Avila Hotel

Great for a quiet getaway at the beach, great beach, wonderful ocean, hotel food choices were OK, town is walkable but further than you may want.

great location to the downtown area. it's right on the beach which was so convenient! several restaurants to choose from on the grounds and all of the staff are accommating and friendly.

We enjoyed everything at Avila - but, a true standout was the effort made by the staff to accommodate all requests. In particular, Alice, the head of the housekeeping staff, checked with us multiple times to assure that we were having a successful and comfortable visit. We were!

The hotel has great location. it is located very close to the main city (10 min walk) and close to a few of the better restaurant you can find - just a minute walk. The beach is great and the room is modern. What else can you ask...

The Curacao Tourism Bureau referred us to this unique hotel near downtown Willemstad while visiting in September 2011. It was a great suggestion and fit our needs very well. For anyone desiring to be close to Downtown Dining, and Shopping, with a very nice beach, this is an excellent choice. The beach is small with nice sand and clear water. Snorkelling is good around the natural stone breaker walls with decent reef formations. My only complaint would be that the beach could have been kept a little cleaner. Our room, on the 1st floor in Belle Alliance was very clean and comfortable. The bed was excellent. No damp odors, bugs, etc. It was very nice to have the refridgerator in the room. We were able to go to a local grocery and pick up snacks, drinks, and breakfast food. Housekeeping did a fine job. The bathroom and shower were unique (a bit strange to our American tastes) with it's frosted glass walls. The Hotel Restaurants offered great food and service. We found prices to be approximately 50% more than one would expect to pay in the US which is typical throughout the entire island. The Hotel has a very European feel with similar service. Don't expect free refills on drinks, or endless buffet's like you would find at an all-inclusive. During our 10 night stay we only met 2 other American couples. Everyone else that we met were from the Netherlands or Belgium. Communication in English is not a problem. While nearly everyone spoke Dutch, they were also able to converse very well in English. I would not consider the Hotel to be within walking distance of Downtown Willemstad, however, there are several nice restaurants within 2-3 blocks. We, personally, would not have been comfortable walking from the Hotel to downtown at night. We rented a car and would consider it a necessity if you want to see other parts of the island, beaches, or have convenient access to downtown Willemstad. There is abundant, paid, public parking in the downtown with a myriad of dining, shopping, and entertainment choices. We had a great experience and would definately refer friends to this Hotel and Island in the future.

This is a beautiful hotel with clean, quiet, comfortable rooms and great staff. The beach at the hotel is fine, and the snokeling there is good--though not terrific. One can walk to Willemstad, but it is not a pleasant walk, and I would not do it at night, so people take free shuttle, or taxi, or use a rental car. There are five eating places at the hotel. The food, although very good, seemed a little expensive. Think about eating away from the hotel sometimes. Food in the mini bar was very expensive. A bottle of water that costs $5 in the room could be bought for $1 in a supermarket about seven blocks away. I never figured out the correct tip procedure. A 12 percent service charge and 5 percent tax is added to every purchase at the hotel and yet they always indicate a line for a tip. When we were there, most of the people staying at the hotel were Dutch, and we never got into any conversations with any of them (they all were able to speak English). You may have more success.

We stayed in the Belle Alliance wing of the hotel. Our first room was on the first floor, not very clean and had a musty smell. We stopped a housekeeping supervisor to ask a question about the room safe. When she came in our room, she asked if we were happy with it. No, it wasn't really what we expected. She immediately moved us up to the 3rd floor, a room with a balcony facing the ocean. What a difference! We had a beautiful view and the room was clean and pleasant. If we had stayed in the first room our impression of Avila would have been completely unsatisfactory. The pool was very nice and the beach had every amenity. It was a very quiet, relaxing atmosphere. The food at "Blues" was just ok. It would have been nice to have free wifi in the rooms. But that wouldn't stop us from returning. We would absolutely stay here on our next trip to Curacao. (Just not on the first floor)

Comfortable, quiet hotel. Few if any American guests. Most guest from the Netherlands. Good food at the restaurants. Location within walking distance of the downtown (Punda) area. Very small beach which is typical of all hotels in Curacao.

After a long trip, we were greeted with kind words and a cold juice drink at check in. Our room was amazing (we had the octagon deluxe), it was all tile with a two large sliding glass doors opening to a spacious balcony with two chairs to enjoy the view of the ocean. The food at the main restaurant was very nice. I truly enjoyed the breakfast buffet. It had a wide range of both Dutch and American choices, with a chef to prepare eggs to order or a tasty omelet. Lunch and dinner were equally yummy with a weekly special and about 12 mains to choose from. The service is European so the pace is a bit more drawn out than what Americans may be used to (we happened to enjoy the slower pace). The only issue we had was with the number of children at the hotel. We went during the hight of the European summer holiday season. As such there were many families at the hotel. All the children we very well behaved and did not bother us much. However, they did dominate the pool area. As someone who enjoys leaving the ocean for the pool at times, I actually never used the pool. In addition to the large number of children at the pool, it's hours were 7:00am to 8:00pm. We found this to be a bit restrictive. I love to swim at night and this was not possible at this hotel. Although the issues with children and the pool were drawbacks, we loved the Avila! It was true luxury with just the right amount of relaxation.

I was born on the island and took my friend there. Avila is a beautiful hotel and maintains the charm of the island. It is very centrally located close to Punda and Otrabanda and other attractions. We had a very nice room with beautiful ocean view and a small kitchenette. We could not have asked for more. Staff was friendly and very accommodating. The only thing I did not like was the temperature in the room. You had to keep it very cold in order to prevent condensation on the floors.