Sofitel Algiers Hamma Garden — Hotel in Belouizdad

Positives:

The free airport shuttle was a wonderful amenity and went flawlessly in both directions. It was even quite early to pick me up from the airport.

The building is in fantastic shape and is simply yet cleanly designed, and the outdoor premises were pristine.

The breakfast and dinner buffet staff were very kind, but the breakfast buffet was atrocious. There was no hot food whatsoever, so I just ate cold chicken, cold turkey, and yogurt. The dinner buffet was delectably fantastic, on the other hand. However, at almost $50 per meal, it was outrageously overpriced (even more so than luxurious Las Vegas buffets).

Room service was professional, timely, and exceptionally delicious, and it was so nice to be able to try Algerian wine through this service.

The lovely housekeeping staff were always cheerful. They did such a thorough job and were super kind and friendly during interactions.

Negatives:

Communication problems by email beforehand made me nervous to even book the property, as I received contradictory information regarding early check-in, late check-in, and the airport shuttle that wasn't sorted out until a manager intervened several emails later.

The room's temperature could not be made colder, and I was frequently having sleepless nights by waking up overheated. You also were unable to charge any devices at nighttime, as the entire room's power supply must be shut off in order to sleep without lights on. The mini-refrigerator also was non-functional, and it had to be replaced.

The indoor/outdoor pool was beautiful and very spacious, but the Infinite Pool Lounge was defunct. No poolside food/drink service was available as advertised online, and that was a serious let-down.

I had many issues with the various concierge workers, who as a whole were very lackluster and caused far more problems than solutions.

No currency is exchanged despite an exchange rate table being present on a digital screen behind the desk. When I asked the young male worker to exchange money early in my stay, he did so. Later, I learned he had done so illegally and that the hotel does not offer this service. I was told to simply exchange it illegally on the street and was assured the police wouldn't catch me.

Post cards I dropped off Tuesday morning were still sitting on the concierge's desk Wednesday afternoon.

The concierge also didn't know that Algeria has banned foreigners from using their credit cards outside of hotels, including at DHL. I made it a point to have the concierge call DHL beforehand, and they assured me that DHL accepts Visa. This ruined my entire day for sightseeing because I had to carry 15 kilograms of packages with me the entire day when DHL rejected my non-Algerian Visa credit card.

The front desk does not work during certain Islamic ritual times, for example from 7:00 PM to 7:20 PM on March 22nd, there were no workers whatsoever at the front desk (check the security cameras, I beg you), and the same young male worker who finally did arrive could not speak English unless you spoke robotically to him (and even then, he just asked that I use Google Translate to communicate in Arabic with him). He also had food crumbs on his face and said they had to break their fasting first and then resume work, no matter if there are non-Muslim guests who were told in writing before booking that the hotel wouldn't operate any differently during Ramadan.

The older man working the counter at 6:50 PM on March 23rd, 2024 could not understand my slow, robotic English and was very dismissive and rude when I told him the workers at the Jardins d'Essai didn't comprehend earlier in the morning that the blue bracelets issued by the hotel entailed a free entry. The workers wanted me to buy a ticket instead. The hotel worker then replied, "I've never heard of this." I just became so exasperated trying to dumb down my questions that I begged him to find another staff member who actually could...

1* because of the constant cigarette smoke. Unfortunately, the hotel was a complete disappointment because of that. While the building has a great style and reflects what you see in most pictures, and the staff is mostly friendly and professional, and breakfast is good too - just like you’d expect it in a 5* hotel, the constant cigarette smoke INSIDE is absolutely unacceptable. Once I complained when sitting in the lobby, they asked me (the non-smoker!) to go outside if I was bothered by the smoke! In the evening, the cigarette smoke would start creeping into the room and I had to turn off the AC and leave the window open. Despite calling the reception, nothing was done. The next morning, I talked to one of the managers  - Camila - an overall really friendly/professional lady and she offered me 30% off the next night as I said I would’ve liked to extend my stay for another night. I realised that this would be an issue in every hotel if it already occurs in such an internationally renowned brand. So, I weighed my options. She promised me to make sure nobody smokes around me and that everybody double-checked on it being a non-smoking room. Upon changing later that day, all seemed fine - just with the first room. Once the evening came, I realised it was exactly the same thing again. Despite the fact that the room was two floors higher up (7th) and on a different side of the building, cigarette smoke started creeping in again through the AC and hallway. I called twice but nothing was done or changed. I opened the window, but since it was towards the Botanical garden, I woke up later in the night because of mosquitoes entering. When I addressed this in the morning, I was told that Camila was sick (I hope she gets well soon!) and a lady at the reception (Abiah - if I understood the name correctly) just told me that she couldn’t do anything about the compensation. She just offered a mere 500 points for my account. After 15min of arguing, I gave up. By the time of the checkout I had gotten sick (I arrived healthy!) from the lack of sleep and constant passive smoking, and I was simply tired of arguing something that shouldn’t even be an issue. Making the customer endure such health hazards, not adhering to the legal contractual obligations (if you sell a non-smoking room, you gotta provide a non-smoking room and not come up with silly excuses of why there may still be smoke entering from somewhere), and then treating them so unprofessionally when leaving is extremely disappointing. The reasons of why I couldn’t be given another 30% off for the first night were absolutely invalid. If a hotel wants to offer a compensation, they can modify the price as they wish. Definitely won’t be back to Sofitel for a long time with this kind of treatment.

p.s. the government owns this hotel and insists on the lobby/bar area allowing for smoking. In my view, absolutely irresponsible with an international brand like this and completely unfriendly...

Update! There are plenty of outdoor seating at this hotel. Why do you still allow smoking indoors? Even when we go outside, the smokers crowd around and blow smoke in non-smokers' direction. I am glad I stopped smoking and hope to buy back 5 years of my life, but it really sucks that the hotel lacks accommodation for human health concerns. Sorry for the 3 stars!

/////////////////////// I arrived Herr on Friday, 21 June 2024. The hotel is not really close to anything that would make you walk outside and adventure. The hotel is next to the botanical garden, which is an interesting view. The hotel lobby is decorated very nicely and is very spacious.

The hotel staff us great, they are very friendly and a pleasure to talk to. Everyone I encourage was very helpful

On the first night at the lobby bar, they were out of tequila, and Jack Daniels, this is interesting for a major hotel brand. I ordered room service, cheeseburger and fries. The burger was over a bit well done, and the fries were a little greasy. Never would I order it from here again.

The room I was in was dated, but it was comfortable enough to lay down and sleep. The problem I had was on the 2nd and 3rd day. I stayed in a room on the 7th floor.

On Saturday and Sunday, early morning until the late afternoon, someone was working in a room above me. All I could hear was the sound of someone hammering all day, and it drove me insane. I finally couldn't take it anymore and went to the front desk to explain what was happening.

I went back to my room to wait for someone to contact me about switching rooms. Mr. Acheche called me to apologize for the inconvenience. Mr. Acheche immediately took action and changed my room. His customer service professionalism and dedication to customer relations and experience provided me with gratification on how well he was able to repair the situation. I thank Mr. Acheche, very much for him and his teams assistance today.

It is professional like Mr. Acheche that will have me come back to the hotel.

One last thing. It would be nice to discontinue the practice of allowing cigarette smoking within...