Pestana Rovuma — Hotel in Maputo

As I sit in this 4-star hotel I cannot help but feel bamboozled because: -Photos are not reflective of this hotel (The cropping and angle job is better than a fat girl on facebook) -$175 a night when it should be $175 a week -6 channels on TV unless you speak Portuguese (then there are 7) -Tile floors throughout -Shower head worse than the demo model on the CLR commercial. -Furniture from 1960, and 1960 sears at that (I am here three days on business and am spending $525. I could adorn this entire room for less than that.) -Elevator did not work today (10th floor & I forgot the car keys) -Fridge takes 4 hours to chill a bottle of water -Internet is available in the room but connection from circa 1997 -The free breakfast is acceptable. Not good, not bad, it is acceptably slow. -The area of the city is dirty and unengaging. I don't want to take all good away from the hotel but it is difficult to feel as though we bought what we were sold. We tried to leave after the first day but the company will not allow us to alter the reservation and will charge full measure . At least this means I have the time to ponder and post...

The hotel has a decent standard. The rooms are large, have good interior and bathrooms, with a private balcony. The view is down to the cathedral with a nice sunset in the background at dusk.

The included breakfast is provided as a buffet. There are fresh fruits, cereals, eggs & omelets (cooked to order) and hot sausages, beacon, beans and potatoes. You can have it in the nicely styled restaurant room or on the balcony with view of the cathedral.

The pool is small but offers a nice refresher when the temperatures rise over 40C. There are some deck chairs.

At night you can have a variety of drinks at the bar - also on the balcony. The hotel also provides conference rooms, a small gym and free internet (which is not available at high speed...

Hotels in Maputo is crazily expensive for what you get. The Pestana Rovuma is more affordable than most of the local hotels but offers a very basic experience for the four star rating it claims to have - two stars would better describe what you can expect. It is clean and relatively neat, but the rooms are old and very basic. My room had an old box TV with dodgy, intermittent WiFi Internet. There were coffee and tea sachets but no kettle. The sliding door of the wardrobe was stuck and difficult to open. The shower in my room was leaky and sprayed in all directions and the basin had no plug. Staff is friendly and helpful, which makes the...