SkiAdcock

Protea Fire&Ice! Menlyn opened today.

http://news.marriott.com/2015/03/pro...he-public.html

"The hotel sets a new standard for stylish hospitality in Tshwane with its seamless indoor/outdoor social spaces and its on-trend interior tone. But the hotel’s real draw card will be the wide variety of event offerings, tailor-made for the Pretoria audience.

Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! Menlyn’s General Manager Johan Cronje says the hotel is conveniently situated next to the Menlyn Park shopping mall and close to the N1, making it an obvious place for people to gather.

Satterfield said, “Pretoria is a young, exciting city that simply doesn’t get its dues. Protea Hotels recognised that there is a lively set of young-at-heart, ambitious movers and shakers in Pretoria whose choices for playing hard after working hard are pretty limited. Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! Menlyn fills a gap we believe our GUESTS have been waiting for for years.”

Cheers.

Roger

I can see myself using Protea hotels more now that they are an active part of MR.

I had previously stayed at Protea hotels in Sea Point, Stellenbosch, Mossel Bay and Mid-Rand, amongst others. With Hilton gold and IHG platinum status, I've recently been mixing independent hotels and B&Bs with Hilton/DoubleTree (complimentary breakfast) and InterContinental/Holiday Inn (sometimes complimentary breakfast).

Given that over the years, IHG coverage in SA has declined and Hilton's is hardly great, I'm thinking that Protea's range is likely to be more useful, even as a lowly MR silver.

Were the free internet and free breakfast a result of your platinum status? The Balalaika looks an interesting change.

Sadly, this happens at some other hotels. I'm thinking of the City Lodge group who take full payment at the time of reservation, even on flexible cancelable rates, one reason I'm thinking of avoiding them in future. They even have their own Courtyard-branded hotels, which seem to have nothing to do with Marriott. https://clhg.com/hotel-rates/courtyard

Dieuwer

How many points do you earn staying at a Protea hotel?

SkiAdcock

10pts/$ spend on room rate only.

Cheers.

alfahund

That's what they told me at checkin... I will be there in 3 weeks again, and will check.

Dieuwer

Thanks. Since you only get 1 mile/$ spend on the room rate, I guess I will switch earnings to points and then convert.

Shareholder

Just an update on the Prokard program. I am told that it will continue through to October 2016 at which time it will be concluded and the full set of hotel brands will be integrated into the Marriott Rewards program, offering the standard range of MR benefits. At present one can earn either ProRands or MR points for stays but not both..unclear if nights will count towards MR status though. Will be back in South Africa in September and use the balance of my Prokard BOGOs form last year's membership. Will likely renew for the final year of the program as it certainly pays for itself after using one of the free nights, and I'm pretty sure I'll be back in SAfrica at some point during 2016

TPP

Thanks for the update. I'm planning my stays in a couple of Protea properties around Walvis Bay and Swakopmund Namibia in the last two weeks of August. I purchased my gold Prokard today for 1500R (~$120 US)and plan to use the BOGO vouchers as much as possible. I'm curious if I can do back to back 2 night bookings at the same property,each using a BOGO voucher. I'll post an update on my return. The Prokard is an amazing immediate value if it works as advertised.

I also hope to earn some MR points but that is a little fuzzy. The Protea properties in Namibia have a disclaimer on the Marriott website that states that no rewards are offered. We'll see. Perhaps my Marriott Gold status will yield an upgrade as well?

khkchan

I used 2 BOGOs for a 4night stay at Protea Mowbray and it was okay. The lady upgraded me for the first 2 nights and I have to move to a different room on my last 2 nights.

I wish they have a way to convert Prokard rands to MR points.

schoppy

Just tried to apply for Prokard Gold but I always get an error from the website : Login Details Error: INVALID MEMBERSHIP NUMBER/NAME ID

Any ideas ?

BigWilly

On the Protea website I read the following:

Source: http://www.proteahotels.com/Pages/fr...questions.aspx

So, when you're gold, you only get 10% of your room rate back in points (rate in ZAR), and not 10 points/$ ! Or am I reading this wrong?

troydwhite

Review for Protea Fire & Ice, Melrose Arch

Getting to the hotel:

Taxi/shuttle - The hotel’s website estimates a shuttle from the airport at R590, and a taxi at R700, both one way.

Uber - I was tempted to use Uber during my stay, but cursory research suggested there is quite a bit of tension between taxi drivers and Uber, sometimes rising to the level of violence. I decided to forgo Uber. Plus, I didn’t want to purchase a SIM card, which meant I couldn’t make or receive calls to coordinate pickups.

Gautrain - I opted for Johannesburg's high-speed rail service. Nothing but positive things to report: the train ran on time, with a frequent schedule; was clean and comfortable; “arriving/departing” times were listed on overhead digital signs on the platform. Onboard there were clear announcements about the upcoming stations, as well as a scrolling LED. Very easy to use.

Once you enter the Arrivals Hall, there are clear signs pointing you up the escalator to the Gautrain station (bear to the right once you enter Arrivals). Once you enter the station, there are plenty of ticket machines, plus there is a staffed booth. Instructions on the kiosk screens are clear. You’ll need to purchase a Gold card for R20, then load the amount for the station you’re traveling to. They accept Mastercard, Visa, Debit. No Amex.

There are 3 stops to reach Sandton, which is the best option to get to Fire & Ice. It takes approx. 15 minutes, and the cost is R153, approximately US$10.

To reach the Fire & Ice once at Sandton, you have a couple of options:

- You can exit at Sandton and take a taxi to the hotel. I believe you can coordinate pickup by calling the hotel ahead of time. I took a taxi from the hotel to Sandton when I left, and the front desk arranged it and offered to add it to my room charge. At the time I booked the taxi, they asked if I wanted to be “fetched”, so they’re happy to coordinate round-trips. The charge was R220 one-way; not sure what the round-trip price is.

- For the adventurous, you can take another train one stop to Rosebush, and from there take a bus that drops you off at High St. in Melrose Arch. The cost is R1. After exiting the airport train at Sandton, go up the escalator and turn right for the Red Line South toward Park. Again, only for the adventurous, and only during daylight hours.

To reach the hotel from the bus, get off at the High St stop and walk all the way to the end of High St and take a left. You’ll see signs as you get near the hotel. You’ll walk through the shopping district.

At the hotel:

The staff was friendly and attentive, at check-in and all other times. The check-in clerk mentioned that although Plats get free breakfast in the U.S. (my status and location), they haven’t implemented that benefit yet, so they suggested the hotel buffet from 6:30 am to 11 am.

I took the points as the arrival gift.

There was bottled water provided in the room, and a coffee/tea stand. The water is purified and provided in sanitized bottles with grolsch caps.

The rate during my stay was very affordable. Internet was free and unlimited (@phlwookie mentioned it was capped during their stay).

Around the hotel:

The hotel is located in the Melrose Arch district. There are plenty of eating establishments nearby. They do a bustling business in the evening. There are a couple of cafes with good coffee and outdoor seating. Good for people watching.

There is a drugstore, Clicks, at the mall where I picked up some snacks and drinks.

This isn’t a US-style, enclosed mall, by the way. It's more like a pedestrian zone, although there were some interior stores on different levels of some of the buildings.

The only downside is the store hours, which mirror a typical U.S. mall: usually 9 am to about 9pm on the weekdays, and closing at 6 pm on the weekends.

However, there were a few cafes on High St. and in a square near High St. that were open early and open late, so you could stop in for a beverage or bite to eat at most any reasonable time.

Overall, everything was very affordable and convenient. I was there during a weekend in January and there was a lot of activity and foot traffic.

I enjoyed this property and would stay there again.

Roger

Thanks for the useful report. I'd complement the Uber info:Yes, regular taxi drivers don't like what they see as unfair competition, e.g. in London and Paris. But violence? Very rare and not against passengers.Uber worked splendidly for me in Cape Town. I used wifi and my UK cellphone with no problem. I'm confident that that would also apply in Sandton/Rosebank.

sdsearch

troydwhite, I'm totally confused. You first wrote that you're updating phlwookie's review, but phlwookie was revieing the Melrose Arch Protea hotel. But you keep wiriting about how to get to the Fire & Ice? So which hotel were you reviewing here???

troydwhite

Oops! I was at the Fire & Ice!

I updated my original post, sorry for the confusion!