Imperial Resort Beach Hotel

It was a good hotel, but the food was poor. The scrambled egg can not be distinguished from porridge. Except for white rice, fish, and chapati, no other food is worth the while. I spent a week at the hotel and found that they have no idea of what intercontinental food is all about. Rooms are great, spacious, and regal. I, however, could not wrap my head around why retaining the colonial name, Victoria. One expects that the decolonial turn coursing through Africa should have reached Uganda, and all vestiges of colonialism dismantled. Sadly, Lake Victoria is not only the name of the river but even halls in the hotel. Staff are very good, polite, and helpful. Lastly, the hotel needs waste bins in different locations at the main reception. The idea of having just two at the entrance is not wise. I made the point inoffensive to the manager, but he was adamant, noting that it is their way of doing things.

The place is good. The service is good. A lot of the things like outdoor seats, soap dispensers are old and some are broken. They also need tissue dispensers instead of the dry air blowers that suck dirt and blow if out.

This place is a scandal! It pretends to be one of top hotels in Uganda (charging prices accordingly across the board) but spends no money on maintenance within its facilities especially around the beautiful pool area. Electric wiring is cut and left bare with devices still attached. Outdoor lawn lights remain broken and without bulbs. No outdoor showers by pool area. Two showers in men’s changing but one does not work. White railings around the beautiful lawns look like they haven’t seen paint in years. Yet owners require customers to pay UGX 5k just to enter grounds plus 15k for a pool towel that is threadbare and torn, offering only one or two loungers that are cheap plastic and not kept properly clean. And no provision of sun shade umbrellas anywhere! And for a small bottle of water the lakeside bar charges UGX 4,500!! (Supermarket price 500 shillings; in a Kampala hotel maybe 2k!!) Who do they think they are fooling? Even the fancy infrastructure in main hotel reception area is understaffed (doubtless through lack of business). Despite large signage behind reception of international credit cards and very expensive furnishings, they do not offer a simple currency exchange service. They think they are of international standard but are so far below it is laughable.