Hospitality: behind the scenes at Accor in Senegal

As part of an invitation, Le Soleil had the opportunity to dive into the heart of four emblematic worlds of the Accor group, world leader in hospitality. Four establishments spread between Dakar and Saly, totaling 23 meeting rooms and 780 rooms, each with a unique personality, its own atmosphere and its own way of reinventing the art of hosting.

First, the modern elegance of the Pullman Dakar Teranga, where design meets the fluidity of service to create an experience that is at once urban, peaceful and resolutely premium.
Then comes the Novotel Dakar, designed as a versatile living space where comfort, conviviality and intelligent simplicity make each space a relaxation zone that is as warm as it is functional.
On a different tempo, ibis Styles Dakar shows its legendary efficiency: practical, direct, without superfluities but never without attention.
Finally, the Mövenpick Resort Lamantin Saly brings its touch of Swiss refinement mixed with gentle hospitality, with an eye for detail that transforms a simple stay into a real moment of well-being.
A journey rich in discoveries, encounters and sensations.

We never really go on a discovery trip. We abandon ourselves to it. From the first morning, something in us understands that this trip will not only be a series of places, but a way of learning to look again.
Dakar welcomes in this clear and frank light which resembles the beginning of promise. The Pullman Dakar Teranga is our first home port, an island of calm above the city. We discover spacious rooms, designed with clean lines. The smell of fresh linen, the generosity of the space, the chosen materials remind us how luxury can be so sweet. The staff welcomes you with this warm politeness that is unlearned. We feel teranga before we even name it.

The Teranga Lounge opens like a dawn lounge, with its scents of coffee, its fruits from local producers, its breads and pastries prepared in a logic of short circuits, its conversations still ballerinas, its faces half awake but already launched into what promises to be a great crossing. The active breakfast is just an appetizer before the dive.
The Pullman walking tour reveals a space designed as an urban breather. The terraces, the glass corridors, the contemporary works of art, the rooms facing the sea or the city: each one tells a different story.

The Pullman stands out for this blend of elegance and efficiency that makes everything easy. Then comes this singular moment when we discover that sport, practiced in a Zen swimming pool in the city center, can be a meditative ritual. In the water, the sounds of the world dissolve.
Midday brings another world, that of the sea.
At the Teranga Beach Club, chef Aïcha brings a reinvented Senegal to the table, a cuisine that offers the sea, warmth and generosity at the same time. Here, we find a principle dear to the spirit of the place: sharing food, this way of sharing dishes as we share stories, of tasting together, of discussing the same dish to extend the teranga even in the way of eating. We feel in each mouthful the precision of a story, the taste of local products, familiar spices but worked like secrets. We find here Accor’s desire to promote local regions, to give local ingredients the place they deserve in contemporary gastronomy.
And then there is Gorée. The cultural getaway. We leave the hotel, we leave light conversations behind, we embark towards a place where time has its own laws. The pastel alleys, the eroded walls, the voices of the guides who tell stories without offending, but without softening. On the island, the wind carries something indescribable. We stick to it together, and yet everyone lives on their own island. The return takes place in gentle silence. The evening sun knew it had to let this moment settle.
The sunset on the Pullman terrace arrives like an offering. The music mixes with the wind, the glasses clink, the tapas play a balancing act between modernity and tradition. We feel that we are slipping on this journey, that we are already no longer in control of it. Dinner later flows effortlessly. The discussions lengthen, the meetings begin to take shape. The media trip is also that: an art of letting things emerge.
The next day brings us back on the road early. The ibis Styles welcomes you with its bright colors, its fresh energy and its rooms decorated like capsules of creativity. The walls tell the story of Dakar in patterns, materials and graphic references. The welcome is simple, frank and familiar, carried by this warmth which gives the impression of returning to a place that we already know.
The discovery of the galleries and concept stores echoes the very spirit of the hotel. The new stylish brunch sets a different atmosphere. It is a dense, gourmet moment, where the plates celebrate regional products, worked with a carefully thought-out aesthetic. We sense in the kitchens a real ecological concern, a desire to limit waste, to promote what grows, what can be fished and especially what is transformed nearby.
A visit to the Novotel completes the picture. It is a place designed for those who travel on the move, where comfort rhymes with functionality. Sober and perfectly calibrated rooms, suites with kitchenettes, open spaces with a quiet atmosphere: it’s another facet of travel. The Thiossane dinner at NLounge is also a feast for the senses. The Senegalese dress code gives silhouettes a new elegance. Networking happens naturally, instinctively.
The third day opens a new geography. We leave Dakar at dawn to slide towards Saly. The Mövenpick Resort Lamantin appears like a parenthesis.

A resort designed as an ecosystem, with its impeccable gardens, its bright rooms where wood and natural fabrics respond to the blue of the Atlantic. The ecological aspect is palpable: optimized water management, responsible use of materials. As soon as you check in, you know that you are entering another temporality. The hotel is a small continent, a space that reconciles luxury and landscape.
Lunch at the Beach Club feels like a vacation, but the mission continues. It’s about understanding the places, feeling their soul and their rhythm. The holy grail of this tour in this resort remains the magnificent houseboats that we had the honor of inaugurating.

“Ice in the gazelle”

With a stroke of magic, the Bandia reserve reminds us that Senegal is multiple. Between giraffes advancing like punctuation marks and rhinoceroses walking with the certainty of being the guardians of time, we forget ourselves. The world becomes big and more essential again.

In the evening, the BBQ Lobster Night brings a kind of primitive celebration. Feet in the sand, seafood is grilling, the music is pumping and the laughter is rolling.
Then there is the long lunch, the sparkling sea, the inviting deckchairs and the conversations that take a more intimate form. The media trip is coming to an end, but it is further enriched with a Chocolate Hour, where goodbyes have the taste of cocoa, of sugar, of that sweetness necessary to close a chapter without gritting your teeth too much.
The end of the media trip always comes too quickly. However, we never leave this type of experience as a simple stay. We take away smells, faces, fragments of light. We leave with an expanded interior geography.

The journey continues to exist, with its lived part and its other life, the one that will be told for a long time to come.
And in passing, striking proof of the attachment born during these days, two nicknames emerged, launched with mischief: “Ndiol Pullman” and “Ndiol Mövenpick”, as if these hotels had decided to adopt the one who loved them so much.

By Amadou KEBE