Some of Zimbabwe’s hotels need to be regraded

Roberta Katunga, Senior Business Reporter
WHEN I was growing up, it was the wish of many of my peers to just catch a glimpse, let alone sleep at one of the most popular hotels in Harare.

However, my recent experience at this hotel has left me convinced that the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority which is responsible for grading hotels in the country should consider re-grading some hotels that have failed to maintain international standards as service has become unbearable, and this is at a time when the country is trying to boost its image as a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events) destination.

In Zimbabwe, I was made to understand, we are still using the old star ratings that were given to hotels back in the 90s.

As such we are seeing five-star rated hotels delivering at the most one star service contrary to what they purport to represent.

I walked into the lobby of this “top hotel” on a very hot day to check in for the Harare International Carnival which was held recently.

With the heatwave sweeping across the country, my expectations were at least to have a swift check in so that I could retire to an air- conditioned room and take a much-needed shower. Why not if you are booked at a five- star hotel. By right, a porter should have been at hand waiting to assist with luggage and at least a refreshing juice or even a glass of cold water.

I was soon to discover that all these expectations were far from what the hotel treats its customers to as I had a day-mare experience which left me wondering whether this was still a five-star facility or an imitation.

I was at the hotel to spend my hard-earned money and the least expectation was to be treated as a guest by a service provider whose promise is its ability to meet the needs of the most discerning business and leisure traveller?

This is a hotel, which in 2008, received a huge award. I could be persuaded to excuse the tear and wear that is very evident all over, however, the attitude of the front office staff was deplorable. It took me more than an hour to be checked into the room.
At first I waited patiently while the staff was sorting out whatever they were but as minutes turned into an hour and the fatigue of the long journey from Bulawayo started kicking in, my patience turned into frustration as I together with some colleagues demanded an explanation. Instead of explaining and apologising, offering a seat while logistics were being attended to, we were made to wait at the lobby with our luggage.

As a tourism and travel journalist, I have stayed at many hotels and never in the five years had I experienced such appalling service. After finally being checked in, I had to check the state of the room thinking maybe the problem was only confined to the front desk. But it later turned out that the problems were enveloping the whole facility. The rooms were not as clean as I expected from a five-star hotel.

Electricity plugs and sockets were not working and despite reporting these technical faults, no assistance came my way.

The five-star rating at this hotel is definitely deceiving as it is far from delivering such service. Unfortunately my bad experiences with the staff did not end there as at the restaurant where I went for my dinner I was again given some second-class citizen treatment which I felt was not up to standard.

At one point my colleagues and I requested audience with the restaurant manager at the hotel because we felt an explanation was owed to us as to why, staff who are required to smile and say refreshing morning, afternoon or evening depending on the time of day, were anything but far from the refreshing greeting.

Not to sound like some bitter guest, I took the time to visit TripAdvisor, a website where travellers share their experiences, to read some of the comments from people who had stayed at this hotel.

“The hotels of Harare are on average, pretty average but this was well below its self-proclaimed five-star. The construction is worn out, fittings in bad repair or have fallen out of place. The elevators are slow and the call buttons work spontaneously.

Will avoid for future visits,” read one review.

Another guest who stayed there recently had this to say, “The hotel needs some improvements to maintain the five-star rating.It took us 30 minutes to access our room. We had to make numerous trips to the check-in desk before accessing our room.The keys we were given could not open the door. Eventually a master key was used to open the door for us. We had no key for the room. Each time we went out we had to look for someone to open the door for us. This was embarrassing to say the least. The inside rooms need to be worked on to maintain the hotel rating standard.”

A recent post which went viral on social networking site twitter also showed the extent to which this hotel has been run down and how undeserving it is of its rating. To be clear, this is not a personal attack , but an important pointer that has to be highlighted considering that the tourism sector in Zimbabwe is one of the four pillars of the economy as stated in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset) economic blueprint. The benefits of Mice tourism cannot be understated.

The tourism industry wants to capitalise on Mice business to grow the sector. Mice tourism rakes in three times more receipts than leisure tourism with knock-on effects on local hotels in terms of revenue generation. Mice business has huge potential to sustain the country’s economy through revenue generation and employment creation while increasing destination awareness.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority in 2013 established the National Convention Bureau to attract more Mice tourism.

Zimbabwe’s tourism and hospitality industry has potential to generate over $100 million annually from its Mice, visiting United Kingdom based Mice expert and travel writer Martin Lewis said.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation MICE tourism generates $23 billion regionally each year and is responsible for generating 45,8 percent of revenues in the hospitality industry. Thus with that in mind, it is important for us not to deceive guests and let them believe that they are checking into a five-star hotel only to get a rude awakening when that is not what they get.