Mövenpick Hotel Ikoyi Lagos

The property needs reconditioning

6.0

Location

− The cleanness of the property is not up to the standards

Not up to the Movenpick standard. Wait for the renovation.

4.0

This is the worst Movenpick I have ever stayed in globally in years of business travel whether Africa, Middle East or Europe. While part of the blame is on age —the hotel must have been built in the 1980s and never upgraded until recently when the renovations started in batches—even things that are easy to fix are not done. So I guess they have just lowered their expectations to a sorry state, which is really worrying for Movenpick as a brand. Both foreigners and locals seem to know this hotel is very run down (I wish I had dug deeper before reserving!) and as a result, occupancy is low. Then the hotel has to cut costs to make ends meet. This all falls on the guests. The whole place is dark. The hallways are dark, the room is dark, the carpet is dark (and filthy), and when you ask for an extra light, the bulb is weak. The hallway is not air conditioned, despite the 30 degree heat . You have to tell them to turn on the air conditioning, and then they act like they’ve marshalled extraordinary measures for your comfort by turning it on. The room amenities include 2 pocket tissue packs. I thought: how nice, they are giving me tissue to take around with me. Then I realized, there are no boxed tissues in the room! The tissues are a cost cutting measure. The furniture is old, they only give you four hangars (and they are the hangars we all hate where you have to use precision aim to insert the knob into the brace). One of the toilet flushes doesn’t work (half/full) and the knob to switch between overhead and handheld shower just pulls straight off. Even the staff admitted that many rooms cannot be assigned due to malfunctions. There is a gym, but you have to ask them to turn on the air con if you are there early. It only has bath towels, not small towels. It wouldn’t take much to buy 15 new towels, but they don’t bother. There are a good selection of machines that are old but they work! Alas, the barbells weight numbers have worn off, everything is rusted… And the gym carpet, gross (why is it carpeted!?) . There is a small pool, built like a bathtub so there are a lot of waves with even one person swimming. There is a pool attendant to clean the water, but the water is still filthy with dust bombs lining the edges underwater. I could go on. The one positive is that the staff is full of smiles, even as they give you the most substandard offering. They all want to help, so despite everything, I ended up smiling a lot and taking this all in a good cheer. What can I say besides : good luck to the staff, but please take me to the Radisson next time!