Impress Building l Bole Medhanialem l ኢምፕረስ ህንፃ l ቦሌ መድሃኒአለም — Hotel in Addis Ababa

Like the title states, this is one of the best views in Addis. The hotel is relatively small and only occupies floor 4-6, as the other floors are leased out to businesses. Each room is like a mini self contained apartment. Huge bed, kitchenette area with fridge, cabinets, cooker and over. Then the bathroom is off to the side and quite spacey. The bed to balcony area is where you truly get your money’s worth. Slide back the blinds, pull open the sliding doors and you’re looking directly at Medhane Alem Cathedral, to your left - so close, you can pick out the Sunday prayer crowd. While, laid out before you is the entire city, with the mountains in the distance. ||||So, while the hotel is lovely, there were a few major let downs, like: the shower flooding the rest of the bathroom and despite raising this and being assured it’d be fixed, it wasn’t; my room wasn’t cleaned for about three days until I insisted (I wasn’t informed I had to leave my key at reception before heading out, if I wanted my room cleaned); some furnitures were a bit old. Which is why my review rating is an average rather than higher.||||However, I believe if you have a mind set of renting a room in an apartment rather than renting a hotel room, you’ll truly enjoy your stay and it’ll be worth it - well except for the bathroom issue. ||||Pros||||- Balcony views||- Medhane Alem Cathedral (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo cathedral is the second largest cathedral in the whole of Africa and the largest in Ethiopia) is located next to the building ||- Less than 15 minutes from the Airport||- Shopping Mall about 5-10 minutes walk||- Tomoca coffee house on the ground floor of the Impress Hotel building||- Kategna traditional restaurant on the ground floor of the Impress Hotel building ||- It’s more like an apartment than a hotel room, and you’ve all the utensils and amenities you need||- Lovely staff that are very willing to assist||- Airport shuttle pick up is super nice and per the city standards, will have you feeling like VIP||- Security downstairs (which is great as the area is very dark and quiet once the restaurants shut at night - circa 11pm/12am) ||||Cons||||- Church prayers are super loud and transmit far and will disturb/disrupt your sleep (it earplugs work for your, bring them. You’ll need them especially if your stay is from about Friday - Sunday or during any religious/fast periods)||- Spotty WiFi ||- Room 602, which I maintain offers the best in the hotel has a crack shower floor. This wasn’t fixed despite raising this numerous times. The water leaks out and floods the bathroom until it eventually drains out ||- It’s more like an apartment than a hotel room (this is also in the Pro list. It depends on your travel preference) ||- Neighbourhood very quiet and dark at night...

I like the room. it was was clean and had a nice view, but a lot of things was missing. like towel and hand soap. The hotel doesn’t offer Gym and pool for the price they charge which is expensive, but I choose it because of location. It has breakfast I like the omelet they made, but buffet doesn’t have much choice. No choice of fruits it’s just watermelons the hole time I stay. Their coffee was weak and the cake was very hard to bite.

Stuff was friendly but management was awful from the top. First day I saw the owner yelling at the bell men/security in front of guest in public. That’s just unprofessional the issue should be addressed in private. I needed late check out they couldn’t give me. so I needed to talk to manager who his name was Addis they say he doesn’t like called with any issues. the reason I wanted to call him was cause supervisor Selam couldn’t give me even one hour late check out my flight was 11pm and I ask to come down to talk to her they insist she will come to my room. I waited 4-5 hrs she never came at some point I saw her in hallway and she turn around walk away. I couldn’t reach her I went down they say she left and they call her she say no late check out not even one hour. She say they give late check out to gusset who stay 5-10 nights I stayed total of 4 nights. She say she can’t because they fulley booked the next day but then again she say she could give me if I pay half price that shows all they care is collecting money not keeping loyal coustumer. They definitely lost me as a coustumer very very disappointed management need to...

Home away from home! My stay at Impress was amazing and exceeded my expectation. This was my third time staying at this place while visiting Addis and each time I enjoyed my stay. It’s in a great location close to restaurants and with very spacious and clean room. The suite has a stove & fridge which was very convenient. Really enjoyed the balcony with plenty of space to walk around and enjoy a very nice view. The room is very roomy and clean to my expectation. I stayed here over a month, and I have never experienced anything negative. The building is very secure and safe enough for me to come in and out all throughout the day/night. All the staff were very welcoming and very helpful. I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to Mekdis, Girma, Seada, Shewa, Tigist, Aynadis and Indrias for all their help and making my stay here beautiful. The house keeping crew (Seada and Shewa) you guys were amazing. Thank you for keeping my room very clean and in order. I bonded with all of the staff, and they made me feel at home away from home! Can’t wait to come back and stay at Impress again! I highly recommend this place to anyone...