Yes, my title says it all. I really enjoyed my stay at Petit Villa. People who love boutique hotels and appreciate personalized service would absolutely love this place. And to the above mentioned, i urge you to choose petit villa, you wont regret.
Rooms.
We got the room with the twin bedding and it was spacious and clean.The bed was single+, and rather firm. I liked the firmness though. My friend was mesmerized by the toilet, which i agree to some extent. It's very 'SPA-like'. Weird configuration i agree, but you'll get used to it. Only minor complain is the lighting. Only a few spot-lights in the room and a side lamp, all of which were not very bright, so the room was constantly quite dim, which brought on waves of sleepiness. I genuinely considered if that was the whole point :) Nonetheless, it was really comfy, almost homely.
Food.
Like mentioned in almost all the reviews, we were also welcomed with the fruit shakes. It was delicious! Breakfast was ok, not great, but not bad either. We didn't have to wait for a long time for breakfast to be served though, waiting time was average. I had this Khmer noodle soup and though it tasted great (kinda like green curry with noodles), it was lukewarm. On hindsight i could have sent it back to the kitchen but we were rushing for time that day. As for the fruit shakes, though it was delicious, by the 3rd day, we were a little bit intimidated by more mango shakes. I'm sure there can be more variety, but we had mango shakes everyday.
Service.
Last but not least, the service. I am most impressed by this. We saw a welcome message on our beds the moment we stepped into our room and it brought megawatt smiles to our faces. All the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. They were always smiling at any time of the day. They were also extremely welcoming. Every time we came back, we would get a bright smile and a "welcome back!" when we passed by the front desk, then 10 steps later another "welcome back!" from the staff at the restaurant area. EVERY single time. Any staff regardless of whether they were on duty in the front or not, (even those who were doing their work at the back), would greet us and welcome us back when they saw us on our way back to our room. Surprisingly sweet hospitality.
Crisis management was also commendable. We experienced blackouts on two occasions (in 3 nights), both of which were resolved within 15 mins. The first time was on our first night and within minutes we were handed candles. It wasn't scary at all. The second time it happened in the wee morning when suddenly the air con was cut, i half expected them to not realize it since it was like 3, 4am in the morning, but power came back on in about 10, 15mins. Impressive.
Seth was a great host. He specially sat us down on our last night at Petit villa and talked to us. Basically, he just asked about our stay, the places we visited, how we liked our experience, etc. It was a little surprising, but an act much appreciated in terms of hospitality. You really do feel like he is making an effort to know you and make your stay better. What was more surprising was that Seth even accompanied us to the airport! I'm not sure if that's the norm at petit villa, but it was definitely a first for me. Usually hospitality ends when you check out, but with petit villa, or rather, with seth, it ended only when we were safely at the airport. It was such a very thoughtful gesture that made our stay so memorable and delightful. Petit villa is very lucky to have seth, any employer would be.
Location.
First i have to say the place was much smaller than what i had expected, but no complains there. Location was also a little bit more 'off-the-main-road' than expected. It is really housed in a residential area between houses and about 15-25 mins walk to the town area (central market/pub street). There are no street lamps at all, so the place is almost pitch black at night aside from the lights coming from the houses, but, for some reason it felt pretty safe walking at night. We are two girls and we had no problem walking to and fro the hotel to the town area every night. To be honest, the very first night was scary but thereafter it was like walking back home. No issue at all.
Overall i really loved the place and would definitely stay there again. Kudos to the management and staff. The staff are really the soul of the place.
*A word of caution to those who are more accustomed to staying at larger hotels, you may find petit villa lacking in some aspects.