JA Enchanted Island Resort Seychelles

Très belle expérience dans cet hôtel 5 étoiles avec un service aux petits soins.

We wanted to find a resort to escape the world for a few days, one that gave us privacy with our own pool and yet personal attention that ensured we could do nothing more than unwind and relax - JA Enchanted Island didn't disappoint! Transfer from Mahe by boat to the Island was excellent. The Villa's and the view from them is breathtakingly beautiful and yet each villa is afforded total privacy from the others. Considering the bathrooms are all outside its a good thing! The Villa's are spacious and comfortable, the beds are huge and linen clean and luxurious. We would say the best feature of all is the team, they really couldn't do enough for us and were super attentive at breakfast and dinner. David's cocktails at the sundowner were epic! There are a couple of minor issues that didn't spoil our time at this wonderful resort but worth mentioning. The Seychelles government rightfully have declared all beaches public, we like the fact no beach is owned by a hotel and Seychellois can enjoy them as much as the tourists. This did mean the beaches below the villa's can be busy with day-trippers from Mahe. A couple of times the music coming from the beach was a little unreasonable and the waft of BBQ smoke drifting around our villa not ideal. Second point was there was a mix up in communicating allergies to the Chef which Neeraj did try his very best to fix, but only got GF bread on the last day. Overall the standard of food was acceptable, but didn't stand up to some of the other hotels we stayed in Mahe.

The staff is warm, welcoming and does everything they can to make you thrive. However, when you book a Villa superior with private direct beach access (at 1.200€/night) with pictures on the hotel page showing pristine beaches with no people at all, certainly you would think that you can look forward to a secluded hideaway perfect for spending a part of your honeymoon? Well, I guess we were somewhat naïve. Upon arrival, you are quickly informed that the beach surrounding the island is in fact a public beach, and that «some» people might travel here in the weekends. This is as good as an understatement as you get, with upwards to 15 tourist boats with 10 people in each anchoring here from 10-17 ALL WEEK, playing music, shouting, racing jetskies, leaving food scraps, and even changing diapers on the last step of the «private access» stair from your villa. Not exactly creating the best atmosphere to foster love. When it comes to the accommodation, although the Villa was nice enough considering the age, the regular cleaning was done by broom and mop, meaning that the carpet under the bed was never cleaned. At least it smelled like that, reeking of something best described as a mix of feet and urine. When made aware, the staff took action and removed the carpet without any hesitation (which had been left unmoved for so long that it had to be scraped off the floor, which as a consequence had to be refurbished with oil). This should however not be necessary and is somewhat below expectations for a 5-star hotel at this price level. It should also be noted that this is not an all inclusive resort, where full board means that all drinks (even fizzy water) is something you pay handsomely for (with cocktails averaging at 30€ when vat and service charge is included!) making the stay even more expensive. We want people to decide for themselves, leaving out a few more minor details others have also previously pointed out in their reviews, but hopefully people can check out other sites* in the amazingly beautiful and wonderful Seychelles as well, which is what tripadvisor is here for.  (*Where, in the advertising jungle of Google, you may ask? We can certainly recommend the gem «La Belle Tortue» if you want something better than JA Enchanted in all ways (food, service and location) at half the price, where you actually get the secluded hideaway feeling we were looking for for our honeymoon).