I recently had cause to use the presentation room at House J. My 2-day function required room for 12 people (myself included), and as it was a presentation, the use of a screen and projector. I have tried to cover as extensively as possible the events that transpired, and my take on them.
Booking
Luckily house J is not one of the numerous establishments in Nigeria that have not fully adopted technological advancement. I was able to book online via e-mail and after a brief exchange I had my booking and had relayed information on the arrangement of the hall. I had also been provided with a phone number of a member of staff whose attention I could call on upon arrival.
Appearance
The multipurpose hall is relatively small. In fact I would use the term hall lightly in this case as it may give off the wrong impression. It is more of a narrow room of an estimated 3.5m wide and a 10-12m long. From those dimensions, one can get the idea that this isn’t the kind of space you would be holding a big wedding in. The space itself is well kept however and heavily air conditioned, so you will have no problem keeping the room cool. There are huge tinted glass panes and a tinted glass door (the main entrance). This means there is plenty of room for natural light to come through (should you need it) or you could pull down the blinds and use the ceiling fluorescent lights instead. This design however, left me with a big problem. As the glass door did not have optional blinds of its own, the natural light coming through it made it impossible to use the projection screen on the second day of my presentation when it was particularly sunny outside. Also speaking of projectors, they had an area on the ceiling that looked like it was supposed to hold the projector but was never completed and the projector had to be used on a table instead which took up space.
Day 1
Upon arrival, I was a little disappointed at the arrangement of the room. It had not been quite to my specification but I could understand after seeing how narrow the room was. What I couldn’t understand though, was having to request that the tables and chairs be cleaned and table covers be brought. To be fair, their service was swift and responsive but as a customer, I would have expected them to take the initiative to do such things before my arrival. I was also happy to have my own assistant come along as the venue’s tech man who was supposed to help setup the projector seemed to respond to my own questions with more questions of his own. Eventually the presentation began and all was well. I had scheduled for a tea break and lunch provided by House J and was delighted when I was prompted that it was ready on time. To do it justice, I have decided to create a section to review the food separately.
The Food
I may have had qualms with the service, but the food was certainly not one of them. For the tea break, tea was provided alongside some really nice sandwiches that were more than enough to go around. I have my suspicions that they may have been prepared in the hotels kitchen and brought over – If that is the case then kudos to the chef in the kitchen.
Lunch was also provided later in the day as requested and comprised of 3 heated dishes of food that proved just as delicious as the sandwiches brought during the tea break.
I’d have to say that the food service could possibly be the most pleasant part of the whole exchange.
Day 2
Upon arrival on the second day, I was happy to see that the table covers had been changed (even though some had to be replaced as they were not very nice looking/clean), it showed that they had taken initiative from the first encounter and wanted to do better. A rare trait.
The day went off without a hitch and even the frequent power outages went unnoticed with how quickly they turned on their generators.
Conclusion
I’d say my overall experience was a pleasant one. There were certain things I did not like but the staff always seemed eager to come to my aid and that was all that really mattered. The food was great and served in a timely manner and their service was commendable. I would definitely recommend this place for smaller meetings, gatherings or presentations and hope that House J refines their act and facilities further in order to reduce the number of complaints.
you never mentioned how much the total package cost, i think it is imperative to do that. Most people are really interested in how much the place cost viz a viz the services provided, this would be very helpful when making recommendations or planning to use the place.
…..customer service, they actually tried to improve their service by taking initiative as well, appreciation is recommendation is required.