Stay Report: Kigali Marriott Hotel (Kigali, Rwanda - April 2018)

Stay Report: Kigali Marriott Hotel
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I was planning a trip to Kigali and when looking for a place to stay, many individuals recommended the Marriott hotel.  I looked online and they had some good reward stays so I went ahead and booked my rewards stay at the hotel.  It was very easy to book the hotel through the Marriott’s website, and very easy to manage the reservation either through the app or through the website.  The only thing I found difficult was trying to contact the hotel – as I was out of the country I could not call the hotel, and trying to find an email of the hotel was almost impossible.  I contacted the hotel through social media, and from there I received an email address.  While the hotel responded somewhat quickly through social media, to me it was an unnecessary step as other hotel brands put their email directly on their website.  From the outside, the hotel looks grand and newly built, and the grandeur and new look continues inside the hotel. 

As you enter the hotel through the main entrance, you enter into a massive lobby which covers three floors, has an open terrace, and huge windows which look onto the outside gardens.  All of these design elements make the hotel feel bigger but also makes it more open.  The lobby contains a lot of facilities across many floors including the check-in desks, a waiting area, a coffee shop, and shops on the main level; the restaurant and access to the outdoor space on the lower level; and windows from the executive lounge looking down from the top level.  As I had booked with points, I was asked if I wanted to access the lounge for an additional daily fee; I took them up on the offer as in the lounge you could obtain breakfast, a private business lounge, and snacks in the evening.  Check-in was relatively quick and efficient and I received the key to my room.

My room was located towards the end of the hallway, and the hallway décor looked calm, nice, and new; the room also looked nice as well.  As you entered in the room, on the left was the bathroom while on the right was the closet.  The closet contained a mirror on the outside and storage, a safe, and a robe inside; the closets provided plenty of storage space.  Across from the closet was the bathroom which contained a sink, a shower, a toilet, a sink, as well as additional storage space.  The bathroom was nice, a bit compact, and contained nice toiletries but the major problem was the design of the shower.  The showerhead was pointed one way but the drain for the shower was on the opposite side.  Unfortunately the shower was not designed for efficient water drainage; therefore, every time you took a shower the bottom flooded before it drained.  Since the shower door was not sealed properly, this meant that every time the shower flooded so did the bathroom floor making all the mats and towels wet.  Taking a shower was a real pain.

Further into the room, on the left hand side was the bed with a nightstand on each side.  The bed was the updated Marriott bed and provided a comfortable night’s sleep.  Across from the bed, all along the wall, was a desk/ledge.  The ledge started on one side of the wall and continued further down to the other side of the wall, where it got bigger and turned into a desk.  The ledge was storage space as well as contained books on Kigali and Rwanda, contained the welcome tray that the hotel provided, and contained the desk.  On one side of the ledge was the space for a luggage rack and on the other side of the ledge was the window.  The room also contained a lounge sofa next to the window.  The windows were large and bright and let in natural light when they were opened – the hotel opened the curtains when they would tidy the room during the day, and closed the curtains during their turn-down service.  Overall, the room was spacious and provided a lot of nice amenities.  There were also USB ports available in the room, but the direction of the USB port was such that it made plugging items in very difficult; like the shower it was a great idea but poor execution.

The hotel is a full service hotel meaning there are a lot of amenities for the guests to enjoy.  These include a fitness center, an outdoor pool, a restaurant, a spa, business center, executive lounge, complimentary wifi, and concierge service.  As I said, I had access to the executive lounge so I went there for breakfast and evening snacks.  The lounge was nice and spacious, provided small but filling food items, contained a computer and printer, and had huge windows which overlooked the lobby.  The service in the lounge was also spectacular as well.  I also experienced the wifi, which was complimentary to everybody in the lobby and login access in your room – decent speeds and strong enough to check emails and stream videos.  The hotel also provides airport shuttle for a fee, and I used the hotel shuttle on my departure as my flight was early in the morning; the shuttle was confirmed 24-hours prior to my departure and everything went smoothly.

Overall, it was a nice stay at the Marriott Kigali.  It’s a grand and modern hotel with lots of amenities and lots of space for the guests to enjoy.  The rooms are spacious and comfortable.  The only negatives are the bathroom design, but other than that it’s a nice hotel that is centrally located and comfortable.