Stay Report: Novotel Abidjan (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire - December 2017)

Stay Report: Novotel Abidjan
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When you ask or search for ‘the best place to stay in Abidjan’, most people respond with either the Sofitel or the Novotel hotels.  I was travelling on a budget so the Sofitel was out of my price range; however, the Novotel was having a sale so I booked the hotel for part of my stay.  It was very easy to book through either Accorhotels phone app or website.

Novotels are part of Accorhotels and they are described as more upscale than ibis but less upscale than Sofitel.  I have stayed in Novotel before in Dubai and for that hotel, the only major difference I saw was that it was a more upgraded version of the ibis.  Based on that, and based on the feedback I had heard from others, I was curious to experience the Novotel Abidjan.  The hotel is located in the Plateau region of Abidjan, and I was already staying at the ibis Abidjan so I was familiar with the neighborhood.  Both hotels share a shuttle to and from the airport, so I accessed that shuttle to transport me from the ibis to the Novotel.  The hotel overlooks the river and has a very nice view of the other side of Abidjan, and is centrally located so within walking distance to many restaurants, banks, and other amenities.

When you arrive at the hotel, there is a mini-driveway that has been blocked off so you have to walk to the entrance.  As with all hotels in the area, you have to pass through a metal detector on the outside and an x-ray scanner inside before proceeding to the hotel.  Once inside the hotel, you enter into a large lobby.  In the first part of the lobby, on left hand side are the elevators and two check-in desks while in the middle is a large sitting area and on the right is the ‘business center’ with two computers.  The second part of the lobby contains the bar and the restaurant.  There is both indoor and outdoor seating for the restaurant, as the outdoor seating overlooks the pool.  The pool is a decent size and the hotel cleans it regularly.  On the other side of the pool is the fitness center, which is a decent size and has a decent selection of various types of exercise equipment.    

I walked to the check-in desks to check in and receive my key.  The check-in service was alright, but there was a lack of customer service (which continued throughout my stay).  Since I am a member of the hotels guest program, some of the benefits I received were a complimentary drink at the bar as well as an extended check-out time.  I took advantage of both benefits, received my key and the wifi code, and proceeded to elevators to my room.

As you open the door, you enter into a hallway.  On the left-side of the hallway are closets that run along the hallway.  The closest consists both of a standard closet next to another closet with shelves; the closets provided a lot of storage places.  On the other side of the hallway was the bathroom.  The bathroom was laid out in an odd position.  As you entered into the hallway, on the right was the toilet and just the toilet.  To access the other aspects of the bathroom, you had to come out of the toilet, go into the hallway, and then enter the second door to enter into the other bathroom section.  This bathroom section contained the sink and the shower.  I had many issues with the bathroom which included the lack of water pressure (for both the shower and the handheld); the lack of hot water (it was inconsistent and it took a long time for the water to be heated); and finally the bathroom and the room shared a wall and in that wall there was a transparent window so from the bedroom you could see directly into both the bathroom and directly into the shower.  I am not sure why this was constructed this way, and it’s an odd and unpleasant design.  As part of being a full-service hotel, the bathroom did have nice amenities including fair-trade products such as soap, shower gel, shampoo, and other products.  Additional bathroom amenities included very big and nice towels, which were good quality and very large towels. 

At the end of the hallway, there was a door that separated the hallway section from the bedroom section.  Once you entered into the bedroom section, on the right was the double-size bed with nighstands on either side as well as reading lights on either side.  The bed was a good size and provided a comfortable sleep.  The duvet on top was also comfortable as well.  Across from the bed, along the wall, was long, extended desk.  The desk provided a good working place as well as another storage place.  Above the desk was the TV mounted on the wall; however, the TV only worked sometime so I could not access the channels all the time.  Below the TV, next the desk, was a pedestal tool which could be used to hold your luggage or for someone to sit on.  The large desk was a nice amenity.  Other amenities in the room included a lounge chair/mini couch near the window which provided some more seating facilities as well as some additional storage area.  As the seating area was next to the window, it was nice to sit there and look outside the window onto the pool, to the river, and see the sights.  There was also a coffee maker, a fridge, and a safe in the room.  These were located in the wall behind the door that led to the hallway.  The mini-fridge was another nice touch. 

As a full-service hotel, there were many amenities that were provided. The hotel contains a bar, a restaurant, a pool, a fitness center, free wifi, two complimentary bottles of water daily, laundry services, room service, and an airport shuttle.  The amenities I used were the free wifi, which was slow and spotty; the complimentary bottles of water, which was a nice touch; the laundry service, which was quick but a bit expensive; the room service, which was also quick and did not charge excess delivery charges; and the airport shuttle, which needed to be booked ahead of time and had a timing schedule. 

In the end, the full service amenities provided by the hotel were

nice, the location of the hotel was also very good (as I was there for New Years’, I could see the fireworks directly from the room), and the shuttle were nice touches; however, this did not compensate for the poor customer service.  The hotel provided poor to minimal customer service and were not helpful in suggesting or coordinating with local transport.  My friend was staying at another hotel close-by and that hotel provided excellent customer service and worked with the guest to ensure they had access to the services they needed.  The Novotel did not do this and that was unfortunate.  I had previously stayed at the ibis in Abidjan and they provided better customer service, stronger wifi, better water pressure, and complimentary breakfast; but they are not a full-service hotel.  I got the full service amenities, but not the full service customer service.

Stay Report: ibis Abidjan Plateau (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire - December 2017)

Stay Report: ibis Abidjan Plateau
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In looking for a place to stay in Abidjan, there are many local hotels available but few Western-brand hotels.  Accorhotels was one of the few Western-brands in the country, and since I have stayed with them before I booked the ibis hotels.  Ibis hotels are a part of Accorhotels and they are a mid to lower-priced brand.  The hotels generally provide basic amenities including a decent room, fast wifi, a restaurant (with complimentary breakfast, depending on which rate you book), and sometimes a gym and/or pool.  It was very easy to book the hotel through the Accorhotels website or phone app, and when I had booked Accorhotels was having a sale so I got a really good deal.    

In partnership with other Accorhotel properties, the hotel offers a complimentary shuttle to and from the airport.  I had emailed the hotel about this and they said as soon as I got out of the arrival halls, the desk should be there; and it was.  There are specific timings for the bus, but these were not mentioned before so I waited for about 15-20 minutes for the driver to come.  The bus is a big (20 people) passenger bus but it does not have any hotel branding on it; it’s just a plain bus.  I got on the bus and 45 minutes later I was at the ibis Abidjan Plateau.

There are two ibis hotels in the city, one outside the city and one inside; I choose the ibis inside the city.  From the outside, there is not much curb appeal to the hotel.  The hotel from the outside looks dated and there is not really an entry way to the hotel.  From the sidewalk, you walk into a patio with outdoor seating and go through a metal detector to go inside the hotel.  Once inside the hotel, you have to put your stuff through an x-ray machine.  Opposite of the x-ray machine is a sitting area, the elevators to go up to the rooms, stairway to the parking garage, as well as access to the meeting rooms.  Right behind the x-ray machine, on your right hand side, is the check-in desks.  Straight ahead was the bar, a lounge/sitting area/ as well as the kitchen and dining area where the complimentary breakfast was served.  Behind the check-in desks was the ‘business center’, which consisted of two computers you could access and print your boarding pass. The lobby had a lot of seating area so it was a decent lobby.  I went to the check-in desks, received my key and took the elevator to the 4^th floor to my room.

Exiting the elevator it looked like a standard ibis hotel, and as I opened the door to the room it also looked like a standard ibis room – basic and compact (although it did have some room to maneuver).  As you opened the door, you entered into an entryway with a wall on the left and on the right was the entrance to the bathroom.  The bathroom contained a shower, a toilet and a sink but it was compact and tiny – there was not a lot of room to move.  In terms of bathroom amenities, ibis provides minimal amenities so this hotel had towels a pump next to the sink as well as one in the shower – this all-encompassing pump was the soap, bath gel, and shampoo all in one. 

As you went further into the room, on the right side was the bed set against the right side of the wall.  The bed was a standard ibis bed with two small night stands on either side.  The bed itself was a decent in both size and comfort.  The bed had a nice duvet and was generally comfortable; again not a great sleep but a decent sleep.  In front of the bed was the TV nook which had a TV on top and ibis menu and tv guide on the bottom.  Next to that was some space and then there was the open closet.  Ibis has open closets which basically amount to a line of shelves connected to an open area where you can hang your clothes.  It was a small space but decent enough to house your clothes.  The closet was connected to the desk which ran along the wall and looked out onto the window to the city.  At the end of the desk, underneath, was a sitting bench with plugs on the wall.  At the end of the desk was also where the small coffee pot and tea pot was located.  Overall, it was a small and compact room with a decent size bed that provided a comfortable night sleep.

The best amenity ibis provides is the free and fast wifi.  Their wifi speeds are very good and they generally do not limit the number of devices that can be logged on.  In addition to the wifi, other amenities included a restaurant that provided complimentary breakfast (based on which rate you booked), complimentary parking, and meeting rooms.  My rate included complimentary breakfast so I did try that – there was a decent selection of mostly cold items including cheese and salads with some hot items (included eggs) and a large selection of bread and croissants.  Juices, coffee and tea were also available.  With ibis, it was a decent and good breakfast; not great, but good. 

Overall, it was a decent stay at the ibis Abidjan Plateau.  The rooms were decent, if not small, but they provided a nice and comfortable sleep.  The wifi was free and fast and the complimentary breakfast, if applicable, was good.  The complimentary airport transportation was a bonus, and the location was good as it provided easy walking access to many sights with the Plateau neighborhood.  The service was also very good at the ibis, so overall it a typical ibis room with good service and nice amenities.