Protea Hotel Johannesburg Wanderers

Beautiful hotel! It's your standard 25 minutes from the airport, but it's situated in a very nice part of town with lots of luxurious parks and sporting complexes. The hotel offers airport transport if you need it particularly for early morning or late night travel plans. The hotel is large and clean, the staff are welcoming, and the room service very nice. The gem was the morning breakfast buffet with indoor and outdoor seating. But the outdoor seating was perfect on a September morning to catch the morning sun and overlook the lovely grounds with pool and croquet pitch in the slight distance.

The hotel suited our needs for our short stay. It is a nice area of Johannesburg with several nice restaurants nearby. We ate in the hotel restaurant in the evening and the food was good and very reasonably priced. The breakfast was equally good with a huge selection to choose from.| |The hotel staff were very friendly and helpful and always cheerful. The rooms were quite small with the shower in the room with a curtain round for privacy. We found that a little unusual. There is another Marriott hotel opposite. For the short time we were in Johannesburg this hotel was adequate for our needs.

Stayed at the protea Johannesburg for 2 nights. The hotel is quite simple, there is a gym, outdoor pool and restaurant.|We had a room on the ground floor, the room was ok. The bed was very comfortable which I appreciated, but the rest was quite basic. Amenities are very simple, packet coffee and tea and soap bar, shampoo, body wash. Shower is a little small, so bigger people might struggle a bit. The decor was pretty dated but we weren’t in the rooms very long. Wifi is a bit spotty, not the best. Sound proofing is not good between the rooms… you can hear everything, every cough, everything in the bathroom, it’s very loud and I woke up multiple times to people coughing or using the toilet or talking. Breakfast offering is good with lots of options. |In terms of location, they have a shuttle to the nearby gated area with shops which is useful, however given there is another Marriott group hotel there, if I came here again next time I would stay at the Marriott that’s within the complex. There is a sports bar just outside the hotel here and the food was surprisingly quite good!

I stayed six nights at this hotel. A nice (albeit quite small) room with an excellent shower and a comfortable bed. BUT...|I encountered one disappointment after another. Any one of them I might have dismissed as "one of those things" but taken together, these incidents really soured my view of the Protea Wanderers. Here's what happened...|-- Two days before arrival, I received an email asking for my personal and credit card details. I filled it in, yet the front desk had no record of it when I arrived at 10.30pm . This was more than a minor inconvenience as I was using my sister's credit card and couldn 't ph one her for the details at that time of night. With some reluctance, the desk clerk agreed to let me provide the details the next day.|-- When I got to my room, there was a note on the desk welcoming "Brian Eloff" to the hotel. I am not Brian Eloff , which meant I had to traipse back to the front desk to ensure that they had given me the right room and that I would not be disturbed by Mr Eloff in the middle of the night. |-- I had to go back to the front desk yet again when I was unable to sign into the hotel WiFi. The receptionist said the problem was that I had just checked in and got the WiFi connected. However, the next morning it was again not working -- this time, the receptionist on duty signed on using her own password. Three days later, I was disconnected again....|-- When I checked in, I asked the front desk to reserve a table for dinner the following evening for myself and four friends. The restaurant had no record of the reservation the next day. |-- The dinner turned out to be a rather bizarre experience. Three of us ordered the rump steak with three prawns and stir fry. When our dishes arrived, none had a stir fry . One came with chips (French fries), one with mashed potatoes and mine with spinach (which I detest). My brother reported that his curry was at best lukewarm and quite tasteless. At least the fifth member of our party was pleased with his oxtail casserole. For dessert, I ordered the malva pudding and custard only to be told 10 minutes later that the kitchen had run out of the custard that was supposed to come with it. (Oh yes, and one of us ordered soda water which never arrived).|All in all, my stay fell well short of what I have come to expect from a Marriott property.

It's a good place just staff needs to be more expericed to handle large crowds of guests. Forgetting orders and drinks. I preferred the hotel pre-2010 style and atmosphere.

First time staying at this hotel and what a pleasant surprise. Was not to sure what to expect. Let me start with the staff. Professional, friendly and bring a little joy to your life. Special mention to @Portia, @Nokhwakhwa, @Khanyisile, @Sibonelo and @Sibongile. They went above and beyond. This was my first time, was only there for two days, but I could have very easily been mistaken for a regular thanks to the exemplary service of these five. ||Good breakfast buffet, though the selection was limited…but then again you can only do so much with breakfast. Meals were fresh and tasty thought my liver starters could have done with a bit more seasoning. Did not have time to explore other items on the menu but from the looks of what was served, it certainly did whet the appetite. ||The rooms were cozy and comfortable albeit rather small and a bit dated. The bathroom is tiny, I am a small chap and could hardly turn in the shower. The hotel had a well equipped gym, and I was able to keep up with my exercise activities without breaking a sweat.||Proximity to Wanderers Club and a ten minute drive from Sandton or Rivonia shopping malls makes it stragically placed whether you are in town for business or pleasure. All in all. I enjoyed my two day stay thanks to the five incredible personalities mentioned above. If you are in the Illovo area of Sandton, Johannesburg and looking for a medium priced hotel this would be it. It may not be luxury but the staff sure make it feel like one. Keep up the good work.

Sadly, I have nothing good to say about the restaurant. My 75 year old boss treated the entire office to a lunch for his birthday and it was a total disaster! He is such a wonderful man, who I have worked for, for over 30 years. He was so excited to treat us for his birthday. We were a party of 8 people and only 2 people enjoyed their meals. 2 people ordered the line fish, one grilled and one fried - the fish was cold and the grilled fish arrived fried and coated in batter, which was ordered by a GLUTEN intolerant customer. She then requested grilled fish, only to be told that they did not have stock. Then she requested a gluten free pasta dish, once again to be told they were out of stock. 2 other ladies ordered the T-bones, which were both cold and tough. The one lady ordered her meal with creamed spinach, which ended up giving her diarrhea. Another lady ordered chicken schnitzel with creamed spinach, and also ended up with diarrhea. Clearly there was a problem with the creamed spinach. Lastly, I ordered the aromatic vegetable curry, which was very well-presented, but totally un-edible. The cauliflower, baby marrows and butternut were extremely hard and quite unpleasant to try and chew. I returned the dish with a request that they simply cook the veggies a little longer as the flavours were great. When they returned with my meal, I was presented with a bowl of green peppers in a curry sauce (a totally different meal) from what I had ordered. I was so embarrassed, I asked them to please take the meal away. I absolutely hate green peppers. The Chefs came out, apologized profusely and requested me to let them try again, which I did and they brought out a lovely dish, which should have been served the 1st time around. Unfortunately, after such an unpleasant experience, it was really difficult to enjoy my meal, as my colleagues were already finishing up their dessert and I had only been served my main meal. This leaves me with the question......is this the service we are giving international visitors?

Location is great, felt safe walking around to go to the shops and around the area. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The restaurant did a great breakfast, and the room and facilities were good Marriot standard.