Haile Resort Gondar

The view is lovely, but I had to ask the tour company to move me after the power and water failed again and staff refused to start the generator. I’d booked two nights through them and was meant to stay a third, but left early. The hotel seems badly neglected while the company builds a new one in Gondar. The elevators had reportedly been out for months, and my room was on the third floor, so I used the stairs constantly. The phones also failed, and with all the other problems I was going up and down many times. The area is loud too, with church music through the day and dogs barking at night. My first room had one working outlet and a dead phone. Though the hotel was nearly empty, it took half an hour to get another room. The replacement had a wide gap at the door, and it took two turns of the key to lock it. Its phone later stopped working, and the mini-fridge was broken. There was no AC, ceiling fan, or window screen. The bed and pillows were comfortable. The shower had good pressure, but the water wasn’t very hot and drained slowly. On the second night, an outage also cut the water. After 2.5 hours, I went down three flights in my pajamas before they finally switched on the generator. Power failed again in the morning, and I was told the fuel had run out. There was another power and water outage late that afternoon, and staff ignored the few guests rather than start the generator. Restaurant service was painfully slow even when I was the only diner. Breakfast pancakes took over 30 minutes. Most of the restaurant staff spoke little or no English. The manager said they were new and that the hotel had serious problems recruiting and keeping staff. Wifi was okay when the power was on. The place should be avoided.