Rather busy since returning from South Africa but will share some impressions of my Protea experience as it relates to the Prokard program. While the program is a very good one for saving money and getting some perks, it is rather inconsistent and getting one's membership card/kit to NAmerica is a pain given the overall incompetence of the administrators (despite all being cheerful and helpful).

I was supposed to pick up my membership materials at the first Protea of my visit in Stellenbosch. Email correspondence had established it (and colleague's) would be couriered to that property by the time I checked in a month after registering. It was claimed mailing would take too long. However, when we checked in at the very nice Dorphuis Spa, neither kit was there. However, the benefits and points did get credited for the stay. (I also gave the receptionist my BA ExecClub account number to receive my Avios miles in a double dip recently introduced. I did this at all three properties, but thus far -- a month later -- no sign of the Avios miles!) We all received two story chalet-style rooms, quite nice accommodation. Used a BOGO here.

Our next stay was at the Protea Sea Point, along the Atlantic coast of Cape Town in a very pleasant and safe residential neighbourhood. Also used a BOGO here for one of our five nights. No apparent upgrade for me but the rooms were functional and modern. However, my colleague received a suite. The weird thing at this property is that they give you a large bottle of mineral water, but even if not touched or finished on the first night, it is removed and not replaced for the balance of the stay! The GoldProkard gives a 15% discount on meals, but one must present it at each meal to be deducted as one's status is not recorded in the billing system.

The SeaPoint is also adjacent to the corporate HQ, so I had an opportunity to check on why our kits were not waiting for us as promised (in Stellenbosch was told these would be waiting at the SeaPoint property, which they weren't). I finally met a woman who was handling aspects of the Prokard program and she told me the cards were being printed and should be ready by the end of the week...when we were expecting to depart. In the meantime she gave me a cardboard version for each of us. (Why they only sent the card our for embossing after 6 weeks of registering...?).

As might be expected, the cards were not ready when we departed, so I asked that they be couriered to our next Protea hotel the following weekend in Pietermaritzburg. When we arrived there, however, my kit was there, but not my colleague's! The Imperial is a classic colonial style property in the heart of the city and has great potential though is not in that bad shape. Again, my colleague received a suite upgrade, I got a tiny room which was adequate for our purposes. This property takes full payment at check-in for the rooms and not a hold as is the experience at every other hotel I've ever stayed at. For this reason, and the incompetence of the check-in clerks, I was not able to use 1000 Prokard points accumulated from the previous stays against this stay (or about U$100, slightly more than the cost of one of our two nights). After a correspondence with the hotel, they agreed to credit my Amex card with 1,000SAR which has appeared in my Amex account, but the Prokard points remain in my account. I plan to return in February to use them, the balance of my nights and other benefits.

So the program does deliver, but not easily. Still the U$150 investment did yield over U$500 in room nights on this trip, and I still have three BOGOs (one at the regular Proteas and two at the more expensive African Pride hotels), 1200 Prokard points (U$120) and one free night. Not sure if the program will survive the arrival of the Marriott Rewards next year but if you are planning a trip down there in the coming months, it can be worth joining...even if you don't get your membership kit (just bring along a print out of the sign-up confirmation email).

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Update: Returned yesterday from a 2-week trip and found the "original" Prokard kit in my pile of mail. So that's about three months! As an aside, for some reason that card shows an expiry or July 2015 but the card I finally received in South Africa (and my online account page) shows a September 2015 expiry.