The quality of hotels in Freetown is extremely variable; cramped, odd rooms, dodgy cleanliness, generators that run out during the night rendering aircon and showers useless.

The Country Lodge is a notable exception. The rooms are a decent size, have mozzie nets, aircon, a fridge, cable TV (SA-based DSTV) and wired internet. The showers work, the beds are pretty good, and there's usually a balcony to hang out on.

The restaurant has a million dollar view and free wi-fi, so gathers many of Freetown's working professionals for whom wi-fi i a considerable draw. Unusually it has an international menu, Lebanese menu and Chinese menu. Normally this would be a recipe for mediocre mess, but here it works. I've been at the Lodge for 6 months and still look forward to dinner - no mean feat.

Be friendly and the staff will be friendly too - within a few days most will ask your name and remember it. Le.5000 tips will help life greatly. It's a dollar; and equal to what many Sierra Leoneans live on a day. Hospitality staff are not well paid and, like many Sierra Leoneans who have managed to find a job, have an extended family to support.

This is probably the best hotel in Freetown. It's not cheap but if you are there on business or have a busy schedule and don't want to contend with a fawlty towers farce every day, this is the safe bet.

For what they charge, I thought this delivered well below the mark. The room was very big, but shabby. The site talks of "24h Internet Connection" - they might have meant that's how long it takes to get a connection. It comes and goes without any noticeable pattern and is generally weak. Whilst the reception staff and some of the waiting staff were lovely, others were a farce. After being their for 6 days, ordering the same breakfast every day and being cursed with the same waitress, she would still wander off, forget to place the order and when it finally arrived, she got it wrong. Same routine every day. Another favorite habit was to supply the coffee requested and when asked for milk, return with it about 15 minutes later.

The building is fairly ugly, though looking down the communal entrance balcony looked pretty (see photo). Get the sense that they're trying to make improvements, but that it's very slow - could have been going on for years.

Will keep searching for something better.

Constant mosquitoes and contracted malaria. But that was not actually why I left. The owners at the time--maybe the same ones--were extremely abusive verbally to staff, and rather unpleasant to the rare black visitor. I am not sure whether the woman who doled out most of the abuse was South African or Australian, but regardless it was unacceptable. She was quite volatile in response to direcy reprimands, so I chose to leave rather than give them any more money.

The hotel has a beautiful crystal clear swimming pool and the surroundings are clean and well maintained. The views of the ocean from here are simply spectacular. The hotel’s restaurant serves good food and the chef is a nice man who takes interest in catering to your preferences. One has to try his freshly cooked sea foods to know his level of expertise in sea food preparation. The staffs are accommodating and you feel at home here. It is also a safe and secure place to stay. The rooms are comfortable with good air conditioning. The high speed wireless internet access is free and uninterrupted. The hotel has a free parking lot. But I needed not one as I had not gone there in my personal vehicle.