Grand Imperial Hotel — Hotel in Kampala

Arriving at the hotel for a two nights stay with wife and kid after a long day travelling, at arrival we found a room with only two towels, two bottles of water, one soap, barely toilet paper and no warm water. The hall in wich the room was located had one bulb out of every 3 functioning, not to mention that the hotel has no elevators. Staff in the restaurant refused to have drinks put on the room and even came knocking the door at 11:00pm because they made a mistake and this could not wait the following morning to be rectified.When asking to swith on the heater for warm water, the reception at first did not act at all and after a second call somebody came to check as they seem not to believe us, told us that he would do something...and did not. Only the following day, after getting really angry was the problem solved. However the day after only steaming hot water came out of the shower now as the cold water seemed to have been cut off. Did I mention that at time to pay the bill, the cashier made a "mistake" that would have seen us pay too much. This could only be corrected through the intervention of a Manager who, we must say was helpful. ||Of course the hotel has positives: it's location in Kampala, not all staff is rude, the rooms are big and it has an ample parking. It could deserve 3 and with some renovations and better trained staff 4 stars. However today, if the choice was there we would give it...

A somewhat worn old hotel that bears a very colonial look, it is well-situated in the centre of town. Despite the wear, the hotel is well cared-for due to a hard-working housekeeping and maintenance staff. Everything in my room worked very well and it had a small balcony over-looking the HQ of the Bank of Uganda. I made many calls for various room services and was always treated with friendliness and respect by the staff. Although TIA is always the rule, I found that the "hustle" demonstrated by the staff was impressive. I looked at four comparable hotels prior to the Grand Imperial and was either quoted a seriously unfair price with no stated room for negotiation (until I got in my car), or the hotels simply had some serious problems in or around them. The Imperial was the last on the list and I gladly settled on the best price we agreed to.

Pluses are many. There are Forexes with good exchange rates just downstairs, an MTN office, and various malls and restaurants within walking distance, although the food at the Imperial is Ugandan style good. Breakfast is included. Every night a live band plays at the bar and the music is fantastic, but not loud enough to keep you up if you're not in the mood for it. The Imperial also does laundry for a rather outrageous rate, but... The Imperial will take good care of you. The staff morale is good, which means...

Positive experiences: The rooms are nice and rather big. I asked for a water heater and a minibar and I was provided with that on the first day (minibar is listed as being in the room). The food from the pool-restaurant is good. ||The location of the hotel is great - right in the centre of Kampala.||The free Internet was great!||Negative experiences: 2 days before going here I sent them an e-mail asking how long the pool is and if they had a gym. I even sent a couple of reminders but I got no answer until I had arrived at the hotel without my swim/gym gear. I asked for the length of the pool but they responded "5 feet in the deep end".||The phone number for Imperial Group of hotels: 0417 111 000 (from their web page) did not work.||It took them 2 days to put BBC on the TV. The shower did not work so I took water from the tab in a cup.||There is a very, very loud band in the restaurant every evening so it is impossible to eat there and I had to ask for...