Guest User
March 11, 2024
We stayed twice at the Retreat in December 2023, 5 nights in total. Many travelers seemed, like us, to be booked as part of a tour - ours was with Singita. We stayed in a King Suite and a Pool Villa. Overall it was a disappointing experience, especially at the price point. In an effort to be factual and fair, here is what we observed: GOOD Neighborhood is quiet, leafy, and well-situated. Breakfast offers good variety. Buffet and a la carte are offered, coffee is good. Rooms are quiet. Property is spacious and stylish. Netflix in the room was handy during jet lag. DISAPPOINTING Broken room fixtures that could be fixed easily - the AC, and the shower (pic). Patios are unswept (pic). Hangers are broken (pic). Window shade wouldn't open (pic). Laminate floor peeling near the bathroom entrance. Front desk service, while at times friendly, was unhelpful with basic requests. They exchanged currency with a hefty commission - roughly 15 USD per 100 changed. They were somehow unable to summon a taxi for us. Most disappointing was that the AC repair, the usual housekeeping and additional bottles of water were requested at 9am and by our return from the city at 5pm, the room was just as we left it, without even the usual housekeeping. It was clear staff forgot, as they rushed to the room to begin fixing the situation. We have traveled quite extensively through East and West African countries and at 500 USD per night this kind of service is unacceptable, and surprisingly subpar compared to other reviews. Our cousins were in town at stayed at the Marriott, which is a huge hotel and thus an apples and oranges comparison, but they had an easy and predictable experience. If back in Kigali, it would be a no brainer to stay elsewhere.