Park Inn Sandton Hotel
118 Katherine street
2196 – Johannesburg
South Africa
Phone: + 27 (11) 303 1000
Park Inn is one of those
3-star hotels whose number of stars should be upgraded because of their location, service and value.
Although the hotel is
used by many business people and flight companies to host their
staff, this is also a good place to stay for tourist purposes and if you want to be in a safe central
area in Johannesburg as many tour companies pick up and drop off from this hotel.
The hotel is very modern,
functional and sleek, with a great contemporary mix of furniture, decoration and
lighting. Urban and cool are the two adjectives that define it better. The waiting area in the lobby and the smokers outdoors area are trendy, stylish, colourful, welcoming and very comfortable.
The rooms are
spotless clean and shiny, very spacious, with plenty of room for your
luggage, a desk, and a spacious bathroom. The room is covered by a
cool reproduction of the an old B&W photo, and the
blinders have the same photo printed on them, so the room looks great. If you open the blinders you will have plenty of natural light during the day, but the room is well illuminated and has a good set of artificial lights. The toilet has separate shower, toilet and basin with two huge mirrors, but the set of toiletries was disappointly poor and average quality. The TV
in the room has messaging and wake up in-built services, and a nice
selection of channels, several devoted to sports and movies. The room has a set of complimentary coffee and tea making facilities.
The hotel is very safe
and secure. They have an intelligent lifts system, which works with
your key card. You introduce it in the slot, press your floor number and the
indicator shows which one of the three lifts is lifting you up. This allows just customers and staff to get access to the rooms, and also makes difficult for possible intruders to get to any floor by the lift. During the early hours of the morning and late of the afternoon the lifts are heated, which feels like heaven in the freezing Jozi winter.
There are conference and meetings rooms, in an area in front of the main entrance, an outdoor pool that I avoided due to the weather being so cold. There is a shoe cleaning
position by the reception with and old groovy shoe polishing chair. I thought it was
old-fashioned and unnecessary until I noticed that most business men were wearing
leather shoes, and this service was a brilliant idea!
The hotel has a complimentary shuttle to the Sandton City Shopping
Mall, which is attached to Nelson Mandela Square, leaving on the hour
every hour. The same shuttle will take you and pick you up any time, on
request, to the nearest Gautrain Train Station (Sandton Station) to take
the train to the International Airport or Pretoria, among other destinations. You can walk if you
want, as the shopping mall and the train station are at about 15 minutes
walking distance.
The hotel has free Wi-Fi, but
it is temperamental and you are limited to a certain number of MB per day, so you can't do much beyond emailing and browsing. If you are on a business visit or just want to upload tons of photos and files, you will need to pay for a better connection.
RGB Bar and Grill (Breakfast 6:30-10:30, lunch & dinner 12:00-22:30) is the restaurant catering for the hotel guests. Breakfast was included in
my booking. The buffet breakfast was just fabulous, one of the best ones I have ever had. I was wowed by the large and varied selection of
sweet and savoury, hot and cold options they have. You can have your eggs done, on the spot, the way you like, and add the ingredients you want from the many available in your omelette. Among the hot dishes, there were noodles,
congee, spicy minced meat, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms and potatoes, chicken,
pork and beef sausages, crispy bacon and so on. They
have a huge selection of gourmet breads to choose from, wonderful pastries, and natural juices. American
coffee is served by default on each table, but if you want a "proper" coffee, you can tell any of the waiters and request your espresso or cappuccino. People with early departures can also order a breakfast pack (only cold food inside) the previous evening, and you will get it from reception next morning. The lunch and diner menus are
set and include a mix of international favourite dishes, but the options available are limited, the dishes average in taste, and not worth the price. The restaurants at the Atholl Square are a better option and the price is similar.
The bar opens from 10:00 to 2:00 daily.
All the staff were
shy at the beginning, but as soon as you talk twice with them they warm up and let their smile shine. All the staff were lovely, but the guys at
the reception desk were all fabulous and helped me with anything I
needed, from tours booking, breaky packs, transfers and what's not.
I MISSED
In my room, I missed a good set of toiletries (not even cotton buds were provided), a bathrobe and disposable sleepers, and a mini-fridge! No mineral drinking water was provided either as, according to a sign, the water from the tap is drinkable.
MIND
-- If you forget your key
card in the room, you won't be able to use the lift, so find your way
through the stairs.
-- The set menu in the
restaurant is the same menu you have for the room service, which goes
from 6.30am-11pm, and there is a surcharge of 30 Rands per tray.
-- You have Atholl Square
around the corner, literally, and there you find a fine selection of
restaurants, two supermarkets, a beauty salon and
hairdresser, and some fashions shops. There is also an ATM (operational from 8am). Some of the
restaurants and cafes are terrific.
-- I got my room, breakfast included, from Expedia at terrific prices, better prices than the ones you get by booking directly via an Agent or via the hotel's website.
IF THIS WERE MY HOTEL I
WOULD...
I would improve the selection and quality of toiletries and add an extra tissue box in the room, so one does not have to move the one in the bathroom up and down. I would also provide customers with disposable sleepers and a bathrobe.
I would improve the
ventilation system and the air-conditioning. The latter wasn't good at
heating the room, which was quite cold in the mornings and evenings,
while the ventilation system in the bathroom brought a strong smoke
odour from other floors (mine was non smoker), while the sewage in
the shower had a strong stink the day I arrived, just in that
cubicle.
I would bring in a
tour desk into the hotel. At the moment, the hotel provides info and help you booking, but you cannot pay directly, and the staff at reception are super-busy most days.
I would improve the dining options. The breakfast is awesome, why not providing similar awesome lunch and/or dinner buffets? Also, a more sophisticated cuisine would attract customers instead of bringing them to the restaurants in Athol Square.
I would enlarge the number
and variety of TV channels, with additions in other languages.
Overall, this is a great hotel. I was pleasantly surprised by everything and I would certainly use it again if I ever return to Jozi.
