Hotel compliance, classification and design in West Africa
We get your property ready for the official inspection: a criterion-by-criterion gap report against your country’s grid, a programme of compliance works, and support right up to the visit.
We never award a classification: only each country’s authority can do that.
Gap report, extract
Fictitious example
Emergency exits signposted and lit
Priority 1Safety, criterion 7.4
No exit signage on the 2nd floor, photo 14
Guest register kept up to date
CompliantAdministration, criterion 6.2
Compliant, current year’s register
Room floor area
Priority 2Rooms, criterion 4.1
Room 12 is below the floor area required for the target category
Fire extinguishers in place and serviced
Priority 2Safety, criterion 7.1
In place; last service not dated
An architect’s and an inspector’s eye, before the official visit
More than ten years spent bringing a hundred or so hotels in France up to standard: new builds, refurbishments, fire safety, accessibility. Now based in Lomé, we apply the same method to the classification grids of Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Benin and ECOWAS.
The regulations are written in French. We explain them in plain English, so that owners, investors and lenders can read the same file, and you are welcome to write to us in English.
- Criterion by criterion
- Every finding is tied to the grid criterion, to the rule it rests on and to the photo taken on site.
- A calculation anyone can re-run
- A rules engine applies the country’s grid, and the full calculation trail appears in the report. No hidden judgement calls.
- A works programme
- Gaps are ranked by priority and grouped into work packages, ready to be costed and scheduled.
Choose the right engagement
All services, including compliance support and trainingPre-assessment
You want to know where the property stands before committing to works or to an application.
- On site
- Half a day
- You receive
- A 10 to 15-page gap report, with priorities
- Indicative price
- XOF 500,000–900,000 (about €760–1,370)
Full audit
You are preparing a classification application or a move up a category.
- On site
- One to two days
- You receive
- A criterion-by-criterion report and a compliance programme costed by work package
- Indicative price
- XOF 2–4 million depending on size (about €3,050–6,100)
New-build review
Your drawings are not yet final and you know the category you are aiming for.
- On site
- Review of the brief and the drawings
- You receive
- A consistency note and a list of non-compliances before submission
- Indicative price
- 1–1.5% of construction cost
Indicative prices in CFA francs (XOF), confirmed by a quotation after a first conversation. Euro equivalents at the fixed rate of XOF 655.957 to the euro.
From your first message to the report
You describe the property
Country, number of rooms, target category. Emiliano replies within 48 hours.
A conversation, then a quotation
We agree on the engagement that fits; the indicative price is confirmed by a quotation.
The site visit
Half a day to two days: every criterion of the grid is checked room by room, with photos and measurements.
The signed report
Every gap is tied to its criterion, its rule and its evidence, with a works programme ranked by priority.
Where your country’s regulations stand
Legislation, authorities and grids differ from one country to the next, and almost all of it is published in French only. Each page sets out the framework, the procedure and what still needs confirming, in English, with dated sources.
- Togo
Criteria : Not published
Legal basis and authority
- Legal basis
- Decree 89-137/PR of 23 August 1989
- Authority
- CNACET, the national tourism licensing and classification commission
- Côte d’Ivoire
Criteria : Standard sold by CODINORM: 175 criteria in 9 sections, 520 points
Legal basis and authority
- Legal basis
- Tourism Code (2014); NI 6500 standard mandatory since 2022
- Authority
- National Classification Commission; CODINORM, the national standards body
- Senegal
Criteria : Implementing orders not found online
Legal basis and authority
- Legal basis
- Decree 2005-145 of 2 March 2005
- Authority
- National Licensing and Classification Commission
- Benin
Criteria : Not published
Legal basis and authority
- Legal basis
- Decree 2023-494 of 26 September 2023
- Authority
- To be confirmed
- ECOWAS
Criteria : Standards for each accommodation type being validated
Legal basis and authority
- Legal basis
- Eight texts adopted by tourism ministers in Lomé on 7 April 2023
- Authority
- A national classification commission required in every member state
Our founder sits on Togo’s classification commission. Here is how we keep the two roles apart.
Systematic recusal, separate files, and no property taken on as a client if the commission has examined it in the past two years: seven public commitments, checked every year by an independent third party.
Tell us about your property
Describe the hotel, its number of rooms and the category you are aiming for. Emiliano replies within 48 hours, with no automated follow-up.