Hotel Taha Tai Review

Rapa Nui, also known as the earth's navel, is most commonly referred to as Easter Island by outsiders (this is due to the island being discovered on Easter Sunday) and is an archeological treasure trove, suitable for any individual with a sense of adventure. If you are lucky enough to be visiting the island currently owned by Chile (residence of Rapa Nui strongly oppose this) there is a surprisingly large amount of lodging options. These lodgings range in price, with Hotel Taha Tai coming in as one of the most expensive hotels on the island.

Location

Hotel Taha Tai is one of the few professionally run (many hotels are run by families on the island) lodgings in Easter Island and there is several dozen rooms available. It is on the outskirt of town, but on such a small speck of land, everything is within walking distance. You can take a taxi when arriving on the island (flights are available from Santiago, Chile and Tahiti) but it is a rather expensive ride for the three minutes it lasts. Instead, walk out of the airport, turn left until you reach town. Street names do exist but are not marked (making it extremely hard to follow a map, unless you are counting the streets), so walk until you reach the Aloha restaurant on the left. Turn left, then take the first right. After walking a few hundred feet the drive to the hotel appears on the left.

Price

You must book the hotel through its online website, as it is commonly full if you just walk up to the hotel without a reservation. However, when doing so you do not actually pay over the Internet. You simply make a request for a room and time period. The hotel then emails you back within a day or so, confirming your reservation. Upon arriving you check in and are shown your room. Do be warned though, Hotel Taha Tai is more expensive than the advertised price on the website. Featured prices on the website start at $110, but you are in fact charged (as of December 2010) $140 a night (this adds a large chunk to your bill). Additionally, the hotel gives a terrible exchange rate (as does the rest of the island), so you are actually going to pay around $150 a night after it is all said and done.

Accommodations

Lets face it, you aren't visiting Easter Island to stay in your hotel room. This is a good thing as your room in Hotel Taha Tai comes with few perks. There is a bed (two twins pushed together if you request a full size), a shower, which occasionally produces warm water, and a TV that receives one, snowy station, completely in Spanish. When staying keep your clothes off the floor as ants and other small critters are coming, and you don't want to be bit while hiking the sights. Thankfully on the plus side breakfast is included and is one of the best available in all of Chile as it includes more than the standard bread, ham and cheese (scrambled eggs, an assortment of juices, pastries and cereal are all options). Make sure to stock up on breakfast, as prices around the island are incredibly high all, regardless of where you stop (a simple meal for two, consisting of sandwiches, water and a glass of beer or wine is going to cost nearly $80).

Service

The staff of Hotel Taha Tai is extremely accommodating and is always looking to help. Currency exchange is available (although this is best done on the main land to avoid astonishingly poor exchange rates), there is a craft store with prices that don't stray too much from actual prices on the street and it is possible to rent a car. This proves extremely helpful when seeing the sights, unless you want to be bogged down by a tour group.