Review of Hotel Arinofy

Hotel Arinofy is a quiet little hotel within walking distance of the bus station. We had a nice, not to expensive room with acces to a balcony.

The next day we wanted to buy tickets for the train to Manakara. Unfortunately we got told by some guide hanging out at the hotel, that the station was closed due to a holiday. The same guide, Daniel, who spoke reasonable french talked us into a quite expensive tour with a private taxi tour to Ambalavao. While he assured us to be our guide until we agreed and started the trip, he suddenly switched places with "his brother". Our new guide, who spoke french really well according to Daniel, did not understand a word we said. Hence he could not tell us anything about the sights we saw. This was especially anoying when he crashed his car and we stood in the middle of nowhere without being able to communicate at all.

Back at the hotel we wanted to get a discount as Daniel lied to us about the guidance. Unfortunately the only guy speaking french at the hotel wasn't there and we were not able to communicate our problem.
When we finally convinced the guide to call Daniel and explained our problem he agreed to meet us at the train the next morning, where he wanted to get us some tickets and to set the record straight.

The next morning he did not show up at the train station and neither did the train. It turned out that the train does wasn't scheduled to run, and probably Daniel knew about this. So not only did he rip us off, but also disabled us from taking the train on our trip. If we had known, we could have changed plans and taken it on the way back. The concierge did not know either.

All in all we can recommend the hotel for a not so expensive stay, but don't expect someone who speaks french to be there at all times. And we strongly advise you not to trust any guide hanging out at the lobby even if the concierge recommends him. Especially do not trust in anything Daniel is telling you!