I booked here and chose what I thought was the cheapest room. I had seen pictures on TripAdvisor and everything looked ok, so I assumed the rate was due to the fact that I wasn't choosing a suite. What I didn't know is that there are I believe 3 Eko hotels on the property. They are of differing quality. The TripAdvisor pictures are for all the hotels, so if you are looking at a picture of a nice room, that's probably at the nicer, more expensive hotel. Be aware of which hotel you are booking. I ended up staying at the cheapest. It was ok for Africa, but would not be so good elsewhere. I did have some drinks in the main hotel and it looked very nice. Food and drinks were very expensive here, although that's Lagos I guess.

I can't quite believe I'm giving a Lagos hotel five out of five, without even adding 'this is Nigeria'.

Looking for an alternative after staying at the Four Points and Radisson Blu for years, Eko Hotel popped up? Why had I not stayed here before? I think it used to be very pricey, but it's currently less than the Four Points, which has become shabby and dirty and stopped offering smoking rooms, or the Radisson, also getting shabby and which has similarly stopped offering smoking rooms. (You can stay in an ex-smoking room which smells of smoke and has cigarette burns all over the carpets and the desk, but which you aren't allowed to smoke in...)

The Eko Hotel is more like a Dubai style set hotel set up, with some grounds, a couple of towers, some long term furnished apartments, a convention centre, a swimming pool you'd actually want to swim in, several restaurants and even an outside area near the pool you might actually want to sit in. I even had sushi one night. Yes, sushi! In Lagos! That didn't kill me! It doesn't have the Four Points or Radisson feeling that you are trapped in a crumbling dump.

There's even a very nice Irish pub, with great food, a decent band, a smoke free interior and a nice outside area with good service. The manager is hands on and makes sure everything runs smoothly. This is the first time in a Lagos hotel I've ever seen someone from management actually caring about their customers' experience.

Unlike any other hotel I've ever stayed in in Nigeria, you'd actually visit the bars and restaurants if you weren't actually staying in the hotel.

The reception area isn't some dirty cramped desk under malfunctioning AC, it's in the fresh air.

My room was a bit dated, but, critically, it wasn't falling apart. It was clean, the walls had been painted, the chair had four legs, the sheets had no stains and the water wasn't brown. I even had a balcony and a nice view of the sea.

The gym is large, with plenty of space. The equipment was a mix of new and slightly older machines, but - again, very unusual for Nigeria - everything actually worked. Nothing was rusty, or dirty.

I have great difficulty persuading South African and European colleagues to come to Nigeria. One of the reasons for this is the experience of being locked up in an excruciating dump of a hotel for a week and paying through the nose for the privelege. If the Eko options stay competitive with the Radisson, Four Points and the truly abysmal former Intercontinental, I'll make sure they stay here and actually enjoy their morning breakfast and their evening entertainment. Perhaps they'll be more willing to return.

My only criticism was that you had to call downstairs to get an internet passcode for each device you wanted to use, for internet access that lasted for 24 hours - all a bit 2006 - but this is a minor complaint. The ladies at the reception for breakfast were a bit too keen to make guests sign the bill (making me feel as if I was sneaking inside to steal some baked beans and rip off the hotel) but overall the staff were very pleasant - and competent.

Thank you, whoever manages the Eko, you've achieved something I have never experienced in Lagos ever before - a hotel that's worth the money and is actually a place someone would look forward to staying in.