Sadlly this is the way of working of a lot of Ethiopian institutions currently. Yes my freind welcome also frengis to add to other Ethiopians who live like stranges in their own country. You have said it get a contract in first step, setup the biz and do not care any more. There are two variant the ones wjo are affiliated with the gov and always what ever the service they gave will be approved by health and tourism state agency (bribes in between) and the others not affiliated with the government almost trying to in underground economy charging whatever they can for whatever service they calim to give. Yes Andrew is very sad and it will harm the upcoming Ethiopian tourism economy.

Keep your good work!!

I choose to camp. Sorry about your bad experience at Ghion Hotel. But the good thing is that at least you know your inconveniences are for a short time.

you are 100% right since the goverment owen everything you will get this kind of lie everywhere you go it won't surprise me i wae there.but thank you though.

I commented on you Flickr site as well.
The room I had wasn't that bad.
The rug was stained & worn... but at least there was a lid on the toilet.

Lake Tana is beautiful, though!

nancy

I bet the government-run hotels in Tigre are in better condition.

I bet you, if you are honest you will tell us that you did not go there out of pity for the starving mass. You people are parasites, you beg money in the name of the starving mass and then throw some bones that may cost you probably 10 cents of the dollar collected and then start complaining about almost any thing and every thing, while your bank account is accumulating exponentially.
You allowance alone can be almost the budget for the province that you are in now.
I don’t really car to hear from so called NGO’s as I know how they operate. They collect money hire some unemployable guy or some one who wants to tour Africa and then keep all the money to pay the trustees.
Even the UN system such as UNICEF is geared to make the employee of the agency rich. Why don’t the UN or NGO’s just collect the money or material and send it to the people and see how far that money or resource can get.
Africa can not be saved by any feraji or any outside institution but by its own sons and daughters. It will happen soon.

I bet you, if you are honest you will tell us that you did not go there out of pity for the starving mass. You people are parasites, you beg money in the name of the starving mass and then throw some bones that may cost you probably 10 cents on a dollar ( of the dollar collected ) and then start complaining about almost any thing and every thing, while your bank account is accumulating exponentially.
You allowance alone can be almost the budget for the province that you are in now.
I don’t really care to hear from so called NGO’s as I know how they operate. They collect money hire some unemployable guy or some one who wants to tour Africa and then keep all the money to pay the trustees.
Even the UN system such as UNICEF is geared to make the employee of the agency rich. Why don’t the UN or NGO’s just collect the money or material and send it to the people and see how far that money or resource can get.
Africa can not be saved by any feraji or any outside institution but by its own sons and daughters. It will happen soon.

Andrew:

As always, you bring up good points. We starve for news, Ethiopian folks outside Ethiopia. What we see everywhere else - particularly from government sources is so boring and irrelevant. For example, shouldn't 2 cases of polio be a national headline? I think it should be because we were told that it was eradicated. These 2 cases could send us back to the tragedy of that disease. BTW, how did these cases come to Ethiopia? That is a news item by itself.

The hotel is government owned and you should not expect anything better. Why not consider private hotels next time?

Maru Dembia

I share your frustration, Andrew. I had the chance to stay at the same hotel for one night last summer, and the room was not in the best shape. I saw your photo and knew immediately it had to be Ghion in Bahr Dar, because funny enough, I took a rather similar shot during my stay (link below). The bathtub was rusty and wasn't clean, the floor wasn't clean, the toilet seat was duct-taped up, and to top it off, there was a leak from the ceiling directly onto it! I found it shocking that management there was as bad as it was; the conditions at its counterpart in Gonder (Goha Hotel) seemed to be in much better shape.

Maru has a point in that as it is government owned, unfortunately much shouldn't be expected. If you haven't already, next time in Bahr Dar, try Papyrus Hotel. You won't get the same gorgeous view of the lake outside of your window, but it's probably the best hotel in town.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahnd/28420583/

Hello

Hi Andrew, thanks for this post. I went to Bahr Dar with my family last year and stayed at the Papyrus Hotel, which is a private hotel, at the advice of people who knew of the best places to stay at. And to be honest with you, what a difference that made! While the Ghion is at an excellent location, its management and service is so archaic, making it THE one place to avoid. We went for lunch at Ghion, and were baffled by the service we got, reminiscent of the old era where your job is 100% secure no matter what or how you treat your customers. The head server would not even give us the full menu, was too busy watching TV, and seemed annoyed by our presence. We showed some discontent to another server, and he ended up somewhat defending his colleague, especially taking offense at our claim that this was just another government-run hotel and that it was expected. Anyways, after lunch, we took up the matter to the general manager, who surprisingly was very apologetic, and willing to do anything to make our experience one that's positive. We indeed let him know that we had made the right choice for not staying at his hotel, and that we would not recommend it to anyone. And I still think Papyrus, which is well run, has great food, and a swimming pool (reminiscent of Sodere, in some ways) is by far the best hotel I have stayed at.

In contrast, Goha in Gonder is beautiful, great location (for views, not in terms of distance from the city) and has nice digs. Bathroom is the exception with the tear-drop shower, but then again, that's nothing new. The front desk clerk had a bit of a chip on his shoulder as well, which we dealt with right there and then by asking for the manager, making for an excellent 2 day stay in the beautiful city.

Ethiopian Airlines has apparently asked the government to hand over the management of those tourist hotels around the historic sites to it, so it can better serve visitors. While I am sure it will have so much resistance, it sounds promising, and could definitely change things around.

I stayed at the Ghion in Bahar Dar for the 2004-5 new year. A bunch of expats and some Ethiopians thought it would be great to have a new years bash by the lake side. The service was horrendous and they overcharged us, but with enough vodka in your veins you stop caring. Needless to say, we had a good time overall but the hotel definately needs improvement. BTW, the rumor was that the manager got his job because he is the son of some high government official -- very little incentive for him to take care of the place or, God forbid, improve it.

Forgot to add: The price differential makes sense and is a common practice in many countries in Africa. Ethiopian nationals, generally, are not payed anywhere near what foreigners are. Even the UN agencies, international NGOs, etc have wage systems that pay a great deal more to foreigners than nationals. Therefore, in order to make places more accessible to locals and in keeping with the policies of int. orgs. (for which most ferenjs work) hotels/parks/etc charge more to those who, generally, make more. If the UN and other int. orgs. shift policy and start equalizing wages (what happened to equal-pay-for-equal-work), then ferenjs complaints will be justified.

I hear you. I stayed at the Bahir Dar - Ghion hotel in 1998. Yes, it's really in a bad shape, but at the time that didn't matter to me. You know why because our reservation in Tana Hotel was completely denied when we got to the hotel, and guess why because we were not "Ferengis" as they expected. We were four Ethiopians visiting and traveling around our country. My point is, you shouldn't feel bad when they charge you double in "ferengi rate", because you are a foreigner. I, as an Ethiopian should not be denied a place to stay because they can't charge me double.

What a shame these hotel employees are treating tourists and other vistors poorly. These kinds of treatments come from poor training and ignorance. Not only the employees but also the Hotel managers need extensive training. As an Ethiopian
I find this very embrassing and distrubing.

Come and recount your travel experinces in Ethiopia in our new discussion forum. If you are interested in current affairs, there is a lot to gain. Don't forget the bookmark the site:

http://ethiop.forumsplace.com/

Government run hotels are generally bad for “ferengi” and Habesha as well. Because they think that their jobs are secured, they care less about weather or not they are doing their job. Thus, employees are very slow, not caring enough, rooms are not clean and so on and so on.
If you are “ferngi” they try to milk you all that you are worth, you are basically a resource not a gust. If you are “habesha” they look from your head to your toe to see if you have $$ if not then you are nobody and they don’t care.
That is mostly at the Government run hotels. There is a reminiscent of that at the middle private hotels but gosh by no means at the same extent. You should definitely avoid government hotels and try to understand what makes the private hotels work for you as well.
PLACES TO AVOID
London Café restaurant (at the airport) worst service ever, never will eat there.
Government run hotels are usually slow but it is worth checking them out but don’t extend your stay.
PLACES I RECOMMEND
The Road House (on bole road)
Addis Ababa restaurant near the Piazza
Girgiro Segabet (near the Aratkilo)
There are many more good ones