Hotel Lubumbashi

The accommodation provides spacious, comfortable rooms with excellent service and free Wi-Fi. Guests enjoyed the high-quality breakfast and appreciated the staff's willingness to assist with airport transfers.

Day 1 (afternoon) Impressions of the lobby were not positive. It smelt musty and seemed it could do with a little cleaning. The staff at the reception were very kind and helpful and spoke both English and French. The room itself is home to a cockroach. It is less than clean. The room card has to go into the slot near the door at an angle; it does not fit properly. The kettle had been placed far from any power point, which makes no sense. I moved it and tried it at two different power points but the kettle did not work. I phoned reception to let them know. In the meantime, I tried to get the wifi working only to discover the modem, which is dirty, was not switched on. I struggled to get it on but to no avail. It used one the plug points I had tried the kettle on. I phoned reception to report this problem as well. I waited for about twenty minutes for someone to come to my room to deal with the kettle. The lights in my room had be working, which is to be expected. Shortly after I had phoned about the modem, power was restored, I suspect, by someone outside the room by flipping some or other switch. Within thirty seconds of the modem starting up, someone came to my room to look at the kettle and the modem. He had the cheek to tell me that the kettle would start boiling the water soon and I needed to be patient. He was implying that I was being unreasonable and that I had somehow wanted hot water instantly. I told him more than once that I waited for twenty minutes and the electricity had just come on to where the modem and the kettle were plugged in. Also, at the same time, additional lights in the room switched on, which means there clearly some lights that also did not have electricity for some reason. In terms of a room safe, it is right on the top of a cupboard, meaning most guests would need to climb a ladder to reach it. It is not even inside the cupboard. This makes no sense. I have also, thus far, not found any "Do not disturb" or "Please make my room" signs. This can create problematic situations. There is an ashtray in my room but I am not a smoker. Why was I not asked if I was a smoker? Are people in other rooms near me suddenly going to start smoking, forcing me to breathe in their carcinogenic poison? This hotel has an agreement, it appears, with one of the banks that was largely bought out two years ago by a bank headquartered in Kenya. It would seem that the bank forces its staff and suppliers to stay at hotels run by, for lack of a better term, family members, irrespective of whether the hotel is up to scratch or not. Day 1 (evening) There is some loud thud, which I presume is supposed to be music, disturbing the peace. One can hear people speaking loudly all around the hotel, endlessly; one can hear furniture being moved, the clang of cutlery and children running around and shouting in competition with some of the adults that are shouting. This is most certainly not a hotel suitable for people who are business and who want