! You've just got to put your foot down with them, tell them your meeting friends or something, but never barge them off with a time, because believe me they'll be there waiting for you. Excellent Winter holiday and we won't go anywhere else now!

Just back after a week out in the sun. Will give a bit of info that may be of some use for your holiday. The hotel is like the rest out there 1 star below what they are, the rooms are ok for the time that you stay in them,sleep and change then out to the beach or for a meal/drinks. Did have problem with the towels they are not what i would call washed very well, there are about a hand full of the local women out the back of the hotel washing them in big drums by hand(washing machines) so when you get them they still smell. The pool is ok for a dip about 1.49m deep and there is a small pool i think it was .5m, the staff around the pool are happy to help and are friendly. There is on most nights somthing going on dance,singing,bingo(this is fun night). Down to the beach is only 100m or so then you can just sit and relax like i did there are a lot of locals trying to sell you there items so if you sit close to the bar they are moved on by the beach guards but just say no to them and they will go away, the beach boys will bring to you a sunbed and there is a bar there that you can sit around for a drink or meal day or night, all along the beach that is about 3 mile long are a few bars the one next to the hotel(left) is ok for a night out then if you walk about a mile down the beach (left) there is the new bailys beach bar (drinks/meals) not far behind there is churchills bar live football. If you keep on walking along the beach you will get stopped every 50m and asked if you would like to have a fresh juice from the little juice bars or a massage by the girls price starts for a manicure D200 =£4(50to£) up to a full aromatherapy body massage D500 75min, you like me walk the beach find the bar you like and go back again or try a new one every day. At nigh i would go to Senengambia (taxi there D200 back was D100,there are about a dozen or more eating places again i think you try one and try another the next night,cant say the best with me eating the fish or Gambian food and not knowing what it should tast like but they all tasted good D180-220 for the meal bottle beer (local julbrew) was D35-50 wine D50-60 glass there is only a few that have any shows on but the one that is best for this is AL BABAS(think thats the spelling) and there is a bar here on the corner up stairs that shows live english football most nights that there is football on and on sat and sun they have a good few english matches all live from south africa tv. Atm few and far between take english just in case the machine are not working 5 out of my 7 days not working and you get a better rate for you english out there. Enjoy yor stay most would go back again before it gets crowded and you can't get a sun bed because there are towel on them left over night!!??