Hotel berhampiran Featherbrooke Village Shopping Centre, Johannesburg

I booked this room as a quiet getaway for myself, I especially chose this hotel for the balcony so I can sit outside with a glass of wine and relax. Unfortunately when I arrived, 2 hours after check in started, my room still was not ready, there was also a wedding on that weekend so they were unable to provide room service. Lastly what I found quite disappointing, the balcony was filthy and the outside furniture was covered in bird fesses and not even set up for guests.

I am a fairly frequent business traveller and stay in many hotels- most I don’t review as they just don’t stand out! This one however, I had to review!! I arrived a little earlier than check in and was greeted by Itumelemg on reception who was very helpful! My room was on the 18th floor and really lovely and well appointed! I was even treated to an AMAZING biltong platter - thank you!! 😊 Room amenities were great (nespresso coffee and Charlotte Rhys products!) I then had a few meetings close to the hotel (within 5km) and was offered a complimentary transfer and pick up by their drivers. Siphwe really looked after me and was a great ambassador for the hotel. The hotel itself is very well managed but what sets them above their comp set is the team who represent the hotel! Well done to everyone for exceptional service! A fantastic visit- I’ll certainly be back!

The Sandton Garden Court is a gracious hotel located next to Mandela Square. An outstanding buffet breakfast is provided daily. The staff at the front desk helpfully arranged a private tour of Johannesburg for us (cost about 2000 Rand or $100 for two of us) and it was fabulous. When my partner fell ill with a viral infection, the hotel's on-call doctor came to our room, diagnosed the problem and provided medications for symptom relief. We are very grateful and impressed with this hotel.

If there were another Hilton’s in Johannesburg, that is where I’d be staying. But there is no other option for a loyal Hilton guy like me, so I spent 10 nights at the Hilton Sandton. I will readily admit that from day-to-day, the staff and the facilities were absolutely wonderful. Staff were friendly and accommodating, the Executive Lounge was very well serviced, the restaurant was excellent, the hotel grounds superb, the Business Centre efficient. I had pre-arranged airport pickup and daily business rides through the hotel and our driver MORGAN proved himself many times over to be reliable and flexible thoughout my stay. However, both the checkin and checkout process with the Front Desk were distasteful, disturbed my entire stay, and made me wish I was somewhere else. I had reserved and prepaid for a King room; as a long time Diamond member, I naturally expected some sort of upgrade, especially since I was staying for 10 nights. After 18 hours of flights, and a further 24 hours of layover, all I wanted to do was sleep. I had checked in online and knew my room assignment. At the Front Desk, I handed over my American Express Hilton card, and passports for my wife and I to HOWARD (“an experienced Front Office team member” according to hotel General Manager JOHN MCAREE). At first, HOWARD could not find my reservation and, next, once found thought it had been cancelled and, next, thought the reservation was in my wife’s name (it was not), and finally when he found the reservation, took a copy of my wife’s passport (but not my own for some unknown reason). I then had the temerity to ask if there any possibility of an upgrade. “Oh no no no” said Howard. “Why not” I asked. “Because you checked in online. Once the room is assigned, there is no changing it” said HOWARD. I knew from experience this was rubbish and not in compliance with Hilton policy or procedures. Indeed, when I checkedin online, the Hilton website said that an upgrade would be made available if possible. So I gently persisted in my questioning, and Howard gently insisted that no upgrade was possible since I had checked in online. I believe it was only when I asked for the business card of the General Manager that HOWARD checked with a colleague and, indeed, an upgrade was magically offered. It was the lowest level of upgrade possible, but something is better than nothing. I thanked him for the upgrade, and again asked for the GM’s business card. They had none. Indeed, they wrote down his name for me (three times with three different spellings) but did not know his phone # or email address. (I later googled him and got both). Perhaps due to this little interaction, HOWARD forgot to tell me about the Business Centre, the gift shop, the free shuttle to the local mall, hotel restaurant hours, the WIFI code, the hotel spa, or any of the other hotel services. He did mention the Executive Lounge several times in a tone approaching reverence. Never in my 20 years of experience with Hilton

Air conditioning was not working throughout our stay. Requested a fan several times kept being told none were available. Saw an employee taking a fan upto a room but we were still told none available. Upon requesting a compensation for the trouble we went through a fan miraculously appeared when it was almost time to check out

The Mint was lovely and lively. The rooms are very clean and they hosted some fun activities through the weekend. Added amenities were a slight issue. The iron wasn't heating up, the ironing board was old and clunky so I abandoned that ironing mission. The response to messaging requests was a bit slow at times but the staff were amazing!!

What you see is what you get and then some. The staff are so polite and keen to assist; the rooms are spacious and very clean; and the breakfast has quite some variety. The location is very central within the Sandton area which makes moving around pretty easy especially since they provide shuttle services to and from the Sandton city mall.

OK, so let's start with the 'not-so-nice stuff'. Look, it is what it is. It's a 3-star (at best), hotel that was converted from apartments into a 'suite' experience hotel. It's cheap as chips, so with that in mind you're obviously not going to expect anything flash. The towels, while clean, could certainly do with being replaced. Overall, a fresh coat of paint would not hurt and the kettle was abysmal - we actually ordered our own kettle from 60/60 - the one in the room had not been descaled in...well, ever. It's very basic accommodation, the telephone in the room didn't work and the extractor above the stove was diabolical. Now, for the good stuff. The staff are AMAZING. So friendly and super helpful, check-in was breezy and even though we arrived a full 2 hours early, we hardly had to wait for our room to be ready. Aside from what I already mentioned, the room itself was SPOTLESS and that made up for the 'niggly' bits. The location is great, just a few minutes from the airport and close to the areas we had business in. Honestly, for what one pays for this place, there are no complaints. You can order from 60/60/ Uber Eats/Mr Delivery and there is a restaurant on site - although we didn't order from them, we left early and came back fairly late so it was just simpler to order in - and they delivered to the room. So all in, if you're not in Jozi for a holiday, then this place is kind of ideal. Internet was fast enough and complimentary and as we literally only used it as a base for our dealings in the big city, it was more than adequate.