Aviation style, aircraft views and Marriott Bonvoy points three minutes from terminal: review Protea Hotel Johannesburg OR Tambo

If traveling by air fascinates you (and how could it be otherwise, if you read The Flight Club?) and you find yourself spending one or more nights in Johannesburg, the address you must not miss is the Protea Hotel OR Tambo International Airport.

The hotel is in fact themed aviation in both the furnishings and decor of the rooms and common parts, both in what is at the partitions and even on the floor of the lobby and restaurant. In addition From the second floor up, rooms with odd numbers look over the airport, with the international pier being no more than 4-500 meters away. Finally, if you read The Flight Club because you are a 'hunter' of miles or points, you can spend or earn them by staying and eating here.

The Brand

Protea is in fact a South African hotel chain of 4-star hotels that is part of the Marriott Group and as such participates in the Marriott Bonvoy program. It has About 80 facilities in 10 African countries, but most are found in South Africa, two of them in Johannesburg.

Reservation

I made it by phone at the Marriott Bonvoy toll-free number. As for points and Elite Nights earned during stays, Protea Hotels have a penalizing offer compared to other brands participating in the Marriott Bonvoy program. Here, in fact, you receive 5 points (instead of 10) for every dollar spent at the facility and earn an Elite Night for every two nights you stay. The reservation clerk was very clear in explaining it to me.

Check-in

With fast track for those enrolled in the Marriott Bonvoy program, although I didn't need to, as there was only one guest besides me at the time of check-in.

Location

It is located, as the crow flies, less than a kilometer from the airport terminal. A shuttle service, available every thirty minutes between 4:30 a.m. and 11 p.m., reaches it in less than five minutesi. To take the hotel shuttle, one must exit the arrivals floor of the terminal and proceed straight for about a hundred meters, following the signs to the bus station. There, in addition to the Protea shuttle, shuttles from other hotels around the Johannesburg airport stop there (with the exception of the Intercontinental, which is about 20 meters from the terminal itself).

The room

There is only one type: standard, but some are slightly larger than others.

Mine was among them, on the fourth floor, and With a fantastic view of the airport's east apron and the International Pier, at which on each of the four days of my stay A380s from Emirates, British and Qantas, B747-8s from Lufthansa, 777-300ERs from Emirates and British, 787-9s from Virgin Atlantic and Latam, and A350-900s from Singapore Airlines and Latam docked.

Passing inside the room, there are three distinctive elements: the large mural above the bed (mine depicted a CD-3, 1930s aircraft), the suitcase-trunk-shaped refrigerator, and the bathroom (sink and shower) exposed, with a curtain that could be pulled back to provide privacy while showering.

Instead, the sink was in full view, somewhat in the style of some old-fashioned hotels that can still be found in Britain.

The toilet was in a separate little room, also with an aviation theme: you know the 'loo with a view' (the porthole bathroom that is on some airplanes)? That's it, there was the 'loo with a fan,' as the picture hanging above the toilet depicted the gondola with the blades of a jet.

The structure

It is not particularly beautiful to look at from the outside, with the blue and white facades and the big neon sign on the roof that is so 1990s (the building probably dates from those years).

Inside, however, it is transformed. Beautiful lights, nice sofas and armchairs, and a very warm and cozy atmosphere.

The dominant theme is, as in the rooms, aviation, with a 'runway' drawn all along the hall floor, chairs and tables that appear to be made from aluminum and rivets from jet fuselages, paintings of airplanes on the walls, and aviation-inspired objects scattered around in the lobby, bar, and restaurant.

The common areas, on the ground floor, are divided into the actual restaurant that performs 24/7 kitchen service and the bar with nice seating and intimate tables of two even tables of eight for groups.

There is a nice garden in the back and a swimming pool that is not large but charming, as well as a few tables where you can have breakfast or a snack outside. Unfortunately, the idyllic place (made even more idyllic by the view of the queues of planes docked at the airport's international pier) is acoustically subjected to the noise from the eight-lane highway that separates the very hotel garden from the slopes.

Always on the garden side, a separate building houses some conference rooms, while the gymnasium is located on the ground floor of the main building, at the end of a corridor that starts to the left of the bar and where the toilets are also located.

Food & Beverage

At breakfast, it offers English Breakfast style buffet service only With station for freshly prepared eggs. Coffee and tea are served at the table. Dinner can be eaten a la carte or buffet style (but not on Thursdays) with offerings that, in both cases, are not vast (but the Australian ribeye is outstanding). The prices are smile-inducing: buffet breakfast is 235 Rand (less than 12 euros), buffet dinner 250 Rand, 13 euros. The three-ounce ribeye is on the menu at 335 Rand, about 17 euros. Drinks are not included in the price of the evening buffet.

In conclusion

Thanks to the super-favorable Euro/Rand exchange rate, this hotel offers excellent value for money. The location is excellent in terms of proximity to the airport terminal, but the highway separating the facility's garden from the aircraft apron is quite noisy and traffic can be heard even with the windows closed in the odd-numbered rooms, which, however, are also those that have a view of the jets.

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The verdict

Perfect facility to stay one night, perhaps with a few hours to enjoy the pool or a drink in the garden. But I stayed four nights and at the end I almost felt 'at home'.

7

Pro

• The 'aviation' style
• The view of the airport runways
• The staff always kind and smiling

Against

• The noise of the adjacent highway