After having
a disappointing affair as I highlighted in my previous post at Rock hotel Tororo
which had dismal service and poorly maintained facilities; my family and I sought
after the most popular and highly recommended option by friends, family and the
locals – Prime Hotel. The receptionist at Prime Hotel welcomed us warmly and I
was hoping that we were finally on a roll and would receive good service here
on out since we had travelled a long way on traffic riddled roads all the way
to Tororo.
4:30pm
On arrival,
we quickly checked in and grabbed a quick bite at the Prime Hotel restaurant where
we had our own dramatic encounter with their Nigerian movie loving bar tender
but that is a story for another day. After our meal we headed off to our much cherished
and little known Paya village deep inside Tororo, however on our exit we made
sure to inform the receptionist that we would return that night.
2:45am (early the next morning)
We
attempted to wrap up all we had to do in the village so that we could get back
to town early enough to get some rest but we failed to and it was not for lack
of trying as we were so unfortunate to have a family member with a medical
emergency. Eventually we did get back to
Prime Hotel just short of 3:00am and we hooted at the gate and after a brief 3
– 5 minute wait the security guard unlocked the padlock at the gate and let us
in and we headed to the parking area and straight to the front entrance that
lead to the lobby.
The security guard locked the gate behind us and then hurried
off to the back of the hotel, we assumed to alert someone so that we would be let
in and we could finally get some rest. We were already stunned that they would
lock out their guests but as if that was not enough, they did not even leave
any one on call to open for us when the 5 of us got back.
2:50am
My sister 1: “Eh why is the place so dark?”
Cousin Brother: “It looks like everyone is
asleep.”
Cousin Sister: “These guys actually locked up and
turned everything off.”
When we got
to the glass door we waited patiently as we realized that it was locked and the
reception was pitch black. In addition to that, the security lights outside the
front door were turned off so we stood in the dark as the guard patiently
waited with us for what seemed to take forever. After about 10 minutes, a lady
came to the door without keys and attempted to open it but it did not budge.
3:00 am
Me: “She does not look like she knows about our
arrangements since she is definitely not from the day shift.
My sister 2: “Surely, they must have informed
her, we did check in after all.”
Me: “At least the gate man remembered us.”
On
realizing that it was locked with a key, the lady disappeared to the back of the
reception area to search for the keys and she returned after about 2 minutes
and once again attempted to open the door. She seemed to get it open but did
not turn the key all the way so the door would start to slide open and then
jam.
3:02 am
Cousin Sister: “Looks like we are going to sleep
out here hahaha”
Me: “Eh so does she work here?”
Cousin Brother: “So what happed when there are
guests who traveled late and are looking for lodging in the middle of the
night, they would not admit them?”
Me: “At least now we know that there is no provision for
the night shift.”
After some
serious foot miles between the front door and the reception counter she finally
got the door open and we walked in.
Sister 1: “Hello, we would like to make
arrangements for an extra room since we have an extra person.”
Night Lady: “Okay, let me check what is
available”
This took
her about 5 minutes of confusion until the receptionist we had checked in with
earlier on in the day was summoned and she expedited the process. For this we
were immensely grateful as we did not want to spend the few hours until morning
in the lobby.
Cousin Brother: “So I need the additional room we
talked about since the rest had already checked in during the day.”
Day Receptionist: “Alright!” (Within a minute she
handed over his key and he waited for us to finish making morning arrangements)
Sister 1: “We will also need to sleep in a
little longer given the time we are going to bed now. What time does breakfast
close?”
Day Receptionist: “Breakfast is between 8 and 10
am.”
Sister 1: “Can you extend that to 11am for
us?”
Night Lady: “Breakfast ends at 10 am. You will
have to come down eat and then go back.”
Sister 2: “We may not be awake at that
time.”
Day Receptionist: “I can inform the chef early in
the morning to make an exception for you.”
Sister 1: “Also please inform housekeeping not to disturb us until we are
down for breakfast as we really need to get some rest.”
Day Receptionist: “Okay madam.”
Sister 1: “I hope they will be quiet, not like the last time I stayed here
about a month ago when they were making noise at 7 am.”
Day Receptionist: “No we informed them.”
Me: “So breakfast at 11 am.”
Night Lady: “So you are how many?”
We all
looked at her stunned; after all this was the lady who had left us at the front
door in the cold for about 30 minutes in total as she could not make out the
key for the front door. After her hostility on our request for an extension to
the time for breakfast this was my cousin’s breaking point and she could not
take any more.
Cousin Sister: Eh… hmmm” (She burst out laughing
as she could not contain this response from the evidently half asleep lady who
must have still been half asleep)
Cousin Brother: “What! I am going to bed. I cannot
take this anymore.”
Cousin Sister: “Hhhm sub - prime.”
My other
sister and I as well as my other cousin all laughed as we walked away and left
my sister laboring to put her point across lest we woke up to no breakfast.
Lady: “So you are how many?”
Sister 1: “We are 5.”
Let me just
say, that night was the one and only night we spent at Prime Hotel as in the
morning about 7.30am we were awoken to a loud screeching sound. It was a radio dialed
to one of our local Ugandan radio stations (often known by the name cockroach
from our high school days) playing loud gospel music and accompanied by the
voice of the cleaning lady outside our doors in the hallway. That was the worst
sleep we had on our entire trip.
Only in Tororo.
2 comments:
Heheheheeee....... ahaaaaa... only in Uganda,trust me that's not only in tororo,if pipo start telling you abt their hotel escapedes,u'll only flinch gratefully for that coackroach....hihihihihihihihiii.... u know how to make my days sweetheart. Nolstagia just. How I miss you nd our humor filled country. I hope yo trip was wonderful despite the few discrepancies here and there,but then yet again we wldn't be having these wonderful outbursts without them. Keep it up love,am daily entertained with tales from the Pearl of Africa nd hey I get to have good memories without actually having to be there.... :-) :-D
I am always glad to bring you a piece of home with every post and the traffic from viewers in America is amazing. Sometimes you beat the locals, so i will keep them coming.
Post a Comment