I stayed at the Palm Beach Hotel for my night in Dili, Timor-Leste, not to be confused with a city in Florida on the Atlantic Coast!
Palm Beach Hotel Review – Dili, Timor-Leste
When I decided at the very last minute to travel to Timor-Leste, I reached out to three hotels via email. Specifically, I wanted someone to meet me at the airport upon arrival in Dili so that I would not have to haggle with a cab driver (though in retrospect, haggling wasn’t so bad – I’ve had so many horrible taxi experiences over the years that I forget the many excellent experiences I have had).
Anyway, only one hotel wrote back: the Palm Beach Hotel (not to be confused with the Palm Springs Hotel, which seems to be the premier hotel in Dili and potentially owned by the same people). That made it simple.
After clearing customs and immigration, a very nice woman was waiting for me with a sign. We hopped into a van and were soon on our way to the hotel, which was located less than 10 minutes from the airport (though everything is pretty close in Dili).
Stepping into a small lobby, I checked in and was told I could pay for my room now or at check-out…an old-school approach to hotel payments!
I was assigned room N402 on the top floor of the “Nicole” building. Based on the Chinese characters on the buildings, I wondered if this place was Chinese-owned or marketed to Chinese travelers.
My hotel room was really a one-bedroom apartment and quite nice, with a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom with shower.
While the room was warm, each room had a split-type A/C mounted to the wall in each room. Once turned on, the room quickly cooled down.
There was also a dedicated router in the room for Wi-Fi, protected behind two passwords (it appears that data is not as cheap in Timor-Dili as in other parts of the world).
Outside the back door, there was even a washer and dryer. I was tempted to wash that striped blue shirt that had become so sweaty as I ran through Bali Airport earlier in the day, but I skipped it.
I went out to eat, but there was even a room service menu.
The mattress was not the best, but I slept just fine (waking up quite early).
Upon my return from the hike up to Cristo Rei, I had time for breakfast before my flight departed.
You ordered at the bar and then breakfast was brought to you. I had an omelet with salad, bacon, plus watermelon and a cappuccino. It was included in my rate and very good.
I asked for a refill on coffee; however, nad was denied: “That will be $3 extra.”
While waiting for breakfast, I checked out the pool and the fitness center.
Pool:
Fitness Center:
While not modern equipment, the selection was fairly impressive considering how remote we were and I was impressed by the effort.
I thought at $140/night, the hotel could have thrown in a second cup of coffee, but I ended up having a nice machiatto at the airport.
Shortly after breakfast, I went back upstairs, grabbed my stuff, and we headed back to the airport.
Kudos to this hotel for being responsive: the other places I contacted were half the price, but the more expensive place got the business because they communicated well!
I’m sharing about my whirlwind trip through Asia.
That was not bad at all. Actually, it was a very nice hotel for what you have described so fr about how poor the country is. As for the coffee, it is one of those things that people miss a huge opportunity to impress. It would cost them almost nothing and you would have had a much better impression of the place. Some people don’t learn.
I’ve worked helping to build the coffee industry of Timor-Leste for a development bank for over 10 years — been there about 15 times for two to three weeks at a stay. Coffee production is an emerging industry in TL, viewed as the most viable strategy to improve rural livelihoods, thus the government and several development actors are investing heavily to help the industry grow. The place has a long history in coffee production, which is recognized on its locally minted $.50 piece. TL is poor, its infrastructure is still rebuilding from Indonesian occupation, and its coffee is all farmed by smallholders tending to less than 1 ha of area — often without inputs, and limited agronomic knowledge. That means the coffee production there is unproductive relative to high volume areas with intense farming practices, like Brazil, or highly productive Robusta production in Vietnam. TL is also a dollar economy that is not an inexpensive place to do business due to the development economy — so, it might seem surprising, that coffee costs significantly more to produce than your typical cup found in a consuming country like the U.S. or Australia. Further, the marginal utility of that $3 refill costs is far more important to the cafe operating in that hotel than in the Global North. While I believe that the value of that coffee should have been better communicated to Matthew, it’s not unreasonable to charge for a product that is extremely valuable to the local economy.
I’m loving your insight on this series of posts. Thanks, Andrew.
This insight is invaluable and appreciate your on the ground knowledge and experience. From the moment I saw Matthew trying to go to TL I was immediately like….Dude! THE COFFEE. I WANT TO HEAR AB THE COFFEE! I am an avid coffee roaster and always interested in the economics of the farmers, post harvest production and the economics of countries where the cherries are grown.
Thank you
Was the airport pick up included in the room rate? Agreeing with Santasico that it appears to be a good value.
Yes, airport pick-up included.
Now I could have stayed at a place for $40 and just negotiated the cab, but this made me much more comfortable and the functioning internet was worth the price alone.
Use the blue taxis — company is called Corrotrans +670 7742 7777. They use meters, so you don’t have to negotiate. The price from the airport to Timor Plaza is less than $10. You can also text them by WhatsApp at that number. When calling, getting an English speaker is hit and miss, but they’re still the only reliable game in town. Avoid the yellow or unmarked taxis, they’re not safe.
You made the wise choice. Meeting your flight, internet, nice breakfast and I’ll add the laundry space that offered a deep sink to soak and rinse a few things is always appreciated in my view. Perhaps the 40 a night hotels might be alright, but late in the day who wants to shop around?
So, you paid $100 for the convenience of avoiding the taxi scammers?
Seems like a pretty nice joint and a solid value, all things considered.