Lukas Garden Accra — Hotel in Greater Accra Region

So where to begin? I arrived at the villa on the 6th August. The guests were all arriving at different times, the first two guests that arrived on the 6th Aug noticed there was no hot water in 2 ensuites. We notified Kofi immediately who advised it should be working when we switch the bottom on. The following day it was still not working, the day after it worked for one bathroom but not the other. 4 days into our stay, more guests arrived. On her first night in the ensuite that we had already highlighted in not having hot water, she went into the bath in the middle of the night to notice that there was a leak. The shower/ toilet had flooded the bathroom. Her clothes that she left drying in the bathroom was damaged as a result. Kofi came and fitted in a new bathroom heater and cleaned the damage. A day later, the guest could not use the toilet as when she flushed 5 minutes later there would be another leak coming from the toilet. We also had an additional separate bathroom, that was not working the ENTIRE stay. So, at this point we had one ensuite that was forever flooding, another ensuite with no hot water and an extra bathroom that did not work. So, 8 people that was living in the villa was sharing 2 bathrooms. That is ridiculous - you would not expect that level of service if you stayed in a hotel. We had two minors and 6 adults living in a hot country for 2 weeks sharing 2 bathrooms. May I also note, the WiFi was not working for 3 days. One evening we came back around 1am, and noticed that there was no WiFi, of course we could not contact the staff as we had no WiFi. So, we had to guess the WiFi password to the Bungalow next door to even have access to the internet. All of these issues impacted our holiday, we felt during our stay every day we had to complain about something, we also had to deal with chasing Kofi and the staff while we were out during the day. There was even one day that Kofi called an advised that he had to go into the villa to fix one of the bathrooms, we trusted him so said he could go without us being there. He then advised that he did not have a spare key. I thought that was ridiculous, how is that even wise to ONLY have one key for that villa. We had to cut our day trip short and return to the villa to let him in to fix the toilet. Please bear in mind, we are on holiday, so dealing with the extra workarounds to fix the issues we were experiencing with the bathrooms impacted significantly on our whole experience in feeling relaxed whilst being on holiday – it made us constantly feel on edge that the villa was going to fall apart at any given second.

There was one night I changed rooms, and stayed in the ensuite that previously had issues with the bathroom. As I went to use the bathroom during the night, I fell over and banged my head on the floor. I switched the light on and noticed the entire bathroom had flooded again (see attached). I let Kofi know the following morning, he came over and said he will return in an hour with his tools to fix it. A couple hours passed, my family were in the living area, we heard a huge noise from the room. The shower pipe burst causing not just a flood in the bathroom, but this had now entered the bedroom, and the living room/ kitchen area. At this point, we just wanted to leave. Luckily the next day was our last day. Lukas messaged me and advised that he wanted to cook for us due to all we experienced. Which was a nice gesture – but not enough. All of the above ruined our experience in Ghana, the villa was wrongly advertised, it was not a peaceful stay with 5 working bathrooms. It was a 7 bedroom with 2 bathrooms. Overall, we returned home with damaged clothes, an injury and extreme anxiety as a result of the villas negligence. We are requesting a refund, and would like to discuss this further so would appreciate your prompt response – photos and videos to follow. Airbnb are taking days to respond to my complaint and are not allowing me to post my honest review. I will continue to post this review with more photos/ videos till it is dealt with...

There are some nice aspects of Lukas Garden House like the private pool, wonderful cleaning staff led by Fausty and nice gardens but unfortunately they all get overshadowed by the mismanagement by Lukas and Kofi and things breaking constantly.

When Kofi, the building's manager, first showed us around upon arrival, we noticed the AC in the living room leaking and the water dripping down the wall and creating a little river on the tiled floor. We immediately notified him and he said he'll fix it tomorrow but we'll have to be in because he doesn't have another key.

We had to delay when we head out to explore Accra the next morning to wait for them to finish working on the AC and when we got back in the evening, the little water trail on our floor was back, AC still leaking. They had to come around again the next day to fix it once and for all.

The next massive issue in the main house is the plumbing. From pipes bursting and waking us up in the middle of the night to sinks leaking and some rooms smelling of toilet after we came back in the evening after being out the whole day, we didn't really have a day without an incident.

The negative highlight for me personally was the mouse we spotted running into one of the bathrooms in the morning (see video). Luckily we caught it and could notify the staff who got rid of it before it could start nesting somewhere but it was obviously still a less than pleasant experience to be dealing with while on holiday. Some of the staff were also laughing at our dismay in Twi until we let them know that some of us do understand what they're saying. After the whole thing was finally over they installed boards to cover some gaps under the doors afterwards but those still left plenty of room for a mouse to squeeze through as all they need is a tiny hole. Thankfully we didn't see any other ones after that though.

A lot of the other things in the house were in poor condition - from the cracks on the (supposedly) recently renovated walls to the wifi cutting out several times in the mornings and evenings to the door lock that needs to be oiled or replaced as you have to fiddle with it for ages to get in and out.

Like I mentioned earlier, the cleaners, especially Fausty, were absolute stars who were quick to respond and went out of their way to help us, even getting us food one time when the delivery guy from the place advertied by the house wasn't available. Big big thank you to them.

However the actual building manager, Kofi, was slow to respond and seemed incredibly disorganised. Towards the end of our stay we preferred reaching out to the cleaners rather than him because they would get the job done efficiently and without too much hassle.

I can't recommend staying here if you're actually looking to relax on your holiday. The fact that there are reviews detailing very similar experiences over the years on Google, Tripadvisor and Airbnb dating back to 2021 and earlier tells me that the majority of these were not recent or isolated issues but things that never got fixed by the owner (who lives abroad and isn't on site) properly. There is a lot of potential as the property and the house itself had a great size and location for us but unless the problems are addressed, the constant need to complain, organise repairs or mop the wet floors made it feel like life on a building site rather than in a luxurious...

My fiancé and I arrived late in the evening; the manager was aware of that and informed him that he was waiting, but after our arrival, he was not around. That indicated to us how unprofessional he was. The manager was nowhere to be found the following day , and not a single day did he introduce himself to us in case of any issues concerning the accommodation. Days later, we spotted the manager showing some white couples around, and that said it all after reading a previous review before booking concerning inequality. The journey of our stay started with a poor WiFi connection, and I had to work on some projects. The TV was not working as well. Addressing the issue to the security on duty because we felt more comfortable reaching out to them, I was advised maybe to try the connection outside the room, which wasn’t working at all. We ended up buying extra Internet. The bathroom was stinking, which made it more uncomfortable to enjoy a shower. The heater wasn't working at times, and we were sometimes forced to take cold showers. Even after we requested that the security worker notify the manager. Early in the morning, around 4:00 o'clock, we were aroused by mice making squeaking sounds and scurrying on the rooftop. A day later, my fiancé and I decided to enjoy the day at the circular seating area. We had a kind of negative vibration, only to realise that there are cameras around. This gave us a negative vibe or feeling of being watched around, meaning the owner observes the guests while abroad. It made us feel more uncomfortable while chilling in the garden. Once again, credit goes to Joshua and the housekeeping ladies who made our stay possible. In conclusion, Lukas Garden has a lot of potential, but unfortunately, the accommodation seems to be mismanaged by the owner and the manager. The pictures on the booking websites were probably posted five years ago. I wouldn't recommend...