Novotel Dakar, Dakar

We stayed more than a week. Every hotel becomes tedious after a few days but this one gets away with being so overpriced for the little it provides by targeting the quick turnover market of conferences and airline flight crews. There are no irons in rooms and only low-wattage lighting designed to decorate but not allow the reading of a book. There is a business office that charges $1/15 minutes to use their outdated equipment online. The only place to get on wireless is also the only food/drink alternative to the main dining room--a smoky section of the lobby called the bar. People walk around the lobby smoking, and when the rooms are opened for cleaning in the mornings the smoke moves out into the hallways. A tennis court, but no hairdressing salon and no exercise room. Few people swam in the freezing pool but some walked down a public road to the beach; be prepared to be accosted aggressively by traders and hustlers as soon as you leave the hotel grounds. Two consecutive nights one of these made his way to the front desk and got hotel staff to call us in our room. When we told them we did not want to see him, they allowed him to sit in the hotel lobby for hours waiting for us.

Despite old comments, I am in Novotel Dakar now, the hotel is a good suggestion for a clean and safe place to stay in Senegal. Pool and tennis facilityes avaiables. I had breakfast and lunch here today, and both meals were ok. Remember that you are in a 4 stars hotel in Africa, relax and join it.

The Novotel in Dakar is the absolute pits. The bad service is topped only by the sub-par and deteriorating facilities. Located in a potentially nice setting in Dakar's Plateau section with a view from one one side of the sea (I had a view of the parking lot), not much has apparently gone right for the Novotel for the past 20 or so years. During my stay, the elevators were all broken, the food terrible and service in all aspects poor. The lobby sofas were always full of African men...just sitting.....The carpets are stained, the AC works barely if at all--and baby, it is hot outside..and inside. As you stroll outside to take in the night air, you are verbally assaulted by gangs of young men waiting at the gate. Do yourself a favor and remember that the Novotel is very bad news. If you yourself personnally deteriorate unabated at the rate of the Dakar Novotel, you need to see a doctor--fast. The Dakar Novotel as a metaphor for this part of Africa is depressing. No matter what, we can all do better than this.

I appreciated the location of this hotel. It was also very clean and attractive lobby. I did not care for the way my final bill was handled. They overcharged me on my credit card and did the same to a couple that checked out before me. Be sure to check your final bill and be mindful of the conversions.

I really liked it.I advise anybody who wants to go to senegal to stop by Novotel A+