NotJustDreaming

We’re finishing off a five night points stay at Protea Hotel Kruger Gate. Checking out this morning. Family of five in two rooms. We were delighted to hear on check-in that they are honouring Platinum benefits prior to the August requirement.

We received the following Platinum benefits for each of two rooms (both Platinum):

Welcome Amenity of 250 Marriott Points or choice of two items from a list. We chose glass of white wine and local beer, biltong and a cheese plate across the two rooms. They delivered it all to the kids’s room. And I enjoyed two excellent and generous glasses of red wine instead of the white I ordered. Husband was happy with two 355 mL cans of Castle lager.

Coupon for Welcome Drinks for two at the bar. Anything seemed possible.

Enjoy Your Upgrade! I’m pretty sure we had the best location possible overlooking the pool and Sabie riverbed in the distance. Upper floor. Maybe 25 meters from the viewing deck. Only the family Villas were closer. Only one of those was along the river bed that I could see. I’m not certain a Villa would have been a real upgrade. I didn’t ask. Our rooms were spacious, modern and nicely decorated. There is a wide patio door that opens with a Juliet balcony. Watch out for the monkeys. There is also a window section on the same wall with two opening windows with screens. We did not have any problems with mosquitos though we closed the patio (no screen) about an hour after dusk so as not to push our luck.

Complimentary Breakfast
The buffet breakfast is a generous and well done spread. The usual eggs to order, multiple meats, deli, fruit, breads etc. Our kids are 10, 16 and 17. I’m not sure if the hotel would have allowed breakfast for the third person in the room free if he had not been a child. A child here seems to be under twelve.

Aside from all those Platinum benefits, there was really no ‘recognition’ as some like it. The check-in clerk did not mention anything. He handed us the card to select our amenity. And seemed under the impression that buffet dinner was included in our room rate.

We went back and asked about the meals and a helpful woman confirmed that breakfast was now part of Platinum benefits prior to the August implementation. The first morning, we were asked about our Prokard card so that we’d get 50% off the breakfast bill. It only took a couple minutes to sort this out. We stayed at the table while our server confirmed the Platinum breakfast. Wrinkles. No other problems.

We had a birthday our last night. So we splurged on the dinner buffet. It is not a proper brai. Though there were some grilled meats. And marshmallows to roast over a central fire. The food was good. Not exceptional at all. Certainly not even close to worth the 275 Rand price. The now 11 year old was free.

Other nights we ate dinner before the restaurant closed at 1800 hours. Or ordered room service. Same menu. Same prices. Quite reasonable prices especially given our location. 80 Rand for a schnitzel plate. 95 Rand for club sandwich?! 35 to 55 Rand for various toasted sandwiches and fries. 55/65 Rand for Greek/ Nicoise salads. We had no interest in driving in the dark. And were not interested in self-catering dinner so we sampled pretty much everything on that menu.

There is a breakfast box option for those early safari mornings. Request it the night before. It’s a generous selection of processed food packs, Including muffins though they have fresh baked ones in the buffet. A boiled egg. A white bread cheese sandwich with way too much butter. Apple. Well presented and certainly better than nothing.

The front desk staff were super friendly. Same with most of the wait staff. Though table service was lacking a bit.

We’d certainly stay here again. We booked it as category 1 but now it’s a 2. I thought it was great value, especially now that breakfast is included for Points stays as a Platinum.

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the trip report. Much appreciated.

Cheers.

BF263533

Due to arrive on Aug 15 for three nights at Krueger Gate . Gold elite. I have a reservation on reward points and also on a breakfast and dinner rate for three nights in the family room for 2 people. Do we get a free breakfast and how much does dinner run? Trying to decide to use points or pay for the stay? Ant suggestions?

sdsearch

Did you read this thread before posting? Two posts above yours is a review which says dinner buffet was 275 rand.

And read that post carefully. The restaurant closing times on some nights seems early to me!

Next, I presume you mean you're currently Marriott Gold. That means you'll be new program Platinum in August. Right?

New program Platinums (and above) will get free breakfast at all Protea hotels. However, that only starts Aug 1, and with Protea being a comparatively new brand in the program, I'm nott sure if the hotel will be aware of it Aug 15 or not. So when documentation about that benefit comes out in early August, I suggest you print it out and be ready to show it to the hotel in case they try to deny you the breakfast on an award "because it wasn't in your rate". (Though since the review above got it on as a current Marriott Platinum on an award stay, there is certainly hope that they would give it without argument.)

BF263533

Yes I did read the thread. But sometimes you miss points. That's what happens when you get old. Way back when there used to be a guy named Randy Petterson, who I think was less judgmental that I met a few times. He would never question anyone. You are reading hours on the internet. Flyertalk used to be friendly. Now it is judgement on minor points. One thing that I can say is that I try not to criticize on small points. Thanks for the information, but diplomacy will take you a long way in life. Thanks again, but try to be more diplomatic, Thanks.

NotJustDreaming

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the defense. I do try to be helpful But I think BF263533 was responding to sdsearch's comment, as my input was posting (w/ their permission) trip reports by others when we split this into a dedicated property thread. Anyway, tone aside, there is good input in the various trip reports.

Cheers.

NotJustDreaming

Ha! Yes, I see that. Damn, I read the posts, honest.

frank_10b

Wow, Protea finally got with the program.
The question is if you are spg gold, you become marriott gold, which does not equal bft.
If a marriott plat donates the pts for the stay, then according to old spg rules, you would usually get bft.


How is the hotel overall?
Is there anything nearby or places to eat nearby?
Does it make sense to stay at the hotel for 5 days or should you leave and stay somewhere in the park anyways?

How does it compare r to Hazyview, which is cheaper on pts and not that far away? Perhaps even better for the Panorama Drive.

sdsearch

The big problem with Hazyview was WiFI that didn't work anywhere other than the central area, and even spottily then (ie, not when there were lots of other people around all trying to use it). And despite their promises to me about it being fixed "soon", recent reports suggest it still hasn't been fixed more than a year later.

I have no idea what's nearby other than the entrance to Kruger National Park, because I only stayed there one night, and ate at the hotel. It's not in a town, it's a small cluster of a couple hotels right by the park entrance gate.

And i can't answer any question about 5 days, because I only had 1.5 days at the park (self-driving). Half a day after saying one night at Hazyview (which is nearer to an entrance a bit south of Kruger Gate), coming out that evening at Kruger Gate and staying there, and then exiting well north of there at dusk and having to drive south in the dark for about an hour to one more night at Hazyview. The day after that was all rainy all around that area, and I just set out for the J'Burg area and slightly beyond, to get away from the rain and toward clearer skies (on the night of a partial eclipse at sunset).

Oh, and while it was my first time at Kruger, I'd already gotten my first experience self-driving a week or so earlier at Adda Elephant National Park near Port Elizabeth.

And luck may matter more than time when self-driving in a park like that. I got a bit lost my first half-day, and while trying to find my way back to the main road (from a parallel dirt road), I ran into the most wonderful road blockage I'd ever seen: A couple lion moms with their cubs lounging across the middle of the road. If I hadn't gotten a bit lost and taken the wrong road, I never would have seen that! (And I never saw anything quite compared to that the next full day.)

So while I enjoyed Kruger Gate for 1 night, and while I got a lot out of those 1.5 days in Kruger park, I'm not the right person to ask about 5 nights. I would guess it depends on which parts of the park you're most interested in. From Kruger Gate it's practical to see all parts south of there, and a bit north of there, but not much more I think than the lower half of the park. And there are no chain hotels anywhere near the northern half of the park AFAIK.

BF263533

Decided to use points.

They were aware of the program change.

No comp Breakfast.

No welcome amenity.

No wi fi for one and a half days.

Great location and very nice hotel.

Fortunately I took a screen shot of Platinum status because Sao Paulo Airport Marriot and Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention center only showed Gold a few days after Protea Krueger stay.

Again, FlyerTalk is not as diplomatic and nice as it used to be. I try not to be critical, judgmental or combative, but I guess that is our new T world.

NotJustDreaming

NotJustDreaming

Happy

I would also add that Kruger Gate Protea is a very nice set up for longer stay. We stayed there both in 2016 and 2017.

In 2016 we bookended it as first and last day for our 6 days visit to Kruger with the middle 4 nights stayed at the camps run by SanParks. (need to book quite early and better to book over the phone instead of online - TripAdvisor has lengthy discussions on which camps to book based on preferences AND which category of cabins, locations, and the reason why you want to book it over the phone versus online.)

In 2017 we had all our 4 nights at Kruger Gate Protea. It wasn't easy to book consecutive nights, we had to book each night individually as availability showed up. So we had 4 reservations for 4 nights. At check in the clerk could not find the prepared checked in folio on our reservations, but he eventually found it in the system. Instead of combining all 4 nights, he told us to just redo our room cards each evening when we returned from the park. It worked like a charm. On Day 3 when we returned, there were a couple just checking in, and they too, were on points, with separate bookings. The same clerk asked the couple to wait for a moment, and he proceeded to reprogram our room cards for the night. Then he turned to the couple and explain that was how it would be handled. We told the couple not to worry as this was already our 3rd night and the arrangement worked!

We did not eat at the hotel. We had bought some foods from the restaurants at the camps inside Kruger. Though we wish we had dinner one night when there were a big tour group came and apparently there were some special show included in their stay as there was show music at the buffet restaurant for close to 3 hours. The buffet restaurant from inquiry was opened to guests like us who did not have the mean plan in the bookings, but the price was not worth it IIRC.

One more thing, there are 2 routes to reach Kruger Gate (likewise leave as well). DONT pick the route that seems shorter on the map - that route goes thru countless villages / little towns with speed bumps that are difficult to detect/ lots of people crossing roads, speed limits, etc etc making the drive very slow and rather stressful - but you do get to see how the locals live (relatively good life comparing to other parts of South Africa), and their big houses (3000 to 4000 sqft are quite common) on the slopes along the route... It is very amazing discovery, and you can tell how big an impact of Kruger NP to the local economy - you wont see the poverty of shanty towns near Cape Town, Jo'burg, Port Elizabeth, Durban and KZN. Much higher living standard in area near Kruger.

Protea at that time did not offer breakfast but did provide some sort of recognition and small amenities. IIRC at Kruger Gate it was small bags of nuts / meat jerky. At JNB it was a plate of fruits. At Knysna there was none but they upgraded us to the only suite of the property - a 3 bedrooms apartment with 8 persons dining table, 2 sitting areas and a terrace with yet another 6 persons dining table and a 2 burners grill... that the apartment can easily entertain 25 people without feeling crowded.

My understanding is, with the merger and the new benefit charts, Protea now offers complementary breakfast to Plats.

Happy

Not sure what your gripe is. Asking a poster to read posts just before one's own because information sought was already posted, isn't too much to ask. Why should you need "diplomatic" treatment? You seem being the one full of critical and judgmental comments when you dont like what others said. Just sayin.

Should your stay occurred after Aug 18th, the "We are all together now" merger, you would have comp breakfast as Plat. If you did not get it, you are entitled $100 compensation on the spot, as specified in the benefit chart. FYI only.