Villa Kololo — Hotel in Kampala

Good hotel, although the garden highlighted on Booking has been swallowed up by construction works

Liked · - Our room and bathroom were large, comfortable and well equipped. Both were very clean. We had access to a small fridge, a hot shower with excellent flow, a large TV, two wardrobes, bedside lamps, and lockable trunks to store our valuables. Most of the waiters at the hotel restaurant (= Mediterraneo) were very smiley and helpful. The breakfast included was very copious and quite good, although always a bit the same and not very veggie-oriented. The two dinners we had in the hotel restaurant were excellent. I recommend the pizzas, caprese salads, papardelle and tiramisu! The hotel was very well located, a 10-15 minute walk from Acacia Mall, its cinema, and several very good restaurants and cafés.

Disliked · - During our 4-night stay, we were surrounded by construction works. At the front of the hotel, the installation of the Christmas decorations caused quite a mess for over 2 days and resulted in the complete disappearance of the garden, which had first aroused our interest on Booking (sadly...). Work was also in progress at the back of the hotel throughout our stay, to the extent that a wooden screen was installed in front of our bedroom window, leading us to spend 4 days in darkness and in noise. The rooms are poorly soundproofed, and night and day, we suffered a little from the noise caused by drunken and indelicate guests, and by the early morning chatter and ringing mobile phones of the hotel cleaners. As I was looking for some peace and quiet before going back to work in a very difficult context, this wasn't great... At breakfast, we would have liked to be able to occasionally eat a croissant or sautéed mushrooms and tomatoes, as a change from toast,...

i've stayed at this hotel multiple times and I have mixed feelings about the place these days. ||On the positive side - the place has a small boutique feel to it and the rooms, while not huge, are comfortable with an eclectic 'colonial' style decor and vibe. The showers are consistently outstanding - important if you are coming in from a more rural place and want a great relaxing, hot shower! The wifi was great on one of my visits - and I could do work calls - but not so good another (maybe just a sign of the telecomm times), so may be worth checking if you really need to do an important internet-based call while here. The lunch/dinner restaurant is excellent - also consistently so. Restaurant staff, cleaning staff, garden staff - could not be nicer or more welcoming - they are giving such great service. ||Removing the 5th star from my review is that the front desk folks- seems to be a family..? maybe the owners? - could not be more unwelcoming and unfriendly. Not a single welcome was offered, not a single thanks for your business, not a question on whether the stay is ok, can we help - nothing while checking in or checking out. Its like being a guest there is a disturbance to their day. I don't understand this because the 'floor staff' are so nice and its so inconsistent with every other experience I've had in Uganda - weird. The rooms are on the dark side - but they are quiet so that can be a bonus. Breakfast is not a good meal - there must be a totally different kitchen staff as I found multiple times breakfast is bad! ||Overall its a very good alternative to big chain hotels in town but front desk staff...

This hotel has all the potential to be a five star property, but lacks attention to detail in quality control. I'd be happy to revise my star rating if a considered response is made.

The hotel is beautifully decorated all around -- somebody has paid admirable attention to the detail of artwork, furniture and aesthetic -- congrats to them. The restaurant and it's breakfast and dinner service were also superb, personal and professional. The food was great.

The lack of intuitivity and attention to detail in my bedroom, however, was disappointing. In the bathroom the shower plumbing leaked, a gap in the lining of the shower base let water spill onto the floor and no shelf is placed in the shower for me to place shampoo or products. These simple problems shouldn't have been missed.

The TV was mounted incorrectly and couldn't connect to Netflix or DSTV. More generally, however, the obnoxiously large screen takes away from the rooms more traditional decor anyways.

The desk, that I would have loved to work from, doesn't have a chair. If you're marketing the hotel to business customers, how could you have missed...