Looks impressive on arrival, but that’s where it ends. This was the final four nights of an otherwise amazing trip, and to say we were disappointed would be a huge understatement. There seemed to be plenty of staff, but very little was actually happening apart from groups standing around chatting. The restaurant and bar areas are both sizeable, yet completely empty. For a property of this size, especially one around 10km from the centre of Maun, I found that quite surprising. The room? Think Premier Inn… but shabbier. The view could have been lovely if the windows had been cleaned – they were filthy inside and out. There was no hairdryer, but there were complimentary hotel condoms… an interesting choice of priorities! Bits of the door furniture were hanging on for dear life, surfaces and drawer fronts were sticky, and although the air conditioning worked, you had to practically assault the remote control before it would respond. Then there was the food. When we arrived there were only two other diners, who looked as though they had nearly finished, so we assumed service would be reasonably quick. The menu looked promising with plenty of choice. I ordered a pizza, only to discover around 70% of the toppings weren’t available, so I switched to a burger, as did my husband. Over an hour later, after listening to raised voices and general chaos coming from the kitchen, our meals finally arrived. The chips were cold, the burger was barely cooked and swimming in grease, as were the bacon and cheese on top. I took one tentative bite – it was vile. At that point I burst into tears. After an incredible holiday, I just wanted to go home. The waitress asked if everything was OK, so we politely explained that it really wasn’t. She went to fetch a supervisor. Ten minutes passed while four members of staff stood discussing the situation between themselves, without speaking to us, so eventually we simply got up and left. Thankfully, our travel provider was outstanding. Although they couldn’t move us immediately because everywhere suitable was full for the next couple of nights, they arranged transport so we could eat dinner elsewhere for the following two evenings. Breakfast the next morning wasn’t much better. There was an extensive buffet, we were the only guests in the restaurant, and once again there seemed to be more staff than customers. I didn’t dare risk the cooked breakfast. It may have been perfectly fine, but after the previous evening I wasn’t prepared to take the chance – especially when even the coffee was cold. We checked out a day early. Reception looked rather bemused, so we explained that we were leaving ahead of schedule. The front-of-house supervisor asked whether it was because of our experience on the first night. Well… yes. His response was simply, “Oh, sorry.” A few days late, but better late than never.
