"At the Royal Livingstone Hotel, on the banks of a river that flows through the soul of Africa, your own story waits to be told". My experience of this flagship, Sun International 5 Star Hotel would probably be different if our party of ten that stayed at the hotel was asked one simple question when we checked in; "Have you stayed with us before"? In the hospitality industry, that question normally leads the introduction for the host to better prepare you as the patron, by making you aware of their rules and etiquette, giving you fair opportunity to comply and enjoy yourself.
It's a beautiful hotel, with Impala, Giraffe and Zebra roaming freely for the guests to see. The staff's attitude at the restaurant though, leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps they have lost touch with the reality that the colour of money is the same no matter what colour the person is that tenders that money. The restaurant experience for me left me so annoyed, I actually needed to write this post as part of my "getting over it". I am still not sure what the root of the problem was, but draw your own conclusions and hopefully by the time you read this, I have gotten over it.
The fact that it took a while for us to wait for our rooms to be ready, and we did not get offered welcome drinks while we waited, was not at all an issue to me. Rita, was very hospitable and did her best to make us feel welcome, endearing herself to the six children we were travelling with and ourselves (the adults). After we finally got our rooms and were settled in, it was time to be on holiday and we were looking forward to lunch after a long journey from Lusaka to Livingstone by road.
Given the big party of ten we were (six children and four adults), we thought it prudent to go to lunch later than most in order to ease setting up a table for ten when the restaurant was less busy. We even went thirty minutes before we wanted to eat to ask that we reserve a table for ten for 14:00. "We don't do bookings," we were told, and I did not like the tone, but thought to myself maybe I am interpreting the lady incorrectly. After all, English for both of us is not a mother tongue (although for me it is as good as a first language). We told her that was fine, but we would be back at two o' clock and would need seating for ten people. We simply wanted to warn her given we were aware that they stop serving lunch at 14:30.
When we went back at 14:00, the restaurant seemed fairly empty, so I was relieved that the "no booking system" would not cause us problems. Speaking to the same lady and requesting that they set up a table for ten, she responded by saying they don't do tables of ten, the most they do is five. My wife explained to her that we wanted to sit together as a family, which we were, so can they put some tables together and get a setting for ten. This woman was adamant she could not accommodate us, and my wife asked her to call her manager.
A gentleman came, and the situation was explained to him. Now bear in mind, we are hungry, had been up since 04:30 that morning and had been on a five hour road trip. The shower we had after checking in, is not going to cleanse all that away. Perplexed, I pointed to the three square tables next to each other that were empty and said to "the manager" that is all he had to put together to get a table for ten. "This is not that hard guys, let's think!" We're my words to him. They started pulling the tables together, but the sense of humour failure was now in High Mode for me.
We did calm down, and "the manager" changed his attitude and was rather attentive through lunch. Our waitress was also a pleasure and a breath of fresh air, given how we had started this hot sunny afternoon on the river bank of this great Zambezi river, in a fine establishment where I was puzzled by the relationship between cost of staying and service levels. "The Manager" had the decency to even come to me and apologise for the "misunderstanding earlier", which I thought was very noble. I literally said to him "That's fine, I am over it now", particularly given he had clearly reflected and he proactively came to me.
I wish my story ended there... Supper time we chose to go back to the hotel restaurant. After all, we had all enjoyed our lunch, so the chef was certainly not our problem. When we arrived for supper, and asked for a table for ten, the woman said she could not accommodate us and asked if we had made a booking. I was defeated... This was soul destroying.
I am not sure if it was the same woman from lunch, but that is besides the point. My wife told this lady that we were specifically told at lunch that they do not take bookings. Her response, very condescending to say the least, was that "Supper is different. It is an ala carte menu and you need to make a reservation". She could not help us with a table for ten. So we had to go through the same fuss and fight. To be honest, I had lost interest and my brain had checked out as I was trying to now figure out how do we feed the kids and get them ready for bed, given the youngest one is six and it was now 19:00 (she sleeps at 19:30 latest even when we are in holiday season).
The last thing I remember was being asked to wait by the lounge/ bar area while they tried to put tables together and being told that for men, they do not allow shorts. I had not changed from what I was wearing at lunch time when they reluctantly accepted me for lunch in my Bermudas. To say this was painful would be an understatement. While waiting at the lounge, I asked for the snack menu as what we also realised was the dinner menu was not child friendly.
The gentleman in the lounge area, was much more accommodating, even trying to come up with a plan as to how we could eat sitting together, given that we had indicated an interest to eat from that menu rather than the restaurant now. We ordered from him and he made a plan with arranging putting tables together at the bar. Not ideal, but the children needed to eat and sleep and I wanted to be served and not judged.
This was my experience of The Royal Livingstone Hotel on our first day here. There is a lot more to this story but my point in writing this was to help me let this go. I am about to go to breakfast, and my energy levels are so low, as I am trying to think positive that our experience will be different. I really hope that it is, as I can't understand service levels that are paid for where the service provider treats you like they are doing you a favour.
I am "At the Royal Livingstone Hotel, on the banks of a river that flows through the soul of Africa, your own story waits to be told".
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