Honiara: hotel con bar

Stayed for two weeks in May-June 2023. Positive: -- extremely central location, walking distance to almost everything (Honiara is not very big) -- super friendly and helpful staff -- the bento box in the Japanese restaurant is surprisingly good -- powerful air conditioning, which you will appreciate after a day in Honiara -- has a generator for when the power goes off (which happens) Neutral: -- has all the basics: refrigerator, aircon, TV all worked fine -- no issues with cleanliness, maid service every day -- no issues with water pressure or heat -- swimming pool is small but clean, I did laps there most nights with no problems -- laundry service is pricey but otoh is lightning fast: my laundry came back ironed in well under 24 hours -- make sure your door is firmly closed or you'll get mosquitos Negative: -- wi-fi is bad: slow, sometimes drops, and charges you extra for use beyond 100 MB /day. If you can, get a local SIM card and hotspot off that. It's cheaper and faster. -- breakfast is not free and is pretty miserable. It's 100 SBD (about US $13) for corn flakes, stale bread, coffee, and fruit. The fruit is fresh and local but that's about all I can say for it. After a few days I just started going next door to the Breakwater Cafe, which gives a much nicer array of breakfast offerings for about the same price. -- there's a club next door, which can be loud on weekends. It didn't bother me but if you're sensitive to that sort of thing, be aware. -- there's a small beach right behind the hotel... which is covered with trash. You probably wouldn't want to swim there anyway (the Mendana is in the middle of town and very near the port) but it's nasty to look out your window at a garbage-strewn beach. Surely this could be fixed? -- no exercise room Basically this is the medium-price hotel in Honiara. The Heritage and Coral Sea are nicer but more expensive (usually -- prices in Honiara can fluctuate a lot). I found the Mendana perfectly okay. The only major negative was the wifi. Fix that and I'd give back half a star.

I was a bit hesitant to book this place after reading some of the horrific reviews, so I was pleasantly surprised overall with my stay. Yes, there are multiple issues, but if you have realistic expectations going in, these are easily dealt with. The seaview rooms have million dollar views of Honiara and Iron Bottom Sound with several other islands visible on the horizon, so I would recommend booking one of those. Yes, there are bugs. This is the tropics, so really can't be avoided. Hardly the hotel's fault. Didn't have any mosquitoes but the occasional roach was able to squeeze in under the gap between my balcony door and the floor. Easily fixed by putting a towel on the floor there, but I didn't bother. Front desk staff was very friendly and helpful. They can change money here if you need some (but you'll get a better rate at one of the ******s in town). If you give them at least 1 day's notice, they can arrange a car and driver for you if you want a guided tour of the island. Adequate restaurant and bar on the property. A/C worked just fine, which was a godsend given how hot & humid the Solomons are. Wi-fi. This is an issue that received constant criticism in past reviews, so let me set the record straight. Good, strong, fast reliable wi-fi is available everywhere on the property, including the rooms. The confusion comes from what's free and what isn't. There is free wi-fi that is only accessible from the reception area. It's slow and often craps out. It works, but it's far from ideal. But saying the wi-fi sucks or isn't available in the rooms is flat out wrong. There is a very fast paid wi-fi option that is accessible everywhere, including even the highest and most remote rooms on the property (strong signals everywhere because the telecoms building & cell towers are literally across the street kitty corner from the hotel). I downloaded several GB worth of movies and TV shows for some upcoming long plane rides very quickly and with no issues. Connection was stable for my entire 3-day stay. Paid wi-fi rates are quite reasonable, and you pay less per day the longer you stay. A one day wi-fi pass is 55 SBD / 6.50 USD. A three day pass is 135 SBD / 5.00 USD a day. Cablecar. Here is another common complaint from reviews that are misleading. The hotel is built into a steep hillside with the lobby and reception area at street level and the rooms on several tiers above the lobby along the cliff. There is a quaint cablecar that goes up and down the hill on a metal track so you don't have to climb the steep steps if you don't want to. Lots of people complain that the cable car doesn't work. It does, but it takes some effort and attention to figure out how to get it to run properly. Ideally the hotel should make things easier to understand so they bear some of the blame for the complaints. But the fact is that it works just fine if you know what to do, when to wait, when to push buttons, etc. Several times I saw oth