Pullman Abidjan — Hotel in Le Plateau

Overall, I had a pleasant stay, but this pleasantry was destroyed when I checked out. Let me explain. Booked the airport transfer online on the Pullman website and I paid 35,000 XOF ($52) because it said for the entire stay. I figured $26 each way was reasonable, so I booked it. I should have known that this airport transfer was a scam because the Pullman employee at the airport simply flagged down a random taxi and threw us in it. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have flagged down the taxi myself. Anyway, we arrived safely at the hotel and honestly my stay was not spectacular, but it was great. We enjoyed the lobby art and complimentary drinks we were given for the inconvenience of our room being dirty, with decaying food when we got into it. Apparently, it wasn’t cleaned, but somehow it was assigned to us at checkin. When we got to the room, it stunk of rotting food, so we returned to the lobby to inform them. Aside from this, our stay was pleasant. Upon checking out, we informed the lobby/receptionist to get us a taxi back to the airport, that was when they informed us that we had to pay an additional 35,000 XOF ($52). I complained to the front desk staff that my online reservation clearly stated ‘for the entire stay’. They were adamant that I had to pay. At this point, I was frustrated, so I told them to cancel the taxi and I will take Uber. I was horrified to discover that Uber to the airport only cost 7,500 XOF! The hotel is charging almost 5x more! After explaining this to the front desk staff, we somehow got lost in translation because I assumed they said I can keep the taxi at the same price of 7,500 XOF, but apparently they were saying I still had to pay a cancellation fee of 7,500 XOF. After paying the fee of 7,500 XOF, the hotel staff simply hailed a taxi outside and threw us in. Due to the language barrier (don’t speck French) we assumed that the hotel had paid the taxi driver they called for us. Once we got to the airport, the cab driver angrily asked us for payment. We were confused and couldn’t really communicate well with him. He proceeded to call the police on us. After much conversation and angry exchanges, we fully understood that the hotel had not paid him. I had to pay him $50 on the spot because that was the smallest bill I carried at the time and we did not have time to make change because we did not want to miss our flight. As a business owner myself, I am truly disappointed that a 5-star hotel like Pullman will allow its reputation to be destroyed over airport transfers. Honestly, the hotel should have a shuttle which takes its guests back and forth. Charging $52, when a regular taxi ride is $10 and throwing guests into a random cab is criminal and irresponsible. I truly hope your upper level hotel management team can get a handle on this and rectify it. The bottom line for me is that I will NEVER recommend this hotel, not because of the hotel itself, but because of it’s airport transfer policy. It...

My stay was awful, knowing that it's high level hotel, maybe 5 star? Anyways, at breakfast you can find a clean table only if you come early. Coming in the middle of breakfast means you will have to find a fork and a knife from different tables. Dinner there was awful, one or two people serving the whole dining area. They often forgot drinks we ordered. The hotel states that they speak four languages though I rarely found English speaking staff. I mean not everyone at reception even spoke English. Ordering food was also difficult because they didn't understand English, I could have never came there to eat without my French speaking friend. The minifridge was empty, no minibar at all and these things are available everywhere, this was the first hotel that I have stayed without any food or drinks in the room at all. Also, don't get me started on room cleaning. Cleaning staff don't understand English so I could never explain the problems in the room to them. One of the days I had fever and when they came to clean, I couldn't explain that I don't need the services. What's interesting is that many hotels somehow manage to clean the room when you're out of the hotel. In this case, all the time staff came to clean, it was always when I'm in the room and I didn't spend much time there. I think the biggest problem of the hotel is the MANAGEMENT. When it's awful, everything falls apart, like in this place. I stayed in this hotel because of friend recommendation and I know he has a good taste in hotels, he stayed there two years before. So something happened during those two years and my guess is management changed....

Making a reservation for the Father's Day brunch was painful. Had to call 3 different numbers to get to the event reservation line, only to be told to send a WhatsApp, which screamed laziness. I did send a message for a reservation at 1 PM. The day before the brunch, I confirmed the reservation as I was asked to do, but got no response. The morning of the brunch, I called multiple times to inform them that I did not get any reply and that we would be coming after 1PM. No one responded. I even called before we were on our way to the brunch, but still no response. This should have been my sign to not show up, but we were celebrating a birthday and this is where we wanted to eat. So we ended up getting there a little before 2PM to be told that there is not much food left and it would not be worth our money. I appreciated the manager not wanting to disappoint us. However, had he or his team picked up the phone, we wouldn't have wasted our time getting there. It is called common sense. We left and went to Parenthèse where we were welcomed and ate very well. Overall, the team organizing events at the Pullman is ironically disorganized and unprofessional.

REVIEW FEOM 6 YEARS AGO (4 STARS): Beautifully renovated hotel providing an excellent and attentive service to its guests. My family and I thoroughly enjoyed spending New Year's eve and day at the Pullman. Excellent and well-organized celebration of the end of the year. The food was exquisite; especially the brunch. The bedrooms were clean, spacious, bright, and...