Praia Accommodation

The restaurant was the biggest letdown. One dinner took two hours to arrive, and after waiting half an hour just to order a beer, I got one from the fridge behind the empty bar and paid for it later. Staff seemed tied up filling out piles of duplicate order forms instead of looking after guests. The system feels decades out of date, and the team didn’t seem trained for ordinary customer service. We ended up walking to Omali Lodge for meals. It’s part of the HBD Principe Collection, owned by a British/South African entrepreneur. It was full, while the much bigger, Santomean-owned Praia was nearly empty. Such a shame to see Praia competing so poorly. The pool is big and filled with salt water, though tiles were falling off, much like the poor workmanship elsewhere. Breakfast, served buffet-style, was the best meal of the day. The hotel is very clean and conveniently within walking distance of the airport. The building has no charm. At first it reminded us of an East German hotel for party officials, then we wondered if it was built by the Chinese. After seeing more of Sao Tome, we thought it might have been modelled on a colonial Roca, only without any style. The grounds have some lovely trees, and the corridors and public areas are spacious, but everything indoors feels gloomy, with cheap tiles and no real design. My room was adequate but charmless, with the bathroom squeezed into a corner of the rectangular space. Not exactly feng shui. There was a small double bed and harsh lighting. The cheap construction showed: the curtain rail came down when I drew the curtains, and the slightly rusty LG fridge wasn’t plugged in. When I tried, its electrical parts fell onto the floor. Bathroom fixtures dangled, and the shower doors were damaged and mouldy. The Bradt Travel Guide calls Hotel Praia the “country’s prestige hotel project.” Dear oh dear. It’s not uncomfortable and provides a safe roof, but it isn’t a fun place to stay. We’d have chosen Omali Lodge if we could get in.