Heritage Awali Golf and Spa Resort

Heritage Awali Golf & Spa Resort is set in a beautiful location, with an attractive design and a relaxing atmosphere. The resort has plenty of potential to deliver an exceptional luxury holiday experience; however, unfortunately, several aspects of our stay fell short of expectations.

The most disappointing element was the underwhelming level of service. For a resort of this calibre, I expected a greater level of attentiveness, consistency and genuine hospitality. While there were positive aspects to the stay, the overall service did not consistently reflect the standard one would anticipate from a luxury resort. I compare my stay here to that of LUX Grand Gaube.

The limited food options were another area of concern. Greater variety across the restaurants and dining experiences would have made the stay far more enjoyable, particularly for guests staying for several nights. A resort positioning itself in the luxury market should ensure that dining remains a highlight rather than an area where guests feel their choices are restricted.

Equally concerning was the lack of communication with guests. Clear and proactive communication regarding resort activities, dining arrangements, entertainment and any changes to services is essential to ensuring guests can make the most of their holiday. Too often, guests should not have to seek out information that could easily be communicated in advance. This was prevalent with the recent localised riots. We had no idea restaurants were closed until we were back in our room and had our turn-down service, where we received a bottle of water and a letter from management. We had to cancel our dinner reservation and resort to room service as the restaurants were closed.

Overall, Heritage Awali has the setting and facilities to provide a memorable holiday, but the experience would benefit considerably from more attentive service, improved dining variety and a stronger commitment to guest communication.

The resort has considerable potential, but the overall guest experience needs to match the expectations associated with a luxury destination eg LUX Grand Gaube With improvements in these key areas, Heritage Awali could deliver a much more satisfying and memorable stay, especially for the price bracket.

Unfortunately, this will be my first and only stay at this resort.

We’ve just returned from our holiday at the Heritage Awali and I can honestly say it fell way short of our expectations.

On arrival at the hotel, we had a warm friendly greeting and a fruit juice welcome drink. Everything was explained to us although we struggled sometimes with understanding what was been said and it was information overload, given that we’d just got off a 12-hr flight and was extremely tired we could have covered this later. We couldn’t get in our room on arrival and was shown a room we could use to take a shower and get changed. At 14:00hrs we were allowed into our room, we were shown to the room and key features of the room were pointed out, it was clean, spacious and well laid out with a separate area for your clothes and other belongings. It was good to see USB charging points and multi plug sockets. Several things we did note: the room furniture looked tired, and the sofa cushions had a stale sweaty fusty smell. The air conditioning was adequate although we had trouble turning it off on a night and the bathroom and toilet extractor fans didn’t stop running until the early hours, this was annoying when trying to get to sleep. The room included a mini bar, which was restocked every day, bottled water, beer etc, in a 5-star hotel/resort I expect the mini bar to also be stocked with a small selection of spirits, not here. We had several power cuts in the first few days, these didn’t last long. We also had a note through the door explaining some works were going ahead which could affect the water, apart from some brown discolouration it wasn’t a major issue and only lasted for a few days.

Before we travelled, we were aware of the dress codes for all the restaurants, this is stated on the hotel and TUI website. During our introduction this was also pointed out, and we were told it was strict, you even have a plaque in your room showing what’s acceptable and what’s not. So, when we went down for our evening meal on day one we expected everyone to be smartly dressed, how wrong was we, denim cargo shorts and an Iron Maiden t-shirt is not smart or elegant dress. We were gob smacked people were so scruffy and yet the staff did absolutely nothing about this. What’s the point in having a dress code if you’re not going to enforce it, this was disappointing and we wondered why we’d bothered to make the effort. This was the same every night. The hotel management need to address this because it spoilt our holiday – remove the dress code or enforce it.

It started to become very apparent that it wasn’t the all-inclusive hotel that we thought we had booked.

Food: Savana Buffett restaurant – this was the worst buffett restaurant we have ever encountered, it was so hit and miss. One day Johnny Boy made us the most amazing pasta and yet the majority of other times the food choice and quality was awful. Infinity Blue restaurant – we enjoyed many a lunch time and evening meal here, the food was good although very limited. We opted for the special Lobster night at this restaurant, 50 mins we waited and yet people who’d arrived after us had been served. The lobster was a disappointment, especially given the extra charge. Amafrooty Restaurant – it was ok but when I asked for a chicken burger, I expected it to be a piece of grilled chicken breast – NO it was super processed chicken meat formed into the shape of a patty. Oh and make sure you check any salad that comes with your food - mine had bugs on it. Zafarni Indian Restaurant – My wife and I ordered different chicken dishes, the flavours were lovely however the chicken was leg and thigh meat, we found chunks of cartilage/gristle, which really spoilt what should have been a lovely meal. The following week we decided to go back and give it another try, before ordering we asked if the chicken was breast and was reassured it was, again when the meal came it wasn’t and we found cartilage and gristle again, this time we sent it back. We also had an issue with the service in this restaurant; we were sat for 45mins before we received our starter and yet people who came in 30 mins after us had been served.

We found the service in all the restaurants very hit and miss, one day the service would be excellent and the next day it was as though you didn’t exist. We even had it where we’d had a starter, went to get our main and on return to the table, it had been cleared and they were showing other guests to it, that made us feel very uncomfortable.

Drinks: I asked for a Sambuca one evening to be told they don’t have it. I raised this with the TUI Rep – this was the response: Alcohol is expensive and everything must be imported because it’s an island. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing given this is supposed to be a 5-star resort. Does anyone think Jack Daniels is a top shelf spirit – No it’s not and yet you had to pay extra for this. Maybe because it’s got to be imported – really, so all the other spirits are made on the island – I think not.

One of the things the hotel needs to change - after every drink we were asked to sign a receipt, it’s the same after a meal, we sometimes had bar staff chasing us to sign. We appreciate people may have been on different board options, but this got very tedious, have different coloured wrist bands for the different categories – easy.

Activities: One of the reasons for booking this hotel was the long list of activities on offer, however they are limited, not available everyday and you have to book, this is the first place we've been where they have a daily activity schedule but when you turn up they so it’s not happening because you didn’t book 24hrs in advance, what’s the point in having a schedule of activities. I’m on holiday I don’t want to be so organised that I’ve got to book everything 24hrs in advance – like the archery.

It’s not for everyone – but the gym had lots of good equipment CV & Weights, towels and anti-bacterial wipes were provided.

So Called Adult Areas: The hotel states it has an adult pool and adult section in the dining room, however on countless times we found children using both and when we complained about this (making us feel awkward) the staff we’re very reluctant to do anything until we said we’d like to see the manager please, then they did. We raised this with the TUI rep however it continued to happen for the duration of our stay. There needs to be more obvious signs posted and it needs to be managed better.

We really enjoyed the 30mins (each) free spa treatment (nice touch) and also went on to have other treatment packages. We found the spa facilities very good, the treatments good and reasonably priced.

In Summary: This hotel claims to be the best All-Inclusive hotel in Mauritius; this hotel is NOT 5-star. Furniture is falling apart, torn and grubby, lots of the sun loungers were broken and the cushions were very very dirty. Extra charge for Jack Daniels and don’t have a basic spirit like Sambuca, how can they make this claim. Then, there is the pseudo "all-inclusive" package, where only three restaurants are actually included. Everything else comes with an extra charge, anything above basic and sister hotel restaurants. We spoke to several other couples who’d stayed at different hotels before moving to the Awali, they all said the same, the service was poor, the food and drinks we’re disappointing and they said they wish they’d not moved to this hotel.

The food was very inconsistent and not of a 5-star standard. They Have dress codes and other rules but don't enforce/manage them.

WiFi was generally good.

The majority of staff work hard and here’s a few that did make a positive difference to our holiday:

Infinity Beach Bar – Faid, Constantly Smiling and made sure we never had an empty glass Room Cleaner – Vhimla – Always asked if everything was ok and if we needed anything. Savana Restaurant – Chef Johnny Boy – One of the best Pasta dishes we’ve ever had. DJ – (Not 100% sure of Name, hard to hear over the music) Ashin – music was excellent.

Here’s the main reasons why we’ll never return to the “Heritage Awali” – we are well travelled and when you say Mauritius you think of golden sandy beaches, a bit of paradise and LUXURY, I’m sorry to say there was nothing luxurious about this hotel, we would give it 3 stars at best. Even the business class was a disappointment, flying with Air Mauritius. We also found off the resort everywhere was dirty and run down, it gave the impression no one cared, although this had nothing to do with the hotel.

We can get the luxury we seek without having to fly 12-13hrs, there’s many places closer to home that offer a much better experience.

Clearly from other reviews many people do enjoy this resort – unfortunately for us it failed to impress.