In South Africa, not that the information is particularly relevant, bad hotels are a rarity at the middle and bottom end of the market. Some of the smallest towns have excellent hotels and boarding houses which are as much suited to the Gladstone bag toting salesman of yesteryear as they are to the tourist of today. Hazards arise at the upper end of the market where sporadic mediocrity is often charaterized with horrendous prices.
An example should suffice to illustrate the point. Cape Town is a gross offender in the high price stakes considering itself, as it does, a worthy opponent to London for its attractions and ambiance. Without the advantage of any special offers I recently ran a price comparison between the Radisson Blu, Waterfront Cape Town and Radisson Blu, Portman Square London, same dates and equivalent rooms. The price for a double room at the Waterfront was SAR5,200 a night while London cost out at £267 which is just about half the price. You may take your pick as you choose but Cape Town is a dorp compared to London and nowhere near worthy of an equivalent or greater price structure. Johannesburg is a crime ridden slum and Graaf Reinet has much to commend it. In Nairobi the Stanley was good while the whores congregated at the circular bar at the Hilton. In Arusha there was once a hotel called the Arusha Hotel and there was always the dear old Pamodzi in Lusaka.

Cotonou hotel
 

ELLS

I stayed in Novotel around a year ago, rooms fine, good internet. Hotel corridors dank and musty though. Restaurant was good.

Benin Marina Hotel was very good too, fine pool area, good rooms. Novotel restaurant better in my opinion.

Be aware of the mozzies when the sun goes down.

cavortingcheetah makes good points about the ludicrous prices of Cape Town. I recently stayed at The Table Bay and with an 85% discount it cost R1500 (£140) a night.

Other hotels are priced way above European capitals, it's greed and it kicked off, pardon the pun, prior to the football event held last year. The prices have not gone down.

To call Johannesburg a crime ridden slum, unless you are referring just to Hillbrow, is grossly unfair and I must take issue there. It certainly has crime ridden slums but it has some beautfiul suburbs which are safer than many parts of London.

Addis Abeba/Ouagadougou/Lagos/Accra/Libreville
 

Decent to good hotels, based on my personal experience:

Accra - Golden Tulip
Addis Abeba - Sheraton
Lagos - Ikeja Sheraton
Ouagadougou - Laico
Libreville - Laico

When given the choice, some of these towns should be avoided in the first place ...;)

All right Capetonian, perhaps a little strong on my part but might I please subsitute perhaps the word ghetto for slum. The dogs, razor wire, armed security guards, high walls, alarm systems and the third eye between the shoulder blades probably do make some areas of Johannesburg safer than certain strangely related parts of London.
In the elder days before the coming of the Prester there used to be a great hotel in Johannesburg called the Carlton. Sol Kerzner made his debut there as a sort of strong arm fixer at a nightclub called Raffles in the hotel. Sad to relate that the place looks today as though it'd been used for tank target practice. That's perhaps why all the hotels have moved out of Johannesburg into Rosebank, Hyde Park and Sandton.

In my experience as a general rule of thumb if there is a multi national chain hotel go for it - SA can't go too wrong in the larger cities with a lot of choices, in smaller places as it goes Africa is Africa.

Don't expect a Shereton anywhere in Africa to be like the Shereton Sydney etc but it does the job better then great considering. Just don't drink out of the taps.

Most larger airports with a good RPT international operation have a decent hotel adjacent with a bar your sure to bump into someone if you've done the rounds through the place.

Hotels
 

Freetown - there is only one at the airport, well down a dirt road, it's just too difficult to get to the city. The Airport Hotel is adequate has aircon in the bar and dining room and some work in the rooms (ask for the BMI crew rooms) Cold beer and some food ok. There is another being refurbed on the beach but haven't seen it yet.

Roberts Liberia - Hendeja Resort, costs a fortune but good, in fact probably the only one worth staying at considering security plus comforts and pool with the exception that some mobiles won't work, limited Wifi, nice beach with security.

Ouagadougou - try Libya Hotel (ex Sofitel) very good, pool, a'con and good wifi in lobby

Abuja - Agree with previous post, Transcorp Hilton is best, Sheraton is just ok

Treat the following with caution:

The Hotel Source Du Nil, Bujumbura - still has its original 70's decor (more creepy than charming), most of the lights in our rooms (we were a crew of 8) did not function, the laundry mislaid a whole set of uniforms, the plumbing was a disgrace (think non-flushing toilets, low water pressure and no hot water) and the one working lift (out of three) was so unreliable, it had to be manned 24 hours by one of the watchmen. The restaurant issued a newly-printed menu every night with three choices of main course only. The food was fairly decent though.

The Imperial Beach Resort, Entebbe - the last time I stayed there was over a year ago, so hopefully the air-conditioning now works, the hot water has been restored and the place has been fumigated for vermin. Believe me, being awoken at 2 a.m. by a gigantic rat scurrying about your room is not a
pleasant experience. Nor is moving rooms so said rat can be dealt with and finding another one in your new room. Some of my colleagues complained of roaches and bedbugs in their rooms.

Hotel Plein Ciel, Djibouti - The sort of establishment where the chap at the reception is smoking a cigarette and chewing a huge wad of miraa as he checks you all in. The soft-drink fridge in the bar is padlocked, and the lady who keeps the only key has an irritating tendency to go AWOL. Wireless Internet transmitters are conspicuously located in all the corridors outside the rooms, but the only place you can pick up a signal is in the lobby.

And some highly recommended ones:
The Birchwood (Johannesburg), Kempinski (Djibouti), Club Du Lac (Bujumbura), Airport View (Entebbe), Royal Palm (Dar), Ambassador (Hargeisa) and Intercontinental (Asmara).

For standards The Grace in Rose Bank takes some beating. Tad expensive and an hour from JNB though.

If you fancy somewhere close to JNB but not your standard airport hotel which we all get pretty bored with try The Airport Game Lodge. 10 mins from JNB but away from the flight path. Very nice large rooms set around a garden with swimming pool. Ponds, stream, large paddock with various game. Excellent breakfast. Now the down side - no bar :eek: There is a very temperamental drinks vending machine which even the staff can't get into. No meals apart from breakfast either. However they will take you to a place 5 mins away which has a bar and excellent restaurant. Oh, also the admin is pretty haphazard. Despite all of this for a one night stop over it is now our choice. :ok:

Misty Hills is around ten minutes or so from Lanseria and has The Carnivore restaurant down the bottom of the koppie on which it's built. Pretty nice place, specially if you're a meat eater.

Anyone have advice for Libreville? Our crew are at the Le Meridien and not very happy there. Is the Intercontinental operating again after their refurbishment?

Cape Town Hotels
 

There's a fabulous hotel about 25 mins from Cape Town International Airport called Sante Resort, Hotel & Spa, just off the N1 near Paarl and Franschhoek. Beautiful 5 star property with one of the world's best Spa's (perfect for the wife), set in the Vineyards & Olive Groves. They like airline crew & travel trade staff and have a deal on at the moment of R600.00 per room per night bed & breakfast and you get selected Spa treatments for only R299.00 if you are crew. Reservations are handled by Topplaces - [email protected]. If you want to bring friends the buddy rate is R1250.00 per room per night BB.

West Africa
 

Nigeria - Lagos (Ikeja) - Sheraton

Ghana / Accra - Fiesta Royale
Ghana / Accra - Golden Tulip
Ghana / Accra - Labadi Beach

Liberia / Monrovia - RLJ Kedeja Resort & Villas
Liberia / Monrovia - Cape Hotel
Liberia / Monrovia - Mamba Point
Liberia / Monrovia - Royale Hotel

Sierra Leone / Freetown - Cape Sierra Hotel
Sierra Leone / Lungi - Lungi Airport Hotel

The Gambia / Banjul - Ocean Bay Hotel