Terrace

General

Non-smoking rooms

Room service

Rooms

Laundry

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Breakfast

Restaurant

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Internet access

Internet

Swimming pool

Pool and beach

Location

At the hotel

Arba Mintch Airport

Swaynes Hotel

Arba Minch

Good food, a good pool, good common areas, helpful concierge/manager, friendly service, peaceful baboons, and a fantastic view from both the residence and the common areas. What's not to like?

We originally flew down from Addis for a Saturday night break. This hotel and Arba Minch generally were nice, and we extended our stay to three nights. The manager helpfully lined up 4x4s for us on each day, to go see the major sites of Arba Minch and the park. 

Hotels everywhere seem to be in "recovery mode" in February of 2022, hiring staff after the lost years of 2020/2021. The Emerald Resort is no exception; as they ramp up housekeeping and maintenance staff, some small adjustments to the rooms might be in order. Once when there was.a large group having dinner I wished they could add some staff in the kitchen, etc. But I expect all that will happen. Meanwhile the view from the room makes up for a lot. It's in the top 5% of hotel views, if not the top 1%. 

The "rooms" are actually adjacent bungalows, or at least, they seem to all have patios out back. A great place to hang out at sunrise or sunset. There seemed to be a small baboon troop outside our room most days; they aren't shy but they aren't aggressive. If you cant get a park view room, the view from the very large common areas is fabulous as well. 

On the whole, great.  I would go back in a minute.

Wonderful resort with patios overlooking the national park.

I was really looking forward to our stay here in the Emerald Resort.
The hotel and garden is really nice, they even have a big (and working) pool.
But: Unfortunately it was a big disappointment. When we arrived there was no water in the shower, after complaining and waiting for hours finally some (cold) water came... they apoligized and explained it with a problem in their pump and/or a problem with water in the whole area... But still, for a room that costs more than 100$ dollar per night I expect more! 
The manager reacted completely uninterested and unfriendly, she even refused to give us a discount on the room.
Very poor service, I cannot recommend this place.

Very poor performance

Great service.  It was quiet in Feb.  Sure...cost a bit, but the view was WORTH it.  The food was fine.  I went out to the Tourist Hotel for more food.  One of the best stays.  The room was great! Find location too...helped organize excursions.  Though...might get busy......not sure. Lots of rooms and dining area, and bar that is open late.  Hurray!

Great Hospitality, Clean rooms, Nice View!

This is a nice, well-appointed hotel in a great location. I was impressed with the rooms and mine had a nice big bath. Good service from reception staff. The bed was very soft, although it seemed to be pretty supportive.

Great time

If you're looking for a hotel with nice views of the lakes, I recommend to go somewhere where customers are treated better. I came to Emerald hotel during the day to decide whether or not I'd stay, I can't speak for the rooms because after the way I was treated, I will never go back. Right after I arrived the waitress made us order something "or else we had to leave". After going to the restaurant to order something, we went to take simple pictures of the view until the waitress came to say "you need to pay 1,500 (about $50)  birr to take pictures"--which is insane. I had visited about 4 other hotels that day, and none of them made us buy anything while enjoying the view, especially ask us to pay for taking pictures. VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Gorgeous View, but Poor Service

What an amazing lodge. We stayed as a group by the end of September and we couldn’t be happier with the level of attention from all the staff members, from the lobby to the bellboys to the waiters and even the manager of the resort, she’s truly amazing and you can tell they work really hard and care for their property.
Although it seems the property would welcome some touch ups in the rooms, the overall resort is very nice. The rooms are bungalows style, very spacious and clean each with a balcony and we were lucky to stay on the bungalows facing the cliff, with an incredible view of the forest and the both Lake Chamo and Abaya. The bathroom is ok, water is warm but it needs a bit repair on the shower area. The room has two very conformable beds with mosquitoes net, but there’s no AC nor did fans if you’re looking for that; think we didn’t need it if you leave the windows opened at night –they have insect screen mesh- it gets cooler at night. And don’t be afraid when you see the baboons and the warthogs wandering around the resort, especially in the morning hours!
The main restaurant has the best view of the valley down below, really breathtaking; it has a beautiful terrace and we had amazing appetizers around a fire pit one evening.  The food is good; buffet has choices and food well cooked, always tasty.
The only issued was the Wi-Fi at the resort, it has service around the restaurant area but needs to be fixed for the volume of guests. There’s also a lovely swimming pool, but we didn’t have chance to enjoy it. There’re plenty to do around.
Also, the resort is really close to Arba Minch Airport. Would definitely choose Emerald if comes back!

 Really lovely stay!

The room was super, clean, quite, swimming pool clean & clear view for the lake and the Gods Bridges . the spa interesting, good massage therapist and also play ground, restaurant, parking, souvenir shop, new bar, barbecue, good staff, i will come back at emerald resort
thank you

Breathtaking view of the lake chamo & Abaya lake with God's Bridge

What an experience we had on our amazing travel to the southern part of Ethiopia. We stayed at Emerald Resort Arbaminch and we had an wonderful time. The service was supper, staff were so lovely, rooms were supper clean, am amazing breathtaking view over the forest in between of two lakes. We used the shuttle service as well and they have a clean comfortable mini bus, that's what we saw. The resort has swimming pool and spa plus children play ground looks great but we didn't used any of that.

LOVELY AND SUPPER

What an amazing experience we had at Emerald resort. great staff, delicious food, kind people, friendly, beautiful views, the rooms are clean, always fresh and neat. We enjoyed a lot in pool...GREAT PLACE TO ENJOY

Vacation

I delayed this review to experience other hotels/lodges in Southern Ethiopia. Emerald does not compare well to every other I’ve stayed in. They advertise air conditioning, there isn’t any. Shampoo, there isn’t any, a full menu, yes lit’s of items missing. The reception don’t communicate and blame things on Head Office. Restaurant staff are difficult to deal with and don’t understand the word menu. When you get through, they still don’t bring one. Rooms are tatty. We cancelled a second visit the following week and stayed at Paradise Hotel. A wise decision. 

Swaynes Hotel

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