Review of Lodge Du Chateau 3*

My review is based on my recent experience during the last Timkat holiday, which is a known busy time and the best time to visit Gondar. Unfortunately I did not have a pleasant stay at the place because when I called the manager, 4 days in advance, he told me clearly that while the hotel was already almost fully booked for the night I needed, he also said "dont worry, Madam, you still come here and we will find a place for you" he also added that some people normally don't come, sometime due to change of mind if security issues arise, etc. Etc. I want to add that he was really convincing on this, with a warm tone of voice and good English. But because I still did not trust him entireley (i am an experienced traveller and I know ethiopians…) I insisted in asking him if that's confirmed and so that I should NOT book another hotel for that night and that I was going to be ok. He repeated that "we are going to find something for you, do not worry, do not worry". I also called him back several times during the previous days to check and to remind him about my arrival time and date. In trusting him, I also took courage from some of the reviews here that said that he is very helpful. So I decided to trust his many reiterations of the above agreement and kept my 'booking' with him. Now, the flight was very late and I got to Gondar at 9pm. During the transit in Addis and Axum, I had informed him that the flight was delayed of 1.5 hour (nothing I had control over). As soon I arrived in Gondar, of course I called him to inform him I had arrived and I said that I was going to take a taxi to go to the hotel. Unfortunately now the tone of his voice as soon as I was in Gondar, had changed and he simply said that the hotel was full — that he had no place for me and that I was basically on my own. You can immagine what it meant for a solo female traveller at 10pm in a remote region of Ethiopia to look for alternative accomodation when everything was full and being alone, after he had said many times that whatever the case, he was going to help me. Of course, he couldn't gain anything from me now — as his bookings all showed up, so he simply left me in the street. Enough said, I think. I am sharing this to balance some of the other reviews, as to avoid that other people will trust his words as I did and find themselves in a very difficult and potentially even dangerous situation.