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December 23, 2023
The fact that Home Suites Boutique Hotel is ranked on TripAdvisor as the #1 hotel in Freetown says more about Freetown than the hotel. This ain’t no Ritz Carlton. If you’re staying in a basic room, Home Suites Freetown is comparable to a new-ish Holiday Day Inn in the U.S. Approach it with an appropriate level of expectation and you’ll likely be satisfied with your stay. Positives: Design and decor has soul that American chain hotels can only aspire to. Restaurant service depends largely on your server. Most staff were friendly. Don’t hesitate to get out of your seat and flag down your server if your beer is empty. But the food and drink menu is fantastic - I stuck with African omelets for breakfast and catch of the day for dinner (photo attached) and wasn’t disappointed. Comfortable beds and clean rooms. Their “oversized, luxury bathrooms” just means when you open the door, it doesn’t bump into the commode. They were the nicest hotel bathrooms I’ve seen in West Africa but “oversized” and “luxury” are relative terms. Negatives: Terrible sleep quality. The lovely tile floors throughout and sturdy doors meant I heard a lot of footsteps, conversations and comings and goings throughout the night. There’s something about the plumbing, I think, that makes a squealing sound in the walls when other guests flush toilets. Light sleepers might have some difficulty staying asleep. Room power is activated by inserting your key card in a wall device. So if you’re hot and sweaty from touring Freetown, don’t expect to come back to a refreshingly chilly room with cold water in the fridge. You’re gonna have to wait for the AC to do its job; You can speed up the process in the bedroom by closing the door to the bathroom. Standard rooms are on the tiny side. Opening my clamshell style suitcase on the floor effectively bifurcated the room, meaning I had to clamber across the bed to get from one side of the room to the other. TV has 8 channels, most of which were fuzzy or frozen pictures. All in all, it’s a decent hotel and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to U.S. & European visitors of Freetown. After spending a couple weeks in Sierra Leone, I can see how it might rank as one of the better hotels in-country. But its “excellent” and “superior” ratings are relative to the local competition. Grading on a curve: 4/5