Russell Hotel Kampala — Hotel in Kampala

I stayed at this hotel for 14 days. The hotel is well located. There are some positives: well-priced, a decent gym, friendly security staff, and the food at the restaurant is well priced. The hotel has great potential if they find competent people to run it. Currently it is run by very incompetent people, with no awareness of customer care:

In my first session at the gym, the music was deafening, when I tried to reduce to turn the volume down, I was confronted by the so called trainer. The music was reaching rooms on the 4th floor (from the 5th floor). Local gym members training at the gym did not shower before workouts, some had excessive body odors, which I believe was offensive and made the gym environment uncomfortable (most well run gyms will have deodorants for those with BO or have showers).

The breakfast was too fatty and mainly creamy and made of cheap food such as chicken wings. Even the healthy local vegetables were cooked in butter and cream (most of us do not eat dairy products including cream, cheese, butter etc). Worse, for the so called breakfast buffet, customers are served like in a prison, where they have to line up and be served rather than serving themselves according to their choice (hence forced to eat food they may not otherwise want to eat). I was curious about this practice and observed over three days. It became clear that hotel staff working in the morning would eat breakfast after 10 am when the buffet is over (left over), so their serving was strategic, making sure they had food left for their breakfast (not bad for poorly paid staff). What is disheartening is that we had to endure this over 15 days. When Indians came to breakfast they were treated like kings, while other customers were treated like second citizens.

We begged the general manager, Mr David Birikyuka (I believe that is his name), he promised to ensure we have adequate food, ensure the gym would be accessible and free of noise, and above all customers would be treated equally at breakfast. He promised to meet us at breakfast the next day to ensure there would be beef meat and food would be cooked in oil (with not cream and butter). He never turned up, did nothing, and never even bothered to see how customers were doing - a bloody incompetent manager. The Muslim lady (I think a supervisor in the kitchen at breakfast time), who is always present during breakfast time, would do a better job. She tried her best to ensure there was something for us to eat, and we appreciate everything she did for us

The restaurant, wow where do I start? Despite having good food, it is poorly run. Imagine this, I ordered a grilled fish, and 10 minutes later a waiter came to me and said "we have a customer who ordered goat meat and disappeared (went AWOL). Instead of fish, can we serve you his meal pls for the same price?". I was speechless! Then, I ordered wine, no single waiter was able to open the bottle of wine. I had to help them on four occasions. Not their fault though (no training at all). On three occasions we were served cold food, which was unbelievable and a source of food poisoning. We asked to speak to the restaurant manager, Mr Deo, he refused and send us a message through a waiter saying that local people do not complain (another bloody incompetent manager with no understanding of customer care). We did not eat the food but paid the bill nevertheless. But we are not local people, quite frankly from a health perspective, serving cold food is dangerous. And waiters were overcharging food we never ordered as a way of making...

I love everything about this hotel. They tried everything to meet a standardized need. There is warm showers, clean cozy robes in the wardrobe, sweet scented shower gels, toothpaste and toothbrush incase you forgot yours, an AC and the room and bed are so cozy. I love their services and hospitality. The fact that the receptionist guy remembered my husband who was once there gave a green flag. That was a big deal to me And the restaurant, so organised and the meals are so good and affordable. The buffet is on point. Their gym is so organized too and well equipped too. I highly recommend this hotel, quiet and child friendly. Also if you have knee issues that can't support you on the stairs, you can easily use the elevators. Big ups Russel Hotel, my experience...

I stayed here on business for 5 nights and it was excellent. From the Comms from front desk to taxi pick up to security staff. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. ||||The restaurant is open to the public and always busy and lively. Food was good standard and good price. ||||Service was outstanding. The security guys ordered taxis and went out to get me a couple of beers on the first night as I arrived after the bar shut at midnight. ||||The gym is well equipped with newish equipment. ||||Breakfast was buffet style and delicious. I’ve stayed in Kampala about 5 times and without a doubt this is my favourite hotel. ||||Thank you Joseph and team for making my stay...