Report Abuse

Expensive but very good

After wisely abandoning the Mount Soche for Ryalls, I was pleasantly surprised to find a very clean and enjoyable executive-class hotel very near the center of Blantyre. The rooms are immaculate, the food is very good, and the facilities first rate. The internet service is horrible, but this is mostly because the office staff there use the computers to run spam on contract for others. Seriously.... do a systems check and you'll find the servers almost exclusively occupied by spamming programs running in the background. The net effect is that not only will your emails take anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes to download, but all of your information and addresses will be swept into the game. I went across the street to Mount Soche where I found a MUCH faster, and MUCH more professional staff.... although the internet service is also MUCH more expensive. The food at Ryalls is excellent, as is the Indian restuarant that recently opened along one side. The biggest complaint about the Ryalls is that they charge different prices if you are a foreignor, sometimes twice the normal price. Too bad they haven't yet moved into the Equal Pricing / No Prejudice system that most modern hotels now follow.