Crossroads Hotel Lilongwe

They say first impressions are everything and this first impression wasn't great. I got to the hotel to be told that there was a problem with my booking through hotels.com and it hadn't come through. Consequently they were totally full and tried to send me to another hotel. This was despite the fact that other people were being served and checked in at the same time as me. I stood my ground and, after about 25mins, they reluctantly found me a room. As hotels in Lilongwe go, this is ok and the location is good, but do be careful making a booking through this website for this hotel.

The hotel was reasonable value for money although there were certain aspects that lessened the pleasantness of the stay - the TV remote did not work and the remote itself had tape to hold-in the batteries - the reason for the remote not working batteries had been placed in the wrong way round! The shower head was not working properly and needed replacing but the maintenance person had to be persuaded that there was anything wrong with it - it was replaced in the end! Upon arrival the people at reception were not over-welcoming, especially when I asked for a room with one double bed init as opposed to two single beds - I was led to believe there were no such rooms!! Otherwise the stay was OK - the location was good close to shops and banks etc - breakfast waqs good - plenty to eat and plenty of choice - the restaurant was a disaster the first night - could not cope with large numbers at one time - people complaining about the wait to get order taken and between courses - we left in the end never having made it to a table. The next night was better but my fish with fries was cold when it arrived.