Hiking

Reviews of Faofao Beach Fales

2.5 out of 5
Faofao Beach Fales
Saleapaga, Lepa, South East Coast, Saleapaga, Eastern Cape

Reviews

8.4

Very good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 34 out of 71 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 22 out of 71 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 9 out of 71 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 2 out of 71 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 4 out of 71 reviews" "

7.2/10

Cleanliness

8.6/10

Staff & service

7.2/10

Amenities

7.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.0/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

2/10 Terrible

Laura

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Suffice it to say that we left after two hours to go to a real resort nearby, which they suggested as an alternative (😉) and which luckily had a room for us. Of course, since we checked in we lost the right to ask for at least a partial refund. They have many wonderful reviews and decent pictures so we thought the place must be basic but charming. Big mistake, it's simply a scam which doesn't help Samoa's image or economy. Luckily we ended up in a great resort a short drive away (Aga Reef Resort) where we stayed wonderfully and had the vacation we where looking for.
Stayed 7 nights in Jan 2024
Response from Faofao on 6 Feb 2024
Obviously we told this traveler to check one of 4 star resort close to us, it's the right place for their expectations, the beach fale accommodation is not meet to their needs. The cancellation policy and all information about the place is clearly explained. I don't know why they booked their staying with us if they are other level of tourists class. Leave us as simple as that, different travellers and purposes of their travel.

10/10 Excellent

Rowena

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
loved that it was very private. we were the only guests on the night we stayed over which was great. owner very friendly and had our dinner served to us on the night, enjoyed the breakfast prepared for us the next morning. will definitely book again with Faofao
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024
Response from Faofao on 24 Jan 2024
Thanks, we glad to hear from you.

6/10 Okay

Benjamin

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Amenities
There was confusion amongst the staff upon check-in as to what meals would be included in the half-board that was included in the reservation. The breakfast was very nice, the facility basic but clean and quiet. Very relaxing to wake up next to the sea.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

2/10 Terrible

Nicole

Travelled with group
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This property is not operating as advertised. Do not book here! It's in a dreadful state and the restaurant is closed.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023
Response from Faofao on 2 Nov 2023
First of all, we offer meal when booked, but for this booking, not even a minute to experience their staying, she only request for her refund (hope she understand the cancellation policies of the booking agent) and lie to us they back to town because she read the weather forecast there will be storm that night, and finally post this review to affect the other person who dreaming of visiting us in the future. Let me thank you to this scammer once again. Hope she not do this to others.

10/10 Excellent

Ellen

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Highly recommend staying here for a simple, relaxing holiday. Nice fale with traditional woven blinds on a beautiful beach. Friendly host, although sad to note some rubbish visible on the beach. Very good family-style breakfast and dinner, self-serve buffet with changing selections each day. (Note: I did not request it, but did not seem to have vegetarian/other dietary options.) Simple facilities, has everything you need for a relaxing stay, but nothing fancy. For those who haven’t stayed in a fale before, I’d let you know that the waves crashing at the beach were quite loud, which is of course expected in this type of accommodation, but would recommend light sleepers get a closed room rather than beach fale.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023

2/10 Terrible

Joanna

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful situation but the bathroom facilities here were absolutely disgusting - broken and dirty . On top of which they were having construction work done around the bathrooms so there was no privacy Booked and paid for 4 nights but left after one
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2023
Response from Faofao on 24 Oct 2023
Thanks Joanna for submitting your review and read through your negative point. I answered your feedback when you checked in about using our private bathroom because our share facilities work on progress. My apologies if this could be the reason of your move earlier.

8/10 Good

Joanne

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Air conditioning in our unit was very much appreciated. We loved the geckos that inhabited our balcony light area. Really enjoyed meeting people at the communal breakfast and at dinner.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Jéssica

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Nice place. Fale was clean and safe considering that we had a strong rain and as the weather wasn't so good, we could hear the strong sound of the waves. But felt very safe inside the Fale. Can't comment on the food as we didn't eat there. The bathroom could be much better as everything seems a bit left behind. Curtains for the girls' bathroom made me feel like I couldn't get my underwear off as the bathroom can be seen from the street. The floor is poor and could be fixed.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023
Response from Faofao on 5 Oct 2023
Thanks for sharing your experience of your staying about the good side and some of the things need attention for the business future.

10/10 Excellent

Aimee

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing family so welcoming. Fales are so comfortable and right on the beach. 10/10 would stay again
Stayed 5 nights in Sep 2023
Response from Faofao on 27 Sept 2023
Thank you for your review. We are glad that you enjoyed your staying with us

8/10 Good

Kimberly

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
I loved the location of the faleo’os right on the beach. Meals were wholesome and delicious. My only complaint is that we came in late and the resold two of our five prepaid fales. They did set us up in a room in the motel with floor beds because of that but the faleo’os were our preferred option.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Maartje

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful location and even more beautiful family running this business. Enjoyed every minute.
Stayed 7 nights in Sep 2023

8/10 Good

Sian

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful views and comfortable fales
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Lea

Liked: Staff & service
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Yohan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing stay far from all sources of stress
Stayed 5 nights in Aug 2023

6/10 Okay

Garth

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

Emma

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
This is a great beach spot with comfortable fales, friendly smiling staff, and the beach/ocean right on your doorstep. It’s as it says, we are travelling friends enjoyed staying two nights, perhaps if you didn’t have transport it would be tricky getting around on a Sunday. If you stayed here a while you may miss western small comforts. The shower is under the stars - it is not heated but you don’t notice because it’s so warm!
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

Matej

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Faofao felt like home away from home. I spent only two nights but wish I could have stayed longer, had my trip allowed for it. The staff, the guests, everyone was great, friendly, family-like atmosphere. You also get brekky and dinner buffet, different options on different days. Sitting down at the beach bar felt relaxing and with the amazing views, you really wished you could stay at Faofao for a month at minimum. I stayed in one of the beach fales, it was basic but that's why I booked it. It felt great falling asleep to and waking up to the sound of the waves. Can't recommend this place any more. It is owned by a lovely family who really do take care of you. They also do fiafia night on Saturdays. Do yourself a favour and just head to this little paradise in Samoa when you get to the south side of the island. To-Sua ocean trench is only a 10min drive down the road and likewise for Lalomanu beach and Namua island. Can't beat this place! Hoping to be back one day. To all of you at Faofao, thank you so much for being so nice! Bless!
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

Jamie

Travelled with partner
Liked: Amenities
Beautiful hosts, most beautiful beach we had stayed at in Sanoa, and excellent food. Highly recommend these fales.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023
Response from Faofao on 10 Aug 2023
Thank you for your recommending of our fale and our service, glad to hear from you.

10/10 Excellent

Loran

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Our stay was amazing, the family were so lovely and made it feel like home. Will definitely be back!!
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2023
Response from Faofao on 8 Aug 2023
Great to hear from you Loran. Thanks and we hope to meet again in the near future.

8/10 Good

Jennifer

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Friendly family & wonderful location. Fale was beautiful
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2023
Response from Faofao on 8 Aug 2023
Thanks for your review

10/10 Excellent

Adrienne

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Fales right on beach. All that you need and nothing you don’t. A lovely, friendly family. Great, generous meals. The MOST AMAZING location.
Stayed 5 nights in Jul 2023
Response from Faofao on 1 Aug 2023
Thanks for your time spent with us.

10/10 Excellent

Ruth

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Singer was a star ! Amazing chef and lovely for a late night chat at the bar. A very relaxing place to be !
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2023
Response from Faofao on 18 Jul 2023
Thanks Ruth for your time and review

10/10 Excellent

Amy

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Absolutely loved my stay here!! The family who run this beach fale are lovely people who went above and beyond to give me a great experience. The beach is stunning and the food was great! I highly recommend staying at this amazing location :)
Stayed 8 nights in Jun 2023
Response from Faofao on 4 Jul 2023
Thanks Amy for your review.

8/10 Good

Hannah

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
These beach fales are the most secluded and magical ones we stayed in during our trip to Samoa. Perched in a tree hut directly on the beach you can wake to watch the sunrise and have a refreshing dip whenever you like. We loved our stay and would definitely recommend it.
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2023
Response from Faofao on 1 Jul 2023
Great to hear your feedback.

10/10 Excellent

Cherie

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2023
Response from Faofao on 1 Jul 2023
Thanks Cherie

6/10 Okay

Geronimo

Travelled with family, Travelled with partner
Liked: Property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Cleanliness
We enjoyed the beach and the food at Faofao. However it could have been much better. We booked a Fale (little wooden room on the beach) but we had to sleep in a normal room and when we asked why, we didn't get a real explanation. The general cleanliness was bad, terrible in the room.
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2023
Response from Faofao on 1 Jul 2023
Glad to hear you enjoy the beach and food, and my apologies for upgrading of your room without any additional cost and ended up with your negative feedback, we accept it for our service to improve. This are the reasons, the weather wasn't so good that day of your arrival and I am sure it was clearly explained the reason. Thank you again for sharing your review.

10/10 Excellent

Andrew

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
These are very traditional fakes We loved our stay here very relaxing great beach for swimming & Snorkeling Lots of other restaurants a short drive away for lunches or a dinner for a change of scenery Recommend having a hire car to get around and book this prior to arriving
Response from Faofao on 1 Jul 2023
Great to meet you Andrew. Thanks for your feedback

10/10 Excellent

Sean

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful stay, relaxing
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2023
Response from Faofao on 13 Jun 2023
Thank you Sean for your feedback

8/10 Good

Sabrina

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Cleanliness
We stayed 6 nights at Faofao beach Fale and everything went perfect. Breakfast and diner are in good quantity and very good. The Fales are beautiful and the snorkeling there is great !
Stayed 2 nights in May 2023
Response from Faofao on 12 Jun 2023
Thanks Sabrina for your review, hope we meet one day.

10/10 Excellent

Ann

Stayed 2 nights in May 2023
Response from Faofao on 1 Jul 2023
Thanks Ann

8/10 Good

Doug & Christina

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful location, friendly staff, the true Samoan experience!
Stayed 1 night in May 2023
Response from Faofao on 15 May 2023
Thank you for your review

10/10 Excellent

Alison

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Dinner and breakfast healthy, varied and great. Host fanily very friendly and obliging. Place consists of beach fales, with basic toilet block across road. Also a green concrete block of about 12 rooms 2 storeyed, most with aircon Green block equivalent to a budget backpacker. All kept clean and place quiet. Sometimes family puts on dance shows at night. Under cover cafe like structure on beach front where meals are held, as well as relaxing anytime by the beach. Tea or coffee available but forget your capaccino. Good place to talk to locals and family about their life and 2009 tsunami time. Tips for improvement for rooms ..some more pillows for beds, a plastic table so you dont have to use the floor for items, and maybe some bright flowery local material as a bedspread to brighten up rooms would be good. Overall a good stay for couple nights.
Stayed 3 nights in May 2023
Response from Faofao on 9 May 2023
Thank you Alison for sharing your experience of your staying and your time with us. We prepare a room downstairs which have a little cabinet and bar fridge for a thinking of using the surface for items, and if more items we have spare plastic tables store in our separate room that can add if people needs to put more things on it. Other rooms upstairs are not having fridge and cabinet, but we still can add tables if needed. Thank you so much for your staying and support our family small business, your voice is highly important for our future service. God bless

6/10 Okay

Andre

Stayed 1 night in Apr 2023
Response from Faofao on 9 May 2023
Thank you for your supoort

8/10 Good

Tricia

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Faofao beach Fales are comfortable, authentic, and as close to the ocean you can get without being in the water! The staff were very nice and it was a great get away! I do wish they would serve more traditional food or offer it in addition. All in all, a fantastic place!
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2023
Response from Faofao on 24 Mar 2023
We do Samoan food in addition, like taro, banana, fish, and number of overnight guests then we do umu for dinner, and of course on Sunday is the main day for toonai (Family and visitors feast). Thanks very much for your visiting us and hope you and famz have a wonderful trip.

10/10 Excellent

Rhonda

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Our stay at FaoFao Beach Fales was awesome. Set in a beautiful location with amazing beaches. Owned and managed by a local family, guest are welcomed
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2023
Response from Faofao on 11 Jan 2023
Thanks Rhonda for your visiting. us. Great to hear from your feedback.

8/10 Good

Jayne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very friendly and helpful staff. Beautiful location, totally "beach on doorstep" location. A bit tricky for non-Pasifika" folks who need a little more in the way of somewhere to sit in the fale or on the beach. Hire of seats/cushions could help.
Response from Faofao on 20 Dec 2022
Thanks Jayne for your review, and sharing your idea for other visitors in the future. There are plastic chairs to use if needed.

10/10 Excellent

Ciarán

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
An incredible experience
Loved everything about my stay here!! This place is a highlight if Samoa! Just wished I had more time here.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2022
Response from Faofao on 10 Dec 2022
Thanks for choosing our place for your overnight staying.

10/10 Excellent

Matt

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing location, amazing staff, amazing food, just amazing
Stayed 9 nights in Nov 2022
Response from Faofao on 21 Nov 2022
We still work hard to what we can do by each day, the important thing to us we hear you find good time with us. Thanks Matt for your review.

10/10 Excellent

Hannah

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing place and people!!
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2022
Response from Faofao on 17 Nov 2022
Thank you for your time with us.

10/10 Excellent

Lisa

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful family run Fales. Very welcoming. Most stunning view in Samoa, close to the Ocean Trench. Highly recommend
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2022
Response from Faofao on 13 Nov 2022
Thanks for your post help others look for a fale close to famous To Sua trench thanks for staying with us. We hope we meet again.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The only thing I liked was the location of the fale, right on the beach! Everything else was not good, I dealt with one older lady she acted as if I was an inconvenience. The shower and toilet facilities were not clean. My bedding was mouldy and wet. Only stay here if you need to, it is on the cheaper side compared with other fales in the area but I assume the above is the reason why.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from islandlove on 28 Dec 2019
Thanks for posting a review of the property. We will sort out some of your negative thinking for an improvement of the business in the future. Once again good to hear from some of your positive feedback. Happy 2020

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Travelled with family, Travelled with group
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
Be very careful if you have paid on Wotif because we paid on Wotif and the owner would not accept that we had made a payment despite showing the confirmation and made us pay cash. Wotif is difficult to make contact with. Be careful. Wotif can you please contact us urgently.
Stayed 5 nights in Sep 2019

10/10 Excellent

Franny

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Simple but pleasant stay right on the beach 😊 Lovely family hosting you, clean toilets and showers and the best: falling asleep to the sounds of the waves and waking up with the sunrise right in front of you!
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2019
Response from islandlove on 8 Oct 2019
Thanks for your staying.

10/10 Excellent

JOHN, PORT MORESBY

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Traditional Beach house (Fale) with mattress, sheets, pillows, mosquito net and towels provided. Fale has lighting as well. Shared amenities and great local food provided for breakfast and dinner. A family business with everyone taking part in providing services for guests in a very homely manner, as one would be treated when visiting someone else's home. For the person seeking a nice and tranquil place to wind down on nice Sandy beach with the majestic sounds of rolling waves, the Faofao Beach Fale is highly recommended.
Stayed 5 nights in Jul 2019
Response from islandlove on 21 Jul 2019
Thanks John for your review and your time with us, we know you had a good time with us in Samoa. Hope you have another visit on the island next time.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
The location is definitely the selling point, the chefs and food was amazing too. The room with air con is incredibly basic you dont even get soap in the bathroom and i provided a list of things broken in my room so hopefully even though it wasnt written down the next guest get lights that work, doors that open and a toilet that doesnt flush all night.
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2019
Response from islandlove on 1 Jul 2019
Thanks for your point of view which is really important. The last point of toilet not flushing all night, that mean to us, no water at the night or its a leaking in the toilet bowl all night. Its a usual problem of toilets to fix, and surely there is no time of lack of water at our place, but thanks for your time with us and your staying.

8/10 Good

Alycia, Blenheim

Travelled with group
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness
Excellent location of beach fales right next to the sea! What a way to wake up next to that. Also the food was fantastic, absolutely loved it! Only the toilets and bathrooms could be a bit cleaner (outside or inside the building as a part of the rooms).
Stayed 10 nights in Jun 2019
Response from Islandlove on 17 Jun 2019
Thanks for sharing your feedback, we love to hear you enjoyed your staying, thanks for the advise we work on it.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
You won't regret trying it.
We had a great stay at the beach fales. Be prepared it is very basic and traditional but very fun to try for a few nights. You get a lovely cooked breakfast and dinner included in the price. Take your own towels and snorkeling gear and if you are worried about locking things up then you'll need a rental car to do this as the Fales are not lockable. I would also recommend taking airplugs as the ocean roars are very loud. We would totally recommend trying these fales it's a once in a life time experience, and you can't get closer to the ocean.
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2019
Response from Islandlove on 17 Jun 2019
Its great to hear you enjoy your stay, and some advice can help for future visitors to us. Just to add on that our additional service for our beach fale we locked all valuable visitors belongings in a separate lockable room and towels on request. When high tide its true quite bit loud because of waves break but low tide always calm. Thanks again so much for visiting Faofao for your holiday accommodation.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
amazing! its a beautiful space with nice people and delicious food
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2019
Response from islandlove on 1 May 2019
Thank you for your chance to put up a review and hear you find awesome time . Hope there will be another opportunity to visit us in the future.

8/10 Good

Rebecca, Auckland, NZ

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
The fales are traditional and really beautiful and we enjoyed our experience staying in accommodation like this, even if it was very basic. The beach is gorgeous and you get breakfast and dinner which is great for the cost of the accommodation. We did not find any other fales quite like these so even though we experienced some small "negatives" or things that could have been improved on, we would still recommend. Examples of negatives were things like the light in our fale didn't work and a lot of smoke from the morning cooking blew in and woke us up coughing. The lady in charge told us that dinner was at 7.30, even though it was at 7 so we almost missed out completely on our first night. Also, while you can go for a walk, you can only lie on the beach directly in front of the fales or locals will try to charge you for lying on their part of the beach.
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2019
Response from islandlove on 3 May 2019
First we may thank you for your positive feedback about the time you spent with us, there will be an opportunity for us to see and have to ensure if there is a cooking smoke in the morning. The kitchen is located at the other side of the beach fale, it back of the main dinning fale. It over 15 meters away from the fale. If this happened, it is because of the wind bit strong sometime. When meal is ready we always let everyone knows before meal start, except guest away from the property during meal time. There are a few other day visit beach fales near us own by other village families, they charge there own. Thanks again

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
How amazing to sleep steps away from the sea! We found the simple mattress, sheet and pillow comfortable - it was surprisingly warm to sleep - no sea breezes like we are used to in NZ! No problems with any bugs- the net took care of that. Good snorkelling and the beach was by far the most amazing we have seen overall. Staff were very friendly and made you feel at home. Wonderful to have dinner cooked for you (so tasty!) and the continental breakfast was good. A bit of magic on our Samoa stay
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019
Response from islandlove on 1 May 2019
We really enjoyed to hear that you found a good time staying. Have a wonderful time