The Bainbridge-Smith family from New Zealand will return home with a lot of good memories from their six-day stay in Samoa.

Their visit to this part of the Pacific is their first and they have given customer service at the Sheraton Beach Resort Mulifanua the thumbs up.

Maggie Bainbridge-Smith, 39, told the Samoa Observer her family’s experience has been fantastic and the Samoan people are honest, lovely and very helpful.

However, seeing poverty in some parts of Samoa was a concern for her, with even their taxi driver talking about it.

“But I see there is a lot of poverty here and I hear from a taxi driver that church took most of the money,” she said. “We come from a green place like New Zealand and we like to visit a place that is more natural.”

This newspaper bumped into the family at the local market, where they were checking out locally-made clothes to buy as well as traditional items to take home as souvenirs. 

Mrs Bainbridge-Smith said they will make a trip to the famous Tosua Trench on Upolu before they return to New Zealand.

“We are staying at the Sheraton Beach Resort and it has been our fourth day, this is our first day away from the resort,” she said.

For her husband David, they are enjoying their stay at the Sheraton Beach Resort Mulifanua, as the room service is great.

“We quite often just stay in the resort in a country for the first time and the next time we will go out and see the other side of the country,” he said.

As it is their first time in Samoa, Mr Bainbridge-Smith said their first impressions of the country are good and they are keen to return. 

His wife Maggie said that they have enjoyed the oceanic view and they plan to visit the big island in their next visit. 

“It has a lovely ocean views which we can see outside of the window of our room, and we are thinking of coming back next time and visit the big island of Savai’i,” she added.

The family will fly back to New Zealand on Saturday after a six-day visit to Samoa.