Kambiri Beach by Serendib

Lake views

Nothing

The landscape is beautiful, and the people friendly nevertheless the language barrier.

The food

I very much liked the hotel grounds: the territory is quite large and offers pleasant walking space, which is rare for many lake-shore hotels in Salima. The surroundings are beautiful, except for areas currently affected by construction work. The food was very good; however, uncleaned tables during lunch made the experience less satisfactory. The room was comfortable and well appointed, with a quiet terrace overlooking greenery. The refrigerator and minibar added to the convenience of the stay. There was an issue with hot water in the morning, and I had to take a shower with only slightly warm water.

Overall, the stay itself was quite good. Unfortunately, the checkout experience completely overshadowed it. The hotel refused to charge me in Malawian Kwacha and instead charged my card in USD, stating that the reservation was made through Booking.com. This was unfair and incorrect, especially as my Booking.com confirmation clearly stated the price in Kwacha. Despite my explanation and showing the confirmation, the manager ignored my justification and proceeded to charge my card in USD without discussion. This was my third stay at the lake hotels in Salima, and this is the first time I was treated this way. Due to this experience, I will not return and cannot recommend this hotel to others.

The hotel is in a poor state of repair and the pictures on Expedia are misleading, but most worryingly to me the information on Expedia is incorrect and I felt lied to… - There is no gym - There is no free airport shuttle service and moreover I felt pressurised into the US $400 extra expense I had not budgeted for at the last minute just to get to the hotel - The pool does not look like the pictures and is a long way from other amenities - There are no lakeside beach facilities. There is a concrete wall, fencing and an iron gate separating the hotel from the beach/lake

Location was good. Breakfast left room for improvement.

Soundproofing. The way the rooms are designed the noise from both outside and inside is very loud. Also the bathroom design is not okay. The shower curtain is short and hence when one is taking a shower the confined entire bathroom get very wet including the toilet pan and the floor is very slippery from the wetness and risk of slipping and falling is very high. The property should consider putting a glass panel to separate the shower area from the rest of the bathroom instead of a shower curtain which is also quite short. Also the area has a lot of mosquitoes that get into the rooms and there is no routine spraying fir the rooms. Had ti ask for insecticide on a daily basis. The property might consider removing the pool of stagnant rain water that is just west of the dwelling units as this is a major breeding ground for mosquitoes.