For a number of reasons, the website to the Rainbow Towers is not yet active. I book reservations for scientists traveling there on behalf of Columbia University, and booked at this hotel when it was the Harare, Sheraton. It is the hotel at reasonable cost that our scientists prefer. I kept getting directed to travel agent sites that charges 40-50 USD more per night for a room, and they wanted the full fee in advance via bank transfer, which is irregular for US travelers and made our organizational accountants a bit unsettled as well.

I finally contacted the corporate site directly and got the following very helpful information:

Hotel email which is (---)
The Rainbow Towers
Tel: +263-4-772633
Fax 263-4-774648

Eventually Therainbowtowers will the the website through which to book.

The sales agent, Rebecca Gambiza, was exceptionally helpful to me and was able to ensure the scientists I serve were respectfully and promptly accommodated. She made me feel as though our repeat business is valued, and they knew we were regular customers (so records and staff may have been carried over from the Harare Sheraton ownership, for which I'm grateful!)

THANKS!!

NJK

This hotel has recently been renamed the RAINBOW TOWERS, and is no longer a Sheraton run property as they have pulled out of the country. I am not sure if this was their call or they were pushed out or just left as they made no money.

If you are mad enough to visit Zimbabwe, which is spiraling into a complete mess and economically is now pretty much a wreck (inflation is over 1000% and prices go up every day!), then this is the only hotel to stay in Harare - as it is in the same area as the ruling party headquarters and a flagship where many ministers and government agencies hold their meetings then it does not suffer from the regular water and electricity cuts that the rest of the city has (where most days you have no water or electricity for many hours a day - and some people for days).

The hotel was built just after independence when Mugabe came to power, and I think it opened in the early to mid 1980s and ahs not really been updated sinec then so the decor and rooms is very mid-80s and a bit like being stuck in a time capsule. The rooms are a good size and very clean but the beds are lumpy and pillows as well as they are probably still the originals.

The staff at the hotel are all friendly and chatty and helpful (helped also by the fact that there are so few guests). The BA crew stay here (3 flights a week) and being white we kept being asked if we were part of the BA crew as there are not many visitors to harare anymore and even less people from Europe.

There used to be quite a few restauarnts but now is a large buffet which is very good and I am sure they must lose a fortune on as it is a big spread for so few people and then a Japanese style restauarant. The prices in local currency for e ating in the hotel are very high but in forgeign (which you have to pay) are reasonable.

They have a great pool area, and a small gym which is terrible as most equipment (again probably the original) does not work.