Crown Hotel kality — Hotel in Addis Ababa

I was fortunate enough to stay at the Crown Hotel in March of 2014. I was collected from the airport and safely transported to the hotel. My booking with the hotel was done at the last minute, which is typical of me, however they welcomed and facilitated my arrival and stay at the hotel. ||I would like to share one experience in particular i had while staying at the hotel and i must start by giving it some context. ||I went to Ethiopia to join an adventurer ( see details on adventurer at www.fatkidonabike.com ) on a 5 day, 500km bicycle ride. Being my usual disorganised self, i had not tested every element of the bike that i had brought over from South Africa to join the adventurer on a small part of his cycle through Africa.||Once i started assembling my bike at the Crown Hotel i quickly realised i was missing a few important pieces to this cycling puzzle. The staff and marketing manager all were extremely quick to offer help and suggestions. To the extent that one of the staffs family members, a handy DIY man, was called and arrived with a few great solutions to my problem. ||The point is, the staff are extremely helpful and giving. THEY WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS. ||This is Ethiopia, so price and experience in terms of luxury do go hand in hand. They have a small gym at the hotel which was also a great surprise. It is a basic gym, treadmill, small circuit and that is it. But it is a gym. ||The reality is that you can probably get a hotel with a more central location, but that said, you would struggle to get a place with better people than at Crown Hotel. From the Bellman who litterally will help with any problem you have, from arranging lost credit cards to taking your bag, or from the walk down the main streets with the marketing manager, I could not have asked for a better experience. There are also cultural experiences on the premises of the hotel, such as the Cultural restaurant, which was a delight as dancers and singers performed almost nightly, and the coffee ceremony that is almost always on the go. A...

My husband and I booked a room as a weekend getaway. We found them online and the rooms were listed at 40% off - but we decided to book in person instead of through a 3rd party. When we arrived, we were told the rooms were $65 (online they were $41). We ended up paying $45 for the room we saw online. But we got inside and nothing was plugged in (TV, refrigerator, lamps) and not enough plugs to plug everything in at once. There was no coffee/tea station or stocked mini bar (as per website). Finally, housekeeping came and sorted it out for us (luckily, I had brought a multi-socket international plug so we could charge our phones, watch tv, and boil water at the same time. The cold water was off - only boiling hot water in bathroom the first day. Finally came on so we could bathe. No plug for bathtub and no curtain for shower. Not a lot of choices at restaurant. Wifi didn't work for us the whole weekend. ||Overall, not a bad place - but definitely not more than average. For the price, we expected much nicer. Service was good, and they bent over backwards trying to keep us happy after we complained to front desk and called the out on inconsistencies with their online info and reality. Building A of Hotel on main road with heavy traffic even into the night. Also lots of dirt and dust if you leave your windows open. Building B probably has quieter rooms, but...

The Crown hotel is located south of the Ring Road, so it's a somewhat out of the way. The facility is extensive, almost a small campus. In addition to the hotel itself, it includes a traditional Ethiopian coffee bar and seating area, a dining room and bar, among other things. My stay was brief, one night. The room was okay, it included a mosquito net to keep the ever present though few mosquitoes at bay, a TV with decent reception and plentiful hot water. ||What I really want to highlight is the staff. They were extremely helpful. One of the things I learned during my stay in Addis is to ask the hotel reception staff any and all questions. They're very happy to help. They were able to help refill my sim card's minutes. They have a taxi driver on hand who provided good service at reasonable rates and even provided his phone number so I could call him at the end of the evening to bring me back...