Hôtel Résidence Océane — Restaurant in Lomé

On the website it says cards accepted at this hotel are Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay. I presented my Visa card for checkout and then they asked for a PIN. I tried to explain that US credit cards don't come with a pin Credit cards issued in America don't have PINS, debit cards do. I was there for 9 days, I don't use a debit card for a hotel stay of any duration.||When we used a credit card at the grocery store, they went and got a different device to accept the credit card without using a pin. I tried to explain to Mariette, who was absolutely wonderful, calm and patient during this ordeal. Ordeal is the correct terminology, this is no exaggeration! My friend with me worked at a bank and use to sell those credit card devices and said the machine was currently set up to accept debit cards and needs to be set to accept credit as well as debit cards.||We could see through the glass window the owner sitting in the restaurant eating with a group of men. Mariette seemed reluctant to go to him about this situation but after I called my credit card company and my friend called her credit card company to see if we could get a temporary authorization in which they said that is not how they operate. A pin only comes with the credit card if it is set up for cash advances. Cash advances on a credit card comes with 25% interest plus daily fees. ||After I made that call and relayed the info to Mariette, she then went in the restaurant to explain to her boss what was happening and that she was at a loss on how to proceed. The owner initially had NO interest in trying to get this resolved and sent Mariette back to us to say that we needed to go to a bank and get a cash advance or Western Union to pay. I told her those alternatives were not acceptable to me. On her bank machine it CLEARLY stated Visa, MasterCard and Union Pay were accepted. But no where was it stated that a pin would be required to use a card,not even on their website. If that was mentioned anywhere on their website I would not have booked at that hotel and I told them so.||The owner was still dining and drinking with several men at his table and he could clearly see us still trying to take care of this, but it was after about 45 minutes that he got up to come to address the situation. He did not speak English and we did not speak French but we had someone with us who did and attempted to explain the credit card situation to him that in the US we do not have PINs with credit cards. It quickly escalated into a shouting match! Our interpreter said that he didn't want to hear from him and he tried to explain he was just an interpreter because I did not speak French. ||He told us our choices for payment again were either a cash advance on our credit card or Western Union; neither of which were acceptable to me and I told him so. The owner replied that the fact that our credit card did not come with a pin was not his problem. I responded that the fact that he did not in fact accept credit cards after advertising that he did was not my problem. ||I asked were we the only Americans to stay at this hotel and Mariette said no but this issue happened all the time with Americans. I told her that was because we don't have pin numbers with our credit cards. Apparently pins are used in Europe and that is their way of having security. I told them we have a chip embedded in our cards and that is our way of ensuring security.|| I asked about using PayPal. They never heard of it and didn't want to use it. I told them this was a way to resolve the credit issue but the owner not knowing about PayPal didn't want to do that. He said he was not going to let us leave without paying. Mind you, I was NOT trying to leave without paying, I was trying to find another way to get them paid since my normal use of a credit card when checking out was not going to work.||I decided that I was not going to argue but was going to pay him using PayPal regardless of his reluctance to use it.||While he continued to rant and rave, I arranged payment through PayPal and got confirmation. They did not get the confirmation email from PayPal and that only continued his rantings. In the meantime, his dining companions came out front who could speak English. I explained the whole debacle to them. They explained in France, pin numbers are used but when I tried to explain in the USA, pin numbers are not used, he replied this was not the USA and I said we were not in France! He said that in the future I should check to see if a pin was required when using a credit card at a hotel because that was a common practice in France and other European countries. I told him, that a statement should be on their website that the method of payment when using any card required a pin. I stated that several times but no one seemed to think that had any value.||I had decided that I did all that I could do and I was going to use PayPal. While the owner was still ranting and raving that we were not allowed to leave without paying, I told him that I used PayPal and it was done. They just needed to set up a PayPal account. I immediately got the confirmation from PayPal but they did not. The internet access there is SPOTTY and SLOOWW! I forwarded my confirmation email to Mariette and and turned to the interpreter and said we are leaving. I had already explained to Mariette how PayPal worked and there was nothing else to say.||They never got the email from PayPal because I discovered later that I made a typo in the email address. By the time I discovered that I was at the Lome, Togo airport so I forwarded the email from PayPal which showed the email address I sent it to and they could clearly see it had one too many c's in the address. I told her that I would correct it once I got back home the next day and could do it using a private wifi. That I did. I forwarded the corrected email and told Mariette they needed to set up a PayPal account and once they did that the money would be available to them either through a check or direct deposit in their bank.||Aside from that nightmare, I will now focus on the hotel itself. ||We got in after midnight with a driver secured by the hotel. We were really skeptical about safety after zig zagging through streets of people hanging out.. The drive told us it was Ramadan and people were there to pray. Ok but it looked scary to us.||||The next day after we met up with our interpreter, it turned out that this location was in fact a GREAT location for us.||The rooms themselves were beautiful eclectic rooms as shown on the website. What you could not see was that the internet access was extremely spotty, the air conditioning worked well in some rooms (mine) but not in others (friend)||The bed was the most UNCOMFORTABLE bed I have ever slept on in my enter life!! I do like a firm mattress, but I think they used a boxspring as the mattress. The comfort level of that bed and my friends bed was the equivalent of sleeping on the floor; it was so incredibly hard that my side was aching when I woke up. I decided to endure it given the options.||||The staff, Mariette, Nimota and other were OUTSTANDING in their desire to assist and help you in anyway possible. we wanted to to go to the Artisnal Market and they tried explaining to us that it was in walking distance. ||Because of the language barrier, we couldn't understand fully what they were saying so one said "can you go now" and she took us there, stayed with us as we shopped and escorted us back!||The level of service of you got from the staff was phenomenal; from the owner, not so much.||This hotel is a change from chain hotels just...

On the website it says cards accepted at this hotel are Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay. I presented my Visa card for checkout and then they asked for a PIN. I tried to explain that US credit cards don't come with a pin Credit cards issued in America don't have PINS, debit cards do. I was there for 9 days, I don't use a debit card for a hotel stay of any duration.||When we used a credit card at the grocery store, they went and got a different device to accept the credit card without using a pin. I tried to explain to Mariette, who was absolutely wonderful, calm and patient during this ordeal. Ordeal is the correct terminology, this is no exaggeration! My friend with me worked at a bank and use to sell those credit card devices and said the machine was currently set up to accept debit cards and needs to be set to accept credit as well as debit cards.||We could see through the glass window the owner sitting in the restaurant eating with a group of men. Mariette seemed reluctant to go to him about this situation but after I called my credit card company and my friend called her credit card company to see if we could get a temporary authorization in which they said that is not how they operate. A pin only comes with the credit card if it is set up for cash advances. Cash advances on a credit card comes with 25% interest plus daily fees. ||After I made that call and relayed the info to Mariette, she then went in the restaurant to explain to her boss what was happening and that she was at a loss on how to proceed. The owner initially had NO interest in trying to get this resolved and sent Mariette back to us to say that we needed to go to a bank and get a cash advance or Western Union to pay. I told her those alternatives were not acceptable to me. On her bank machine it CLEARLY stated Visa, MasterCard and Union Pay were accepted. But no where was it stated that a pin would be required to use a card,not even on their website. If that was mentioned anywhere on their website I would not have booked at that hotel and I told them so.||The owner was still dining and drinking with several men at his table and he could clearly see us still trying to take care of this, but it was after about 45 minutes that he got up to come to address the situation. He did not speak English and we did not speak French but we had someone with us who did and attempted to explain the credit card situation to him that in the US we do not have PINs with credit cards. It quickly escalated into a shouting match! Our interpreter said that he didn't want to hear from him and he tried to explain he was just an interpreter because I did not speak French. ||He told us our choices for payment again were either a cash advance on our credit card or Western Union; neither of which were acceptable to me and I told him so. The owner replied that the fact that our credit card did not come with a pin was not his problem. I responded that the fact that he did not in fact accept credit cards after advertising that he did was not my problem. ||I asked were we the only Americans to stay at this hotel and Mariette said no but this issue happened all the time with Americans. I told her that was because we don't have pin numbers with our credit cards. Apparently pins are used in Europe and that is their way of having security. I told them we have a chip embedded in our cards and that is our way of ensuring security.|| I asked about using PayPal. They never heard of it and didn't want to use it. I told them this was a way to resolve the credit issue but the owner not knowing about PayPal didn't want to do that. He said he was not going to let us leave without paying. Mind you, I was NOT trying to leave without paying, I was trying to find another way to get them paid since my normal use of a credit card when checking out was not going to work.||I decided that I was not going to argue but was going to pay him using PayPal regardless of his reluctance to use it.||While he continued to rant and rave, I arranged payment through PayPal and got confirmation. They did not get the confirmation email from PayPal and that only continued his rantings. In the meantime, his dining companions came out front who could speak English. I explained the whole debacle to them. They explained in France, pin numbers are used but when I tried to explain in the USA, pin numbers are not used, he replied this was not the USA and I said we were not in France! He said that in the future I should check to see if a pin was required when using a credit card at a hotel because that was a common practice in France and other European countries. I told him, that a statement should be on their website that the method of payment when using any card required a pin. I stated that several times but no one seemed to think that had any value.||I had decided that I did all that I could do and I was going to use PayPal. While the owner was still ranting and raving that we were not allowed to leave without paying, I told him that I used PayPal and it was done. They just needed to set up a PayPal account. I immediately got the confirmation from PayPal but they did not. The internet access there is SPOTTY and SLOOWW! I forwarded my confirmation email to Mariette and and turned to the interpreter and said we are leaving. I had already explained to Mariette how PayPal worked and there was nothing else to say.||They never got the email from PayPal because I discovered later that I made a typo in the email address. By the time I discovered that I was at the Lome, Togo airport so I forwarded the email from PayPal which showed the email address I sent it to and they could clearly see it had one too many c's in the address. I told her that I would correct it once I got back home the next day and could do it using a private wifi. That I did. I forwarded the corrected email and told Mariette they needed to set up a PayPal account and once they did that the money would be available to them either through a check or direct deposit in their bank.||Aside from that nightmare, I will now focus on the hotel itself. ||We got in after midnight with a driver secured by the hotel. We were really skeptical about safety after zig zagging through streets of people hanging out.. The drive told us it was Ramadan and people were there to pray. Ok but it looked scary to us.||||The next day after we met up with our interpreter, it turned out that this location was in fact a GREAT location for us.||The rooms themselves were beautiful eclectic rooms as shown on the website. What you could not see was that the internet access was extremely spotty, the air conditioning worked well in some rooms (mine) but not in others (friend)||The bed was the most UNCOMFORTABLE bed I have ever slept on in my enter life!! I do like a firm mattress, but I think they used a boxspring as the mattress. The comfort level of that bed and my friends bed was the equivalent of sleeping on the floor; it was so incredibly hard that my side was aching when I woke up. I decided to endure it given the options.||||The staff, Mariette, Nimota and other were OUTSTANDING in their desire to assist and help you in anyway possible. we wanted to to go to the Artisnal Market and they tried explaining to us that it was in walking distance. ||Because of the language barrier, we couldn't understand fully what they were saying so one said "can you go now" and she took us there, stayed with us as we shopped and escorted us back!||The level of service of you got from the staff was phenomenal; from the owner, not so much.||This hotel is a change from chain hotels just...

(+) I would highly recommend to stay in the residence Hôtelière Océane. First of all, I wanted to have a visa to be ready before coming to Togo. In order to do so, the Togolese consulate requested an official confirmation from a hotel, where I stay that I actually reserved something in Togo. I received the requested confirmation within a few days. I was also offered an airport pick up for free but traveled by land, therefore declined it. The hotel is located more or less in the city center. It is in the walking distance to all more or less interesting sights in Lomé. I liked the interior design of the hotel. It is pretty unusual. You can get to the rooftop and see the capital from above. If you like Belgian beers, you can order a few types in the restaurant. The price is similar to European hotels. My room 60 had even a safe box, which is usually not available in the African mid-range hotels. Very nice soap but would be great to have a shampoo. You can pay vith a Visa credit card or in cash (euro or CFA).||(-) The hotel has a restaurant but the prices for dishes are a bit steep. The breakfast is for free but can be improved. You can get an omelette, 2 local croissants, a baguette and butter and jam. Coffee was...