Party at Maison Fahrenheit

A good friend of mine extended an invitation to the grand opening party of Maison Fahrenheit, a new boutique hotel in Victoria Island. Maison Fahrenheit, conveniently located across from EKO Hotel and on Adetokunboh Ademola Street is just another entry into the vastly condensed Nigeria hotel/hospitality industry. Since the Nigerian market seems to be flooded with hotels, each one has to stand out with some distinction, some glitz, glam, some oomph to put you ahead of the competition and justify the N55000 starting rate.

I went just to see who had the balls to open across from EKO Hotel. 

As we arrived, dressed "red carpet ready" as the invitation instructed, we were greeted on the "purple carpet" by a lady who painstakingly pronounced the hotel's exquisite name in her best French accent. She greeted me and whisked me off to a table where I entered my name, business card and phone number for reasons that were not immediately explained to me. After the hassle to get there I was so ready for the bland glass of wine I was offered. 

Purple carpet

A couple of room tours later, with my very favorite being the WOW Room - a room decorated all in white (except for the rug) with a huge balcony, lovely flatscreen and espresso machine - we were then taken to the terrace lounge, on the 4th floor (I may be mistaken), this is where the party was at. 

Buffet

If you've ever been to Strip Atlanta, you'll instantly get deja vu euphoria as you party on their terrace. It was just so reminiscent of it, I was astonished. It had cabana seating, TV screens for the cabanas, sweeping views of the Lagos skyline, traffic and all, and of course music seeping from the speakers. The only thing missing, which Strip has, is an indoor area for dancing just in case you get tired of being enveloped by the external ambiance. 

There was food, champagne courtesy of Sliquors, pretentious Lagos crowd, and the international scene was modestly represented. I particularly enjoyed the white gentleman from God knows which country who decided to smoke without asking the ladies if the smoke was bothering us - classic gentleman. What country in the Western World can you smoke in a building? Nigeria needs to get on their no smoking laws, STAT. Specifically Maison Fahrenheit needs to update their fire insurance coverage.

Women smiled and did that thing where they don't greet each other but just sneakily access your outfit from afar. There were good looking young men everywhere, some so tasty I felt like packaging them in my purse as my Christmas present to myself, to be returned after the New Year. :-)

My Party Selfie

Detailed lobby ladies room

My friends and I looking greasy from all the food

Hallway 1

Hallway 2

Staircase

Everything in this hotel seems to have been detailed to perfection in an effort to stand out, to connote a certain modern, edgy style to attract the young hip selfie-obsessed crowd. No, Sir, this is not your grandpa's hotel. I figured that out as soon as I noticed the espresso machine and the black and white photos all through, from the lobby to the hallways and on every floor, especially the one of Adele. They want to attract a particular crowd of customer, as if to say, "Go to EKO Hotel for your business meetings and medical conferences, but come here for your drunken debauchery weekends and New Years Eve parties." 

Yes sir, we will.