Having crossed the land border from Liberia into the Côte d’Ivoire, the Hotel Le Liane in Danané was the first stop on our tour of the former French colony. After a cursory passport check at reception, we were quickly allocated Room 129 in one of the separate ground-floor accommodation blocks.
The room was rather unusual and minimalistic. An anteroom contained a cream leather corner sofa with matching footstools, a small table, a single chair and an empty fridge. Beyond a curtained doorway was a spacious bedroom where we found an extremely hard bed with brightly patterned sheets and one pillow each. We were offered a blanket, but given the tropical temperatures, declined.
The bedroom lacked proper bedside tables and reading lights, although there were conveniently placed plug sockets. One of the doors on the basic wardrobe refused to stay closed, so maintenance were sent to secure it to avoid squeezing past the swinging door to get to the bathroom. There was a wall-mounted television and some attractive painted artwork, but no complimentary water, tea or coffee-making facilities, or safe. Although Wi-Fi was advertised, it wasn’t available at any point during our overnight stay, and consequently credit cards were not accepted. The air conditioning was simple to operate but intermittently cut out during our stay.
The compact wet-room style bathroom was equally basic, with no hairdryer and just a large bar of soap as the complimentary toiletry. Two towels were provided: an enormous bath sheet and a hand towel. On arrival there was no running water, and although this was quickly resolved, the problem recurred twice more during our stay, each time requiring a visit to reception as there was no telephone in the room. However, when the water was working, the shower provided a reasonable supply of hot water.
Meals were served in a separate open-sided restaurant across the car park and up a short flight of steps.
We had pre-ordered lunch, which consisted of a vegetable shawarma accompanied by a salad of potato cubes, sweetcorn, cucumber and tomato, together with two generous pieces of French bread and a bottle of water.
After returning from our afternoon excursions at around 4pm, we were told we needed to order dinner immediately as the kitchen would have insufficient time to prepare a meal for 7pm. Having obliged, the chicken with spaghetti in a creamy sauce and Caesar salad were surprisingly tasty and filling and we didn’t touch the huge basket of bread which accompanied it. The large bottles of Bock local beer, at just 1,000 CFA or £1.30, were exceptionally good value.
It came as no surprise after dinner to be asked to pre-order breakfast which was certainly memorable. We found Nescafé sachets, powdered milk, a kettle of just-boiled water and an enormous Tupperware of brown sugar. To eat there were several hands of bananas, sliced baguette, a jar of apricot jam and a single spoon, but no plates, knives or any other cutlery.
The hotel had a couple of inviting-looking swimming pools, although unfortunately we didn’t have time to make use of them.
During our stay we appeared to be the only guests, which made the hotel feel rather quiet. Despite its shortcomings, Hotel Le Liane is reputed to be the best hotel in Danané and ideally located for people crossing between Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.
