Hotel Fleur de Lys Almadies

The WiFi is good and the location is great, but the hotel urgently needs pest control. It’s relatively clean, though they could do better. Inside, the property looks aged and is slowly decaying, so renovations are due. I was put in a room right next to a construction site and asked to move. The receptionist gave me another room, one floor up, still directly on the construction site. She clearly didn’t know where the rooms were in the property.

The food was nice, especially the seafood bowl, and the staff were friendly and excellent hosts. I enjoyed my stays at Fleur de Lys on several trips while flying from South Africa to Dakar on the way to Sigiuri (Guinea). The rooftop pool was awesome for cooling off, though the hotel needs some TLC to bring it up to par with the others.

I’m pretty torn about this place. It’s in a nice part of the city, convenient for the embassy and two international-quality supermarkets. Breakfast was simple but quite good, and the crepes were a treat. The service was very good, Mr. Sall was friendly and helpful, and the staff were easy to talk to despite the occasional language hurdle. I was also surprised by how clean and refreshing the pool was. Still, the place is old and wasn’t cleaned very well, and my room smelled of mildew and moisture. The shower’s hot water was hard to control and kept swinging between boiling and cold. There was meant to be an airport shuttle, but some miscommunication meant I waited an hour for it, adding three hours to an already long transatlantic flight. When I finally arrived, the front desk couldn’t make change, so I had no choice but to overtip the porter by a lot. I was satisfied with the stay, but I’m not sure I’d feel the same if I’d been paying out of my own pocket.

The only drawback was that the rates felt a little less affordable. The food was tasty, and fresh ground pepper was available on request. The staff were courteous and the service superb. Cleaning staff kept the rooms neat and well maintained throughout my stay.