SALT of Palmar is a colourful, good-looking hotel with plenty of charm, but it didn’t quite live up to the expectations set by its bold branding and clever photography.
The Camille Walala graphics were one of the things that originally drew us to the property, and they do give the hotel a strong visual identity. At first glance, there’s a lot to like: cheerful colours, patterned textiles, murals and plenty of nice design touches. It photographs beautifully.
That said, the experience felt closer to a more traditional package hotel than the lifestyle property the branding suggests. We were expecting something closer to Ace, Hoxton or Habitas: design-conscious, relaxed, sociable and aimed at value-driven millennials who care about food, atmosphere and detail. In reality, SALT feels more like an older hotel that LUX* has taken on and given a colourful, design-led glow-up. In many places, the old hotel still peeks through.
The shared spaces, while attractive, don’t feel like they can quite accommodate the number of guests the hotel needs to support. At busy times, the restaurant, pool and communal areas can feel hemmed in rather than relaxed and generous. That would matter less if the rooms were luxurious places to retreat to, but ours felt more like somewhere to crash than somewhere to linger. It was small, fairly minimal, tired in places, with scuffed paintwork, stained bed bases and no fridge. The bed setup also wasn’t especially comfortable for a longer stay: two singles pushed together with an uncomfortable foam topper. The rooms could really do with a refresh, including better-quality mattresses.
Service was also uneven. Mauritius has a reputation for excellent hospitality, and the senior staff were always helpful and friendly, but day to day the service wasn’t quite what we’d expected from Mauritius or from the other LUX* properties we visited. Orders were sometimes forgotten or came out wrong, and interactions with front-of-house staff could feel laboured and transactional. Staff often seemed more focused on entering orders into handheld devices than engaging in a warm, relaxed way. Fortunately, this feels like something the hotel could improve fairly easily with better training and communication.
We stayed nine days on a full-board basis, so food became increasingly important. Breakfast was lovely and probably the highlight of the day, but lunch and dinner felt very similar, so the food became repetitive. We were also excited by the idea of the hotel having its own bakery, but in practice it felt more like a reused breakfast counter with a few pastries left out during the day.
Where SALT probably works best is as a cheerful base for exploring the island, rather than as a destination hotel in its own right. If you plan to have breakfast, head out for the day, eat lunch elsewhere and come back for the occasional dinner, it makes much more sense. Just bear in mind that many of Mauritius’s better-known sights are on the opposite side of the island, so some day trips can involve taxi rides of up to around 1 hour 45 minutes each way.
If affordability is your main priority, SALT is still a strong contender. But it’s a significant step down from the LUX* properties, and that difference only really becomes clear once you’re there. In retrospect, we probably wish we’d spent a little extra for something that felt more luxurious and memorable, rather than simply pleasant and passable. For us, SALT is probably better suited to a shorter stay of 5 days, especially if you’re planning to spend more time out exploring than relaxing at the hotel.
