I stayed at Crystal Apartments for 3 months with my wife and 2 children. Overall, the apartments are ok and most of the staff are great. However, the owner dealt dishonestly with us (taking as much of our deposit as she could - see cons below), and there was a bad cockroach infestation issue. After leaving, we found a much nicer place to stay for a more affordable price.

The staff are very friendly and are almost always available to assist. The rooms and furniture are nicer than some places we've stayed in Malawi (but not as nice as others we've found at a more affordable price). The location is great as there are few power cuts (on the same power grid as the prison - so rarely goes out) and it is near many shopping complexes.

When we initially moved in there was a very bad cockroach infestation in one of the apartments (hundreds of cockroaches would appear in the living/kitchen area after a few minutes of the lights being off). We moved to a different apartment in the complex and it was better. There were still cockroaches, but we just figured it was a common thing in Lilongwe. However, after moving to our new place where we have never seen a cockroach, we are glad that we moved. Additionally, the owner kept as much of our deposit as she could (charging us $200 US dollars for a single broken light cover and $100 for a dirty mattress (which was dirty when we moved in). Lastly, although staff is available nearly always, we had internet and air conditioning issues quite frequently that would take days or sometimes a week to repair.