Independence Hotel by Dara

My booking did not match the room offered on the Expedia side. Bed was dirty. Poor English spoken staff, food horrible, hotel is dirty, I got sick and requested some pills and they could not offer

This hotel is in desperate need of a complete renovation and is outrageously expensive for what you get. DO NOT trust the photos posted by the hotel, completely inaccurate of the true condition of the facilities. Broken blinds, no hot water, algae in the beautiful pool, old furniture, bugs in the seaside restaurant. The food is sad and expensive. I left this hotel feeling completely ripped off. It’s a shame, it appears someone completely gave up on this hotel. The private beach and the Oceanside pathway give so much potential. Very said situation considering it’s historical and cultural significance.

We stayed in one of the pods, which was great. Helpful and friendly staff.

Amazing infinity pool overlooking the sea! Enjoy a trip in the private elevator directly to the private beach! Room was so luxurious and spacious with an incredible bathroom. Great live music entertainment in the bar. Staff were very helpful. They even packed us a breakfast for our 7am train journey the next day.

We stayed at Eco-Pods which was funny and quirky. It was new and clean. They have pickup service from/to reception/room/restaurant/pool which is good. You can go walking but if you prefer just call the reception and they will be at your room in just minutes. The Ocean Pool is sensational. Stunning view watching the sunset on the sea relaxing at the pool. Food let me down, it’s pricey for the quality. The hotel has 2 restaurants, Coral and Sunset. The second is better than first but still doesnt delivered an exceptional food. The deserts wasn’t our cup of tea (I’m a big desert fan). Icecream too sweet, cheesecake wasn’t great, black and white mousse was served frozen and the list goes on. (Only the breakfast could save us. Lots of options and delicious mini cakes which could be served all day). On top of that we couldn’t go anywhere else because the hotel is far from downtown. 20 minutes avarage by tuktuk. The experience wasn’t the best for location and food.

Love the pods. Nice infinity pool on the beach. Food was fair. Free shuttle to town was a nice touch. Cons, no shuttle was available to pick us up at the airport so we took a taxi to the hotel. A welcome drink would have been nice. Staff was not very helpful and gave us wrong information about the market place and time it was open. There are no excursions available.

This hotel is nice, but if your looking for service look elsewhere i found them to be consistently bad in customer service. I stayed on two occasions in April 2018 - 1st time arrived late around 7.30pm check in was OK but staff did not seem very friendly and did not offer us anything on arrival after a 9 hour road trip to Sihanoukville a cool towel and a glass of refreshment would of been nice, we ended up in the Sunset Restaurant for dinner at 9pm we asked for a table of 6 only to find the waiter being difficult and saying but we close at 10 and we were getting the tables ready for breakfast. (again, something that a guest should not be hearing), we then found ourselves in the Coral Restaurant they served us dinner without an issue but possibly because we told them about our bad experience in the Sunset Restaurant. On our 2nd stay we arrive at 3.00pm check in time was 2pm we were told at reception our room was not ready and to wait in reception, 30 minutes later i requested the room key irrelevant of the cleanliness of the room as we again had been travelling and needed to rest, room was still being prepared when we entered - this is totally unacceptable for a hotel of this size to be treating guest like numbers our rooms were suites and the price of the room did not come cheap even for Cambodia. Just because Jaqueline Kennedy once stayed there does not make it a good Hotel - Customer Service and good amenities would go a lot further

The hotel is good but could be made so much better with a little care and attention. As you arrive you will see a plaque proudly showing 5 stars 3 gold and two only outlined where the gold as fallen off this probably sums this hotel up, ten years ago when the paint was fresh and the gardens and rooms where perfect I would have had no hesitation in giving this hotel top marks ! .Having said that I would still go back as the positives such as the fantastic pool beach and location far out way the negatives sadly the same cant be said for Sihanouksville which is basically a garbage heap and completely spoiled by the influx of Chinese casino hotels.Whoever agreed to this should hang your heads in shame !!!

The ECO-pots are very good value.

really nice beach, and location is quiet and relaxed good value for money unfortunately has not had any upgrades or renovations since it was initially built in the 1960's