In a line to the immortal rap song “No Pigeons” by Sporty Thieves (itself a response song to TLC’s classic “No Scrubs”), there is a disparaging line about the Ramada Inn. While I do not mean to express myself so colorfully today, the sentiment is one that I can certainly relate to. It is not as if this was a terrible hotel. It offered comfortable beds, worthwhile amenities, if imperfectly delivered, and that is worth something, but it is still an experience that was a bit frustrating for us and even more so for those who were left waiting at the airport for the indifferent shuttle driver, who seemed not to operate by the same schedule as everyone else both to and from the airport. It was also quite shocking that the hotel was lacking an elevator, which was a very unpleasant surprise given we were put on the second floor and my mother struggles quite a bit with the stairs these days.

Reviewing a hotel like this means tallying up pluses and minuses. The rooms were comfortable and the bathroom was excellent, the hotel staff was friendly if a bit short-staffed, the hotel offered breakfast but made its eggs lukewarm (alas) and hid its plasticware in a box that was hard to identify, as well as limited tea options. Still, it was food, and it was welcome at 6AM when I and a few other travelers were downstairs enjoying the repast. The hotel had wifi, but it was glacially slow, which was intensely frustrating except for the period before 6AM when it was fast because few people were yet awake and so the speed was not throttled to levels I have last seen in Ghanaian dial-up. We have already commented at some length on the mixed to negative nature of the on-site dining options, but if the Ramada is mixed to positive, it certainly offers a comfortable enough place to stay, just as long as you don’t plan on doing any business online while you are staying there, or have mobility issues.2