I recently spent 6 days at this hotel and while it was an ok experience, it really was overpriced for what you receive. The check-in process was below average with the assistant demanding that I pay upfront before I can proceed to my room. The rooms are dated, but clean and functional. The internet connection was very slow, but worked well enough to send messages. The food was ok - nothing spectacular. Breakfast was edible. The overall service was fairly average. Some of the staff do have an attitude problem and somehow seem to think that they are doing you a favour! All in all, this is an average hotel, but I must add that some of my colleagues who stayed at other hotels in Freetown indicated that I had the best of what there is to offer in Freetown. So, while it may not be up to standard in most countries, the Country Lodge is arguably the 'best' that Freetown has to offer in my opinion.

My room (ground floor, 1004) was smelly, dark, dank, dowdily,… The pillow was that stinky, only with a towel on top and the thought about a shower next morning I was able to sleep.
And the best was the price, 3 nights for 450 USD!!!
The staff was not willing to provide a different room always telling we are full, try it again tomorrow.
The only good point about this place is the restaurant and the view (if you don’t stay in the cellar.

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.