The 10 Things I Learned in Three Weeks at Protea Hotels in Africa
I've just spent three weeks in South Africa, Zambia and Malawi. For most of this trip, I stayedat several Protea Hotels by Marriott and I recently reviewed the following seven properties:
- The Protea Hotel O.R. Tambo Airport, which is located next to Johannesburg's international airport.
- Protea Hotel Cape Town Mowbray, in the southern suburbs of Cape Town.
- The Protea Hotel Stellenbosch - a few miles outside of Stellenbosch near Cape Town in the South African Winelands.
- Protea Hotel Kruger Gate, which is directly by the entrance to the Kruger National Park.
- The Protea Hotel Livingstone - just outside ofLivingstone town in Zambia, on the road leading to the famous Victoria Falls.
- Protea Hotel Lusaka Tower, centrally located for shopping and restaurants in Zambia's capital of Lusaka.
- Malawi's Protea Hotel Blantyre Ryalls, a stunning property from the 1920s in the middle of Blantyre's city center.
Marriott acquired Protea Hotels in 2014 and by 2016it wasofficially re-branded as Protea Hotels by Marriott. I've stayed at Protea hotels both before and since the re-branding- at the Protea Hotel Transit Johannesburg Airportandin Nigeria at the Protea Hotel Kuramo Waters Lagos.However, my stays this year were a real eye-opener, as Ifound Protea Hotels to be a mediocre product at best. This is what I learned with my seven recent stays.
The customer is
With the exception of the Protea Blantyre Ryalls, which features fantastic staff at every turn, the front desk staff at Protea Hotels are always right. The amount of entitlement I saw with the staff is epic. Plus most of my check-ins in all 3 countrieswere slow, cold and wordless or just a real mess. At theProtea Hotel Stellenbosch, the agent got most of itwrong, includingmy name, my reservation, my payment type, the Marriott Rewards benefits and even the WiFi code. Does Marriott train any of the Protea staff?
The internet is a total fail in most properties
While the WiFi at the Protea Hotel O.R. Tambo Airport and the Protea Hotel Kruger Gate werethe only real stable connections I experienced in these 7 stays, it was still slow at 1.5 to 2 Mbit. The internet at all the other Proteas I stayed at varied between not working at all or hardly working, which can be so frustrating.The worst of the bunch was the Protea Hotel Cape Town Mowbray, who noted my issue of the internet barely working at all, but said nothing could be done until after I'd left!
The beds are usuallyexcellent
Where everything else fails, a great bed can make up for much of it if you can at least sleep well. I found that Protea Hotels tend to have great bedsthat are usually nice and firm and come withlovely, high-quality linens.
Marriott Rewardsis a language from another planet
Marriott Rewards benefits are usually not honored or even mentioned at Protea Hotels in these countries. The worst offender for me was the Protea Hotel Kruger Gate - how can a Marriott hotel, where thefront desk is plastered with Marriott Rewards 'join here' stickers, and where I have redeemed points for my stay, tell me thatthe hotel DOES NOT participate in Marriott Rewards? Even the manager agreed with the front desk staff the next day. It's just baffling.
There are no executive lounges
Protea does not have to claim any executive lounges, but really I would have wished at least some of the properties would be exceptions.
The free breakfast is usually very basic (and often not free)
Some Protea hotels offer free breakfast to Marriott Rewards elites, while other properties offer it to all paying guests, and some properties charge for breakfast. It tends to differ widely depending on the Protea.The Protea Hotel Cape Town Mowbray was one of the few I stayed at that honored my Marriott Gold membership, butthe complimentary breakfast benefit that it came with here was terrible.
Likewise, the free breakfast at the Protea Hotel Livingstone was so bad that I ate my own food instead and the complimentary spread at the Protea Hotel Blantyre Ryalls was just as disappointing.
Food at Protea Hotels is generally bad
The food was generally a big letdown at most, if not all, of the properties I stayed at. Buffets and breakfasts were often generous spreads, but with low-quality items. Even dinner at the renowned 21 Grill On Hannoverat the Protea Hotel Blantyre Ryallshadchicken and steak dishes that were barely edible and were certainly not fresh.
The housekeeping staff are pretty great
Aside from one maddening incident at theProtea Hotel Cape Town Mowbray, where housekeeping knocked and then walked into my room without waiting for an answer late at night, I found the housekeeping staff to be great and friendly. Overall, my rooms and the public areas at all the Protea Hotels were clean and tidy to a good standard.
The AC units tend to be too loud and ineffective
How anyone can sleep with the air conditioning on at theProtea Hotel Cape Town Mowbray, the Protea Hotel Livingstone or the Protea Hotel Stellenbosch, I'll never know.The AC is just excessively loud at these properties, let alone noisy and annoying at most of the Proteas I stayed at. Other hotels should follow the Protea Hotel Blantyre Ryalls' lead, which featuresa well-workingunit that is incredibly quiet and effective.
Most stays are great value at 7,500 points
In the most expensive African cities, it's impressive to find Marriott properties at such great value when redeeming points for your stay. Except for the Protea Hotel O.R. Tambo Airport and the Protea Hotel Cape Town Mowbray (which were actually good value, too, at 10,000 points each) my stays were priced at just 7,500 points Marriott Rewards per night.
The Protea Hotel Kruger Gate often charges $250 a night, so redeeming 7,500 points here for example is an excellent deal. Even better, the Protea Hotel Blantyre Ryalls in Malawi has posted rates of $250 to $300, but 7,500 points per night makes it a steal.
Someof the issues with Protea can be overlookedwhen you get such a great deal with points, but it's clear that Marriott should work on thehotels to get themup to standard anyway - and soon.If staff were trained properlyand the internet at least worked, some of these properties could really be great.