HOTEL COLONIA

Don’t expect too much from this hotel if you’re from the US. The common areas are always hot and humid. The language here is French and so it’s been challenging communicating with the hotel staff. Watch your restaurant bill closely if you don’t speak French. Encountered one staff member who was very helpful. Bring your own shampoo and conditioner. Room pillows are very tall making sleeping uncomfortable. Food was decent but some dishes took very long to come out of the kitchen. Was told we could exchange money at this hotel, this turned out not to be true. If you need a refund back to your credit card it will take days and has to go through a manager. It’s been 3 days and I have yet to hear anything about my double charge on a room or refund. You do get 2 large bottles of water in your room daily. The rooms are clean. I shared a room with a friend and they were unable to give us two room cards which was very annoying. The AC and lights only turn on with your room card in the wall inside your room. So this created a problem for us when one person was out and the other wasn’t. My roommate went to sleep early and we had to leave the door open so I could get back in without waking her. I feel like where we are in the world, the price per night was too high. You get what you pay for. I expected more. The common areas are all tile. You can hear the staff setting up for breakfast EVERYDAY around 6am. I’m on the 3rd floor and breakfast is on the 6th floor.

I’m hard to please when it comes to accommodations, but Hotel Colonia delivered in a big way. First of all the air conditioning worked extremely well, better than any other place I’ve stayed in Dakar. I had hot water every morning for my shower. The bed was comfortable, the linens were of good quality and the pillows were great. There was a fridge in my room. The room was very spacious and had a nice view of the ocean. They provided 2 large bottles of water every day. The location is convenient. I didn’t have the breakfast nor did I eat in the restaurant, so I can’t speak to those amenities. The only thing that I thought was a little strange is housekeeping cleaned out my hairbrush every day. I do also wish the guard had helped me with my bags; however, once past the stairs to enter the hotel I could thankfully take an elevator. I highly recommend staying here. I also found it to be budget friendly, even though that wasn’t one of my goals.