After spending 6 nights at the Hilton Mauritius Resort & Spa (awesome) and 5 nights at the Le Méridien Ile Maurice (mediocre), the last 4 nights of our time in Mauritius were spent at the Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor.
The Holiday Inn had a completely different vibe to the other two hotels we stayed at. Those first two hotels were beachside resorts, while the Holiday Inn is near the airport and is more of a business hotel than being at all resort-like. We’d picked it for a few key reasons:
- It was fantastic value when booked with points
- It’s near the airport and has a free shuttle, useful for our flight to South Africa at the end of our stay
- There were a couple of places in the area we wanted to visit
We got unlucky with the weather for our four days there as it was stormy the entire time, so we didn’t get to enjoy the nearby beaches and snorkeling. However, it was a decent hotel for what we were looking for and was a good spot for us to hole up for a few days to get caught up on some work before flying to Johannesburg.
Here’s a full review of our stay at the Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor.
Check-In
Shae and I had booked a ‘1 queen bed standard’ room as I think that was our best available option when using points. On the morning of our stay I received an email from IHG advising that our room had been upgraded to a Junior Suite thanks to my Diamond status. IHG properties used to be terrible when it came to offering room upgrades, but they revamped their IHG One Rewards program in 2022. Part of that change involved reiterating to hotels that they should offer room upgrades to elite members and that does seem to have done the trick. We’ve received many room upgrades ahead of our arrival at hotels in the last year, so it’s nice that we haven’t even needed to ask for a room upgrade when checking in.
We arrived at the hotel at about 2:30pm and our room wasn’t quite ready yet, so we hung out in the lobby area. Just before 3pm our room was ready, so we headed up to room 102.
Junior Suite
When entering our room, the bathroom was to the right, the living area was straight ahead and the bedroom was opposite the living area.
The living area had a comfortable two-seater couch with a desk and office chair to its left. A balloon on the back of the office chair greeted us.
In front of the couch was a coffee table, with an armchair in the corner.
There was a room divider between the living area and bedroom, with a TV mounted on it and some shelving beneath.
The living area had a unit with tea and coffee making facilities on top and a mini fridge below.
I don’t know if it’s a deliberate design or if it was just faulty, but the electric kettle didn’t turn off automatically once the water had boiled.
The mini fridge contained a couple of bottles of water which were complimentary. These were replenished each day of our stay.
The bedroom had what looked like two twin beds pushed together, but it was just one mattress. The mattress felt like it was a little larger than a queen but a little smaller than a king. Either way, it was large enough for us.
Waiting on the bed were a couple of towels. This was a nice touch as they’re for guests to use at both the pool and beach. The hotel isn’t on a beach, although they do offer a free shuttle to one (more about that in the ‘Amenities’ section later).
There was another TV mounted on the bedroom side of the room divider.
Back by the entrance was a large mirrored closet.
The left two doors were empty other than for some shelving.
The right two doors had additional shelving, a railing to hang clothes and a luggage rack.
There was another closet by the bathroom.
This featured a safe, iron, ironing board, flashlight and hairdryer.
There were a couple of additional features we liked about our room. The first was the air conditioning – it worked fantastically. At the first two hotels we stayed at in Mauritius, their air conditioning struggled a little due to the fact that our rooms opened on both sides to outdoors. We still managed to keep our rooms cool enough by also turning on the ceiling fans, but there was a notable difference in coolness at the Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor. That’s because it’s more of a “regular” hotel where all the rooms are enclosed within the hotel, so the A/C units don’t have to compete with the heat and humidity from outside anywhere near as much.
Another feature I liked were the power outlets. There were some UK-style (and Mauritius-style) power outlets, but also some internationally-compatible outlets which are handy for travelers who don’t happen to have an adapter with them. We had a couple of adapters and so it wouldn’t have been an issue, but it’s always nice to see this anyway as it shows they’ve put some thought and consideration into the room design.
With the hotel not being by the beach like the Hilton and Le Méridien were, our views weren’t as beautiful. Having said that, there are certainly far worse views to have when you’re staying at a hotel near an airport. It probably would’ve looked even prettier had it not been overcast, but this was the nicest weather we had during our four days there!
Bathroom
Our room had a good-sized bathroom. There was a bathtub with shower on the right, with a separate walk-in shower. A separate enclosed part of the bathroom had the toilet, but it was a strange design choice that this had clear glass doors and walls. That meant if someone else wanted to use the bathroom while you used the toilet, there’d be no privacy.
The walk-in shower had both rainfall and handheld showerheads.
Rather than having small toiletry bottles, there were larger bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash mounted to the wall.
Breakfast
It seemed like most paid rates included breakfast. We’d booked using points and so in theory weren’t eligible for complimentary breakfast, but I have Diamond status with IHG One Rewards. When checking in, Diamond members can choose between complimentary breakfast and bonus points as a welcome gift, so free breakfast is much better value.
The front desk agent didn’t ask about this when we checked in and I didn’t remember until later. I stopped by the front desk to specify that we’d like the free breakfast and they seemed a little confused. We were given a free breakfast coupon for the first morning and told to get a new one each morning which we did, although the people working each morning seemed confused by why we needed the coupon.
Anyway, on to breakfast itself. It was buffet-style and there was a decent enough spread each morning. There was an egg station where you could order customized eggs – omelet, fried, poached, etc. There were lots of hot options like bacon, chicken sausage, baked beans, potato wedges, mushrooms and more.
In addition to those hot options there were pastries, breads, salad, cold cuts, fruit, cereal and more.
We ate inside each day as the weather was so bad outside, but they do have outdoor seating that would be nice to sit at when the weather’s better.
Dinner
We took the hotel’s free shuttle bus to the mall on our first night and ate there, but subsequently ate at the hotel’s restaurant for our remaining three nights.
Something to be aware of if staying at the Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor is that you can’t charge meals to your room. I’ve no idea why, but you’ll want to make sure you have your wallet on you so that you can pay with card or cash.
Here’s the a la carte dinner menu.
Something that was interesting was that at both breakfast and dinner they placed an orange sign denoting that we were members of IHG’s loyalty program. I say this was interesting because we were the only ones who ever had that placed on our table, so I was surprised that no other guests seemed to be IHG members.
Meals always started with a few warm bread rolls being brought to the table.
On our first evening eating at their restaurant I went for the fried egg noodles with chicken, prawn and eggs. The serving size didn’t feel like it was very big when it was served, but it ended up being more than enough food and was tasty.
Shae ordered the grilled fish that night which came with mashed potatoes, sautéed vegetables and creole sauce. She enjoyed her meal too.
For dessert we shared their chocolate cake which came with vanilla ice cream. Chocolate desserts at the Hilton and Le Méridien weren’t very good, but this one at the Holiday Inn was much better. The vanilla ice cream was excellent too which wasn’t surprising seeing as Mauritius grows vanilla.
On our final night I ordered their stir fried Cantonese rice with beef & eggs which was also good.
This came with some chili paste and garlic water/oil. I’ve no idea why they provided so much chili paste because that stuff was HOT, so a minimal amount was needed.
I’d considered getting their chicken curry and rice, so I was glad when Shae ordered that as it meant I got to try it too. It was very good, although not as good as the curries we had at the Hilton and at Sunset Filaos. It came served with a bowl of lentils which looked almost soup-like.
That night I ordered their coconut crème brûlée which was supposed to also come with four spice cookies. No cookies came with it, although that was probably for the best as I was already pretty full. The crème brûlée was very good, although it wasn’t very coconutty.
Shae ordered the chocolate cake again, but our server suggested a chocolate dessert that wasn’t listed on the menu. He called it chocolate fondue, but it was a chocolate lava cake. This was on the edge of not being baked quite long enough, but it ended up being perfect – very chocolatey, gooey and delicious. Shae is a chocolate dessert connoisseur and she thought it was excellent.
On our third night at the hotel we came down to have dinner and discovered that they were serving it buffet-style that night rather than ordering off the a la carte menu. There seemed to be a tour group staying there that night, so that might’ve been the reason they set up the buffet.
Similar to the breakfast buffet, there were multiple hot options, salad and fruit, as well as other dessert options.
Shae and I fell in love with ti punch while in Mauritius – a cocktail made up of 50% rum, 25% cane syrup and 25% lime juice. We ended up getting at least one of those each night too.
Amenities
The hotel has a spa and fitness center on the third floor.
You can scan the QR code below to view the spa treatment menu.
Just off the spa area was the fitness room. It wasn’t the greatest hotel fitness room I’ve ever seen, but it didn’t seem like it got busy and so it didn’t matter there wasn’t as much equipment. What was good was that there were five different types of cardio equipment.
There were also weights that could be used.
Just off the spa area there was a balcony with some sun loungers.
The hotel has an outdoor swimming pool, but the weather meant we didn’t make use of it during our stay.
Next to the restaurant area is a bar.
Between the bar and the front desk are lots of tables and chairs, along with a pool table.
Also just off the lobby was a business center with a computer for guests to use. I didn’t notice a printer, so you might need to get the front desk to print items off if necessary.
The Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor offers a free shuttle to three locations – the airport, Astroea Beach and Bo’Valon mall. While the airport shuttle runs throughout the day from 7am to midnight, the shuttle to the beach and mall runs from 9am-4:30pm, with the last pickup time depending on whether you’re getting picked up from the beach or mall.
Apparently the hotel is concerned about guests not knowing how to use an elevator, so there’s a 9 point guide (or 13 points if you include the additional bullets) explaining how to use one. Surprisingly, they don’t mention that you need to press the numbered button corresponding to the floor you want to get to in order for it to move up or down. 😉
Pet Policy
The Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor isn’t a pet-friendly hotel.
Service
Overall, service was very good. All staff members were friendly and well-intentioned, with the servers at dinner being particularly nice. Service on our first night was a little slow, particularly in terms of how long it took to receive drinks. When paying for dinner, the hotel asks you to rate your experience from 1-10, so we gave a very good rating, but left some feedback that it would be nice to receive drinks more quickly. For the remaining two nights they were much more diligent with at least bringing water over quickly, so it was nice that they took the feedback on board.
Wi-Fi
The hotel offers complimentary Wi-Fi for all guests. It was a good speed and we didn’t have any connectivity issues. Due to the bad weather, we spent much of our four days in our room working on stuff, so I appreciated not having any internet problems.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
Check-in at the Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor is from 3pm, while checkout is at 12pm.
Location
The hotel is right next to the airport, so it’s a useful place to stay if arriving in Mauritius late at night or if you have an early morning flight. There isn’t much to do in the immediate area, so it’s nice that they offer the complimentary shuttle to get to the nearby mall and a beach.
It’s also close to Blue Bay and Ile aux Cerfs, so it’s worth renting a car or organizing an excursion to visit those places if you have better weather than we did.
Parking
The hotel offers free self-parking.
Cost
We booked our stay using IHG One Rewards points. They were charging 24,000 points per night for the first night and 25,000 points per night for our remaining three nights. That means our total cost should’ve been 99,000 points, but we didn’t have to redeem as many as that.
That’s because I have the IHG Premier credit card which offers every 4th night free on award stays. That reduced the cost to 74,000 points, but it got even better than that. I also have the IHG Select credit card (no longer open to new applications) which gives a 10% rebate on award stays. That’ll get us 7,400 points back, so our net cost was 66,600 points, or an average of 16,650 points per night.
For comparison, the paid rate was $172.44 per night for our dates. That means we got 1.04 cents per point (cpp) of value by using points. We bought the points for 0.5cpp, so that means we got just over double the value from the points that we paid for them.
Final Thoughts
Shae and I enjoyed our stay at the Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor. Our room was clean and comfortable, service was friendly, the food at both breakfast and dinner was good and the hotel proactively upgraded us before we arrived to a Junior Suite.
The location isn’t great if you’re wanting a beach/exotic vacation, but it’s nice and close to the airport and also puts you close to attractions like Ile aux Cerfs and Blue Bay.
Our Rating
Room = 4.2 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.1 / 5
Food = 4.1 / 5
Location = 4.2 / 5
Service = 4.1 / 5
Overall Value = 4.2 / 5
Total = 4.15 / 5
Address
Holiday Inn, Montresor MU, Plaine Magnien 51512, Mauritius
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