If you are here right now reading this, then chances are you have been shown a room at Greenland Hotel, 43 Adedoyin Street, Aguda Ogba. And you are now contemplating paying. DON’T! If you do end up paying, you will most likely regret it and end up moving out before the expiration of your rent. Greenland Hotel can best be described as a residential nightmare. It is arguably one of the most horrible places in Lagos you can ever pay to live in.
I am writing this based on my experience. I wasted about N300, 000 paying for year’s rent in Greenland Hotel back in 2019. It was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made in Lagos. So, I figured the best I could do is to put out this information out here and warn you against making the same mistake.
A little history of Greenland Hotel
Located at 43 Adedoyin street (a pretty decent part of Ogba), Greenland Hotel used to be a popular 2-star hotel prior to the demise of its founder in the 2010s. Information verified by Nairabrands showed that the owner of the hotel died in a ghastly accident that also involved and paralysed his wife. Following his death and the incapacitation of his wife, the management/custody of the hotel was temporarily handed over to Mrs Esther Oni. Unfortunately, this proved to be a big mistake because not only could she not manage the hotel, she also refused to hand it back over to the original owners when she was supposed to. Right now, the children of the hotel’s founder are the court fighting a protracted legal battle in an attempt to take back their father’s property.
In the meantime, Esther Oni converted the hotel into a hostel. The 23 rooms in the building are rented out to mostly young professionals in need of affordable housing. Unfortunately, none of these young people know what they are getting into until they are already in…
5 things you should know about Greenland Hotel
1. Greenland Hotel is in a pretty bad (dilapidated) state. Necessary repairs are never done and the walls are constantly wet.
2. The person collecting the rent (Esther Oni) is not the person that built the house.
3. Nobody knows Esther Oni’s actual whereabouts. She lies to the tenants that she is in the USA and even interacts with them on WhatsApp using US numbers. But tenants with technical knowledge have been able to unravel the fact that the numbers were cloned/fake.
4. Esther Oni is only interested in collecting her money. You will only hear from her when you want to rent and two months before your rent is due when she will call to remind/pressure you to pay. Also note that when you speak to her the first time, she will tell you that “there are hundreds of others already lined up to pay and that if you don’t pay immediately someone else to take the space”.
5. Esther Oni will not give you more than a week to renew your rent. Like a mentioned earlier, she and one Mr Stanley (the “caretaker” of the building), would start disturbing you to pay about two months before your rent even expires. And then if for any reason you fail to pay on or before the expiration of your rent, the two of them will call you every hour and threaten you with the police.
BONUS INFORMATION: There is a high possibility that at some point during your residency at Greenland Hotel, sewage water from the room above yours will soak your wardrobe and mess up everything in it.
Be weary of Greenland Hotel. You should only rent it if there are no more houses in Lagos available for rent.