Listed and first reviewed on: 10/15/14

Our bridal party stayed over at Lagos Oriental Hotel, VI for my brothers wedding. Since we were renting out their ballroom, I guess it made sense to also stay in the hotel. I rarely ever stay in hotels in Nigeria so I was looking forward to the experience. Plus, I pass by the Lagos Oriental Hotel, VI building almost all the time and always wondered what their rooms and service would be like. If you’re curious like me, you’re in for a very detailed and disappointing experience! Also note that all pictures were taken using an iphone… just level setting expectations 🙂

Ambiance– This hotel looks so beautiful on the outside. Once you go through the gates, there’s ample parking. The lobby is well decorated as well..

Check-in process – My sisters and I got to the hotel around 1:00am and headed to the check-in desk. The attendant was pretty friendly as he checked us in and was able to answer most of my questions. According to him, Lagos Oriental Hotel, VI doesn’t have a formal loyalty program one could sign up for, however, if you are a regular guest, they have your stays in the system and are able to offer you reduced rates and free breakfast on some occasions. My younger sister had enquired about the wifi situation and the staff had said it wasn’t guaranteed but we should check once we get in the room.

While he was checking us in, he had asked how we planned on paying. I was a bit confused because I was under the impression the rooms had either already been paid for or were complimentary. So I raised my concerns and he double checked and was like “oh sorry don’t worry about it, it’s taken care of”. Ok, honest mistake, moving along.

We had to wait for about 20 minutes to get the keys to our room because it wasn’t available. As someone who travels and lodges in hotels frequently for work, I was a bit confused. I wasn’t sure if they’d run out of the regular programmable keys, or they needed some kind of authorization and the manager wasn’t around. Anyway, turns out that they don’t issue new keys. The way I understand it is that the hotel has a specific number of keys for each room. Each key has the room number cello-taped around, and guests must return their keys upon check out (apparently there’s a 10k fine for not returning your key). In fact, my brother had to explain to the attendant that it didn’t make sense to give 4 people 1 key to a suite before they agreed to give us an extra key!

Room 1 – We finally got our keys and headed to the “new wing” since that’s where we were lodged. I was already getting excited that we’d be in the newer space. Ha, the disappointment!

First of all the hallway that led to our room looked very old and worn out. It was very poorly lit as well. Upon entering our suite, I wasn’t too impressed. Immediately to the right was supposed to be a bar but for some reason it just looked pretty awful especially with the white sink just there. Then we got to the room and I was like “mmm”. It was just there! I tried to turn on the lamp on the right side of the bed and it didn’t come on. I opened up the bathroom and that was the biggest let down. My younger sister’s initial comment was “oh my, I didn’t bring bathroom slippers!”. Imagine! I couldn’t believe we were in the “new wing”. And of course, there was no wifi or internet! Very disappointing!!

Anyway, the bed was comfortable and I slept well enough. I had bathroom slippers so I did take a shower there and the water pressure was pretty good; better than I’d expected. I hear this room goes for about 40,000 naira (240USD) per night, and a similar room in the old wing costs 50, 000 naira (300USD) per night.

Room 2 – I’d completely written off this hotel until I saw my brother’s suite. He’d stayed there with some of his guys, and I think it was gorgeous! This suite has 2 rooms and a really nice view of the ocean, plus a balcony with privacy screens (so you can walk around the balcony but there’s a privacy screen to inform you if you’re trespassing and intruding on other guests’ privacy..which you can absolutely do once you’re in one of those suites). I hear this suite costs about 300,000 naira (1,800USD) per night. Still no working wifi here though. Boo! My takeaway having seen this suite is that the hotel owners know better..and are very well aware that the “new wing” is subpar!

Ballroom- After dropping off our stuff, we headed to the ballroom to check out the decor and it was beautiful! I was impressed as the workers worked diligently to put together all the tables and chairs and properly organize the space.

Breakfast – The morning of the wedding, we decided to order breakfast. We got the continental breakfast for 2. I believe it cost about 5k5 for each plate. We were told it’d take 20 minutes, but of course, we didn’t get the food until an hour later. I’d even forgotten about it by the time it was delivered! The delivery guy then asked for payment while we were all getting ready. The payment couldn’t be charged to the room (because things don’t work like that at this hotel; you have to have a credit on file)…and the POS apparently doesn’t work on the 9th floor…so I had to go to the lobby to pull out cash to pay for the breakfast. The breakfast wasn’t worth all that stress to be honest.

Morning After The Wedding – After the wedding, I’d gone out with a couple of friends and didn’t get back to the hotel until like 5am! I was exhausted and had passed out! Only to wake up to some noise in the living room space. I realized it was already past 12 (check out is 12pm) and rushed to see if new guests were checking into the space. Well, it was one of the maintenance guys. Apparently, guest services had told him the room was vacant so he’d come in to do some work. What the!!?!? I quickly took a shower and packed up all our stuff and left the space.

Upon leaving the hotel, I noticed some crazy irritation on my neck. For the sake of full-disclosure, It’d be unfair of me to blame the hotel for this, but I get the feeling it was from the towel, sheets or water in Lagos Oriental Hotel, VI. I come back to Naija very often and the ONLY variable in this my stay was that I stayed at Lagos Oriental Hotel, VI hotel! So it’s difficult for me to not suspect that this irritation came from something in that hotel.

Overall Experience – I liked that there was enough parking and the hotel is in a gated space so your car is safe. I also liked that there was electricity the whole time we stayed there. The air conditioning worked the whole time. There was hot water to shower with and the water pressure was decent. On the other hand, the check-in experience wasn’t the best; it’d have been good if we didn’t have to wait that long for keys. In addition, the lack of wifi was a huge turn-off. If you’re travelling for business purposes and require internet connection in your room, this hotel shouldn’t be your first choice (whether you’re in the 40k room or 300k room). Luckily for us we’d brought along a router so we had internet access. I’d have also liked to be able to pay for breakfast in my room and this could have been possible if management can find a way to ensure the POS works on the higher floors. It’d have also been really helpful if someone had confirmed the room was empty before sending the maintenance guy over. Another option could have been for the maintenance guy to confirm no one was in the rooms before starting to do his work. Finally, the ambiance of the new wing isn’t the best, especially for a hotel of this caliber.

I’m sure you’ve deduced I won’t be returning to lodge in Lagos Oriental Hotel, VI for any reason whatsoever, but I definitely like the ballroom space and won’t mind recommending it. The hotel on the other hand is a no no! Overall my expectations were high and I was sorely disappointed.

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jeezay
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This is a very serious review. Well detailed. You even showed us the irritation sef. Oriental o

4 years ago

ReviewNaija

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Lagos Oriental Hotel, VI

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Lagos Oriental Hotel, VI

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