There is so much to say about the Sheraton Addis. It is rather expensive but I think that’s because it is the best hotel in town. For some strange reason it’s only 5th or 6th in TripAdvisor’s rankings but when you look at the “better” ones, you do wonder how they got there. Reviews for the Sheraton on here are generally rather good though. A warning about rates – don’t book through the hotel itself – even their extra special discounted prices can be beaten very easily online.

There is a Sheraton welcome area at ADD airport which is easy to find. We were taken to a minibus full of western businessmen. Cramped in, with all our baggage, we were taken on the short ride to the hotel. The hotel is located on a huge compound in the city and is right next to the Prime Minister’s residence and offices. It has great views of Addis and you can immediately tell that this used to be a top end luxury property – “used to be” in the sense that the architecture and layout reminds me of grand hotels in the Gulf back in the 80s/90s (a comparison I made throughout my stay).

Security is tight – very tight – which is reassuring. This is also unsurprising given the fact that President Obama chose to stay here when he was in town recently. The airport scanners at the entrance aren’t cosmetic either as they often are in African hotels. You get searched each time you enter the property – in a very polite, friendly and cheery manner. The doormen are always so happy and greet you personally each time you come or go.

Check in is smooth. They sit you down and take you through everything. Reception also help pay for taxis you use at the hotel if you put them on your room, which is really helpful. The SPG cookies they have at the desk are great – try one. You immediately get a feeling that staff is friendly and service is great – which continues throughout every part of the hotel.

The interior of the hotel is good. Again, it looks like a grand hotel in the Gulf back in the 80s/90s (I was raised out there back then and this is what the place reminds me of). It is clean throughout but a little dated. The bellhop took my bags to my room and I followed.

The rooms themselves are large and clean. Décor is dated but I suppose you can embrace and enjoy the retro aspect. The rooms have everything you could need. The TV is great and there are plenty of channels. Wifi is free and rather good. The minibar is well stocked and reasonably priced. Laundry is super fast – I was amazed how quickly I had something come back (they have a professional dry cleaner onsite). The bed is SO comfortable – a real highlight of the room.

My room (350) faced the entrance of the hotel so I didn’t have a great view. My colleague faced the city and had a great view. There were occasional power cuts but they don’t last long. Housekeeping is fantastic (I had an iron delivered very quickly – and it was a good iron too). I love a hotel with a turndown service, which the Sheraton Addis has.

Breakfast was included in my rate. It is in the main hotel restaurant and offers a great selection of options. No bacon though – or pork products anywhere. I know the hotel is Saudi owned but if you’re going to serve alcohol, why not pork products? I find this incredibly hypocritical. Anyhow, service at breakfast, and indeed at all times in this restaurant, is fantastic. The staff are so genuinely friendly. I ate lunch and dinner here too and was never disappointed. The buffet options are wonderful (the Asian night is good). A la carte is good too – but avoid the chicken burger for lunch (I didn’t expect minced meat).

There are plenty of other eating and drinking options here. My colleague and I experienced all of them apart from the Italian restaurant. The Indian restaurant is superb (and I eat a lot of Indian food). The pool bar is alright for lunch. The outside bar is good – although make sure you order from a menu. We had a rather dodgy experience with a bill one night. We asked for Ethiopian wine by the glass. They automatically served the expensive one of the two options they had ($8 vs $3). The bill added up to approx $60 for 4 drinks which I queried. The base rate, pre-taxes, was 1100brr – despite no options on the menu adding up to this amount. The waiter said it was because it included 25% taxes… I pointed out that the +10% and +15% taxes were added later on. He pretended he didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t budge. He went behind the bar, talked to his superior and obviously realised this was wrong – for whatever reason. His solution was to come back and say that the 1100 was for 5 glasses (oops) but this was still mathematically impossible. He suggested giving us another glass. We agreed as it was late and we’d been out all day – but it was rather dodgy practice and made us scrutinise all menu orders and bills for the rest of our stay (which were all fine).

I have one major complaint about this hotel – the lack of a gym or any sort of decent fitness facilities. The TripAdvisor listing for the hotel clearly states that the Sheraton has a gym. IT DOES NOT. The Sheraton’s own page does not claim to have one. I was livid to discover that there is nothing here – not even a small room with a treadmill in it – shocking for a supposed five star international property with almost 270 rooms! At check in they acknowledged this and made a rather innovative/peculiar offer – that I could have an exercise bike in my room for the duration of the stay. Now, this would normally make me angrier, but I did sympathise with staff – it is ownership that is being absolutely ridiculous by having this as the best option. I did take up the offer though – see my photos. The pool is closed in August too so there isn’t even that fitness option.

I want to highlight here that I will not come back to this hotel until they provide substantial fitness facilities. This was, however, the only problem I had with the Sheraton – apart from this it’s a great place to stay. There is plenty of space onsite to create a small fitness area – they really need to do so.

Concierge is very good. I was surprised to see some people had problems with getting taxis. We did not. The on-site tourism company was always on hand with a car. They took us all over town – waiting for us in meetings before taking us back or coming to pick us up when we called them. Location wise the hotel seemed to be very near to all our meetings and it didn’t take more than 20 minutes to get anywhere.

When I discovered that the owner of the hotel is a Saudi/Ethiopian businessman, the peculiarities of the hotel became clear. There is no pork because of the Saudi connection. There are only Pepsi products on offer because he owns the Coke brand in Ethiopia. There is no gym because apparently he doesn’t care much for health and fitness. I said the décor reminded me of an 80s hotel in the Gulf and being a Saudi owned hotel this all made sense.

Despite being a little dated, this hotel was excellent. The staff is brilliant. I’ve stayed in hotels with attentive, professional, friendly staff before but at the Sheraton Addis they are all so genuine too – and it is consistent throughout the property. You forget about your expectations of a Sheraton that charges as much as it does when you experience the service at this place. It’s easy to have a good time here but if they’re going to make me so comfortable and make eating and drinking so easy – they really need to make space for a gym.