Social House

My experience at Social House began with arriving in the early hours to find there was no heating or air conditioning. Temperatures at night in Addis Ababa can be 12C or lower. We had to sleep fully clothed in our coats. When I complained in the morning they said (true or not) that none of the rooms had heating or air conditioning and that they offered extra blankets. Though I complained how cold we were no extra blankets ever arrived. The hotel said flat screen TV would be available. It is shown in the photos. However the Flat screen TV (see photo) still had the cling film attached , no remote control or instructions and was not attached to power. After attaching it to power I could not turn it on without the remote as there were no instructions and no physical on/off button that was easily accessible. The bathroom was astonishing see photo. The shower had no shower curtain so the whole bathroom became flooded. Worse the hot water boiler is close to the shower with the electric connections close to the shower head! See photo. In the kitchen there was no kettle. Promotion stated: ‘ while selected rooms come with a fully equipped kitchen with an oven, a microwave and a fridge’. When we arrived the kitchen only had a fridge, no oven , no microwave, no cutlery, no plates no glasses or mugs. After my complaint a small oven was provided without instructions or cooking oil or paper towels. (see photos) There was no hot water in the kitchen. Breakfast service was a minimum of a half an hour even for a simple omelette. On a positive note , they served the best coffee I had in Addis Ababa. I was additionally upset about the behaviour of reception in assisting me with a taxi driver. We had been delayed by immigration by two hours so it was half past one in the morning. The taxi driver did not know the way to the hotel and asked his friends by phone where it was. Eventually I had to provide my phone for him to speak to the hotel. It transpired that the taxi driver had not put his meter on and sought to charge me 10 times the correct amount for a 3 mile journey. When I appealed to the reception that he was clearing mispricing she claimed she did not want to get involved! Then she began supporting the taxi driver. I later learned that he should have put his meter on and his charges were 10 times the correct amount - this from another staff person at the hotel when I simply asked how much a journey to the airport should cost. There was a wifi hub in the room but it did not work. The only internet access was to use wifi from another floor and as the building is concrete the connection was horrible giving jagged video experience. In the end I hot-spotted with my phone (Ethiopian Telecom service being excellent) for decent access. In summary there is evidence that the room had been partially redecorated but had not been completed and should not have been let out. The placing of an electrical water heater and its electrical connections near the showe