24-hour reception

Smoking areas

Ticket assistance

Garden

Terrace

No elevators

General

Room service

Rooms

Laundry

Safe-deposit box

Concierge services

Dry-cleaning

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Restaurant

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Barbecue grill(s)

Picnic area

Barbeque

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Temperature control for staff

Personal protection equipment for staff

Extra decontamination measures

Temperature control for guests

Personal protection equipment for guests

Additional measures against COVID-19

Health and Safety Measures

Location

At the hotel

Bahar Dar Airport

Tana Hotel

Bahar Dar

When I book it first in this hotel I ma not expected it is to be like this. I was wonder what the hotel looks like when I got first, Almost all  the facility is so nice. my room is so fancy on the lake view.

Great Experience

The setting next to Lake Tana is probably the best thing to say about this hotel.  Our room 215 had no working plug sockets, bar the one behind the head of the bed--and moving a large double heavy wooden bed structure was quite an ordeal just to plug in my phone charger.  Hot water was only available twice a day and it was a mad dash to get to the showers for the 6 o'clock evening slot after a long day spent hiking!  The rooms were quite run down and shabby but at least there were screens on the windows to stop the mosquitos from coming in.  There was a beautiful woven sliding window blind to admire however.  Wifi was only available in the lobby which was fine. The food in the restaurant was mediocre at best.  Staff were inattentive.  Breakfast was cooked to order but there was not much choice.  Nice breakfast smoothie however.

Lovely Lake view

Besides the lakeside location, that  means it's about a 60 birr Bajaj ride from the centre. Rooms are getting a bit on the grubby side but everything worked ok. Breakfast and dinner ok. Good service from all staff.

Lakeside location

Best: locationWorst: maintenance, breakfast and restaurant, personeel speaks very poor english

The positive is the gardens the hotel is surrounded by. There is a promenade walk from the hotel alongside the lake which I am sure was lovely once with wrought-iron lamp posts and paved footpath, however, it felt quite dodgy with groups of men loitering around. You can walk into town from the hotel, about 20 mins and there are a few restaurants within walking distance. Rooms are in dire need of renovation and very hot at night. There was no mosquito screen on the window, if the window was opened there was a textile screen you could pull across to cover the open window, but it didn't stop the mosquitos from getting in at night, we got attacked by them but it was that or being unable to sleep in a stuffy, hot room. We had not been advised that the hot water was mostly switched off so had a cold shower before finding out you have to ask reception to turn on the hot water!!!  Breakfast is very limited, no fruit available. Wifi didn't work. Staff seemed pretty miserable.

Overlooking Lake Tana

Tana Hotel's only strong point lies outside of the hotel: it's the garden filled with birds and nice views over the lake. Food was reasonable and friendly staff. For the rest it is a place which has seen no maintanance since it was built many years ago. Quite a sad thing to see. Rooms have dirty walls and very bad sanitation. Also no wifi outside the lobby. If you want to see the gardens, sleep somewhere else and just have lunch here. Saves you a lot of misery. If only someone would put a little bit of love and a lot of money in this place it could be nice again.

Run-down place with great garden

I had a very uncomfortable  night in room 204 of this hotel.  Because of the abundance  of mosquitoes. I had to sleep with the window closed as there was no mosquito screen at the window. Also, there was no fan or A/C in the room. There was no hot water  in this room on the in the evening, but all hot water the next morning.

“LOTS OF MOSQUITOES”

DO NOT STAY AT BLUE NILE RESORT, TANA HOTEL!!! I stayed there for 3 nights in August 2018 and it was a miserable experience. Several weeks prior to arrival I had booked my room online through Jumia (an online 3rd party); by the time I arrived at the hotel my money had already been deducted from my account and I thought I was set to go. (I had used Jumia several times before without any problems.) When I arrived at the hotel, the hotel manager seemed concerned when I said that I had already paid online through Jumia and I showed him the confirmation. The next morning I was told by the hotel manager that the hotel does not honor payments made directly to Jumia as the hotel management is afraid Jumia will not send them the money. They then asked that I pay them directly in cash, as the hotel manager said that this was, “My (the customer’s) problem and not a problem with the hotel.” To me, if the hotel does not trust the third party reservation service they themselves have advertised on, that is the problem of the hotel, not the customer! As the money had already been taken out of my account, I refused to pay again and instead gave them a number for Jumia customer service. When I returned that evening from my daily activities the hotel manager informed me again that I would have to pay and that he had not had much luck talking to Jumia. I then called and talked to the Jumia representative myself. She informed me that the hotel manager was not reasonable, that Jumia would pay the hotel, and that I did not have to pay again. I told the hotel manager that I would refuse to pay again when I had already paid for my room. Each day we went through this, the hotel manager telling me I would have to pay and me refusing and talking to Jumia on the phone, who confirmed I did not have to pay. What the Jumia representative also told me was that the payment had not yet been transferred because when I checked in it was a weekend and then a holiday which delayed the process, but that the payment was already in the system and on its way to Blue Nile Resort, Tana Hotel. 

I will take a moment here to confirm what a few other reviews already mentioned…..the room itself was sub-par, certainly not worth the rate I paid per night. As a former volunteer in Africa, I do not mind slightly moldy showers, tiny windows (but hey a lake view!), rooms that look like they have not been refurbished since the 1970’s, and a poorly working shower (staff had to turn on the heater somewhere outside the building each time I wanted a hot shower)… really not big issues to me but I recognize anyone wanting a decent and mold-free room would be disappointed. On the positive side, the garden was lovely, the food was decent, and I enjoyed walking the path to town along the lake.

Getting back to the hotel manager and his staff…when it was time to check out, the issue had still not been resolved (the hotel manager said I needed to pay because he simply did not trust Jumia to transfer the hotel the cash). I tried catching a taxi to the airport but the hotel staff did not let any taxi take me, and the hotel manager and his security staff chased me down the driveway when I tried walking away. I did find it funny that five large Ethiopian men felt the need to surround me, a 5’4” female, to block my way from leaving the hotel premises, while threatening to call the police on me. I was literally being held hostage, after having pre-paid for my hotel room weeks in advance with an email confirmation and a Jumia representative telling the hotel management that they would be receiving the money, and I had a plane to catch! I finally spoke to the kind people at Jumia to tell them that I was literally being held hostage. They were appalled and said they would block the payment to the hotel and refund me so I could pay the hotel manager directly and be allowed to leave to catch my plane. Had I had more time I would have welcomed the police to come as I had the evidence (including my bank statement) that said my payment had already been processed.

I ended up paying the hotel so I could leave and catch my plane to Addis. As per their word, I was refunded within a few days by Jumia; it’s important to note that I have used Jumia since then to book other accommodation with no issues.  

I would NEVER RECOMMEND anyone stay at the Blue Nile Resort, Tana Hotel. They were rude and made my stay very stressful. As I was working in South Sudan at the time, I came to Bahir Dar to relax and find some peace. Instead I found nothing at the Blue Nile Resort, Tana Hotel but stress, anxiety, and constant badgering to pay a bill I had already paid.

DO NOT STAY AT BLUE NILE RESORT, TANA HOTEL!

We stayed in what was, I think, a chain of these hotels as we travelled around the North and liked this one the most. It's of its time and needs refurbishment and modernisation, but is characterful nevertheless. I loved the framed skin paintings and the matching cushions and window covering. Our toilet leaked but it was fixed quickly. The sink's in the bedroom, not the bathroom. The bar/restaurant is lovely and affords a good view of Lake Tana. As does the garden. A lakeside path surrounds the garden and there's a jetty. I was assured that we could swim in the lake but doubt that's true. Bilharzia and Hippos being possible deterrents! The windows are covered with mosquito repellent mesh.

Far from luxurious but well located and characterful

This hotel was probably a very modern hotel, long time ago, but lack of maintenance has made it a bit run down. The setting and the faded garden still are nice, overlooking the lake. Rooms are okay, but nothing special (anymore).

Tana Hotel

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