Aggie Grey's Hotel & Bungalows

Description:

• This venerable hotel has the same warm, friendly atmosphere Aggie Grey instilled when she opened it in 1943. Aggie's Gift Shop next door shows what it looked like before the fire marshal ordered the old clapboard building closed. Now a modern Victorian-style building fronting Beach Road houses the reception area, the air-conditioned Le Tamarina restaurant, an open-air bar facing the harbor, a coffee shop, and two floors of modern rooms and suites with private verandas overlooking Apia Harbour. In some ways this modern facility has made Aggie's two hotels in one, for its rooms are designed primarily for business travelers (children under 12 cannot stay in this wing), and its presidential suites are fit for potentates. The property out back is like a resort, with its exquisite Old Fale beside the swimming pool with a palm tree growing out of an islet in the middle. Guests can still take their meals under the great turtle-shaped roof or wander over to the bar for a cold Vailima beer and a chat with friendly strangers. The efficient staff prepares feasts and barbecues in astounding quantity, as in Aggie's day, especially during the Wednesday night fiafias.

  The older hotel rooms out back are in stone-accented, two-story buildings rambling through a garden so thick with vegetation that it's easy to get lost trying to find your way from one unit to another. My favorites are the charming individual VIP fale bungalows topped by turtle-shaped roofs. Each of these units bears the name of one of Aggie's famous guests, such as Gary Cooper, William Holden, and Marlon Brando. Every unit has an old-fashioned fold-down ironing board, an Aggie Grey trademark.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Very Highly Recommended 2010