Protea Hotel Johannesburg Balalaika Sandton — Attraction in Gauteng

It has taken me several days to draft this review because, quite frankly, I am overwhelmed by the abundance of joy I felt at this hotel.

Not only is this the best hotel I’ve ever stayed at in South Africa—this is the best hotel I’ve ever stayed at in my entire life.

Here’s why:

STAFF The staff at this hotel is top-tier. They’re highly attentive, exceptionally kind, and make you feel at home while you’re away from home. If I could bring this staff with me every time I traveled, I would. They deliver first class service from the beginning until the end of your stay.

LOCATION The location of this hotel is incredible. You are in the epicenter of one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the entire continent. There are plenty of restaurants, shopping centers, grocery stores, bars/lounges, etc. within literal feet of your hotel.

AMENITIES There is a restaurant on-site, two bars (sad that I only visited one), a swimming pool, 24-hour room service, a shuttle that runs every 30 minutes to Nelson Mandela Square and the train station until 10pm, airport transportation (available at an additional cost), WiFi, and the list goes on and on. Virtually any and everything you need is available at this property (you can request a microwave for your room, and a small refrigerator comes with the room).

CLEANLINESS Our room was immaculate—not a hair, stain, nor speck of dirt in sight. If there were one critique I’d have to give about my stay, it’s that the rooms are dated and we’d occasionally smell sewage in the room and in the shower. That said, the water pressure in the shower was absolutely perfect.

SAFETY There are security guards on-site, and they do a fantastic job of monitoring who comes in and out of the property. In addition, the property is protected behind a gate that is closed at night to ensure the safety and comfort of hotel guests. This is important because there may be some drunken stragglers lingering around after the bars close.

Overall, I’d happily stay here again and again. I really enjoyed the fact that local business professionals frequent the bar in the hotel. This makes for...

I stayed at Balalaika in June 2024 for 2 weeks for a business trip. Unfortunately I had a horrible experience staying there. My stuff got stolen while I was staying at the hotel from small stuff like socks, chocolate to money. ||||At first my socks went missing and I just thought maybe they were just misplaced in linen while housekeeping cleaned the room so I let that past. Then I bought some chocolate for my friend back home and left that on the table in my shopping back. I only realised some of them were missing when I started packing to go home. Again small items so I let that past.||||In the morning of the checking out, I wanted to tip my driver so I checked my small pouch, which I normally used to store all of my receipts and some of the money (£ and EUR that I could not use in South Africa). Guess what, the money that I buried in all the receipts in the pouch were missing. At this point I was furious because somebody had access to my room and purposely went through my stuff and stole them when I was out. I raised this to management and the lady at the reception told me it was not the first time this happened at this hotel. To make the matter worst, I had to chase management a few times to understand what the status of the "investigation" was. I got standard reply such as they had followed protocol and interviewed everyone but nothing was found etc. I further asked for the survey, which you would normally received after your stay but did not get anything. The reply I got was a customer service email and they also mentioned that all of these would go back to the same hotel i.e., Balalaika to feedback etc so it is like a Merry-go round. ||||When I booked to stay at Balalaika, I thought it would be a safe place and it was Marriot. Little did I know, people would go through my stuff on purpose and stole them when I was out working in the office. I don't normally leave comments but this is so bad that I want to put it publicly so people could avoid in the future. So please if you want to save yourself all the troubles just don't stay there. They won't do anything...

I give this place three stars because of its location. The pros: the staff is very friendly and the location is excellent. The abutting restaurant is absolutely excellent. Best steak I've probably ever had. The hotel's location is excellent because it is very close to Nelson Mandela square and the Sandton Gautrain station. So it is super convenient if you are needing a place to overnight before leaving for the airport in the morning. They have a complimentary shuttle that leaves every 30 minutes for both Nelson Mandela square and the train station. Highly recommend taking the train to the airport rather than a taxi. The cons:. The hotel is rather dated. The bathroom was incredibly small and hardly usable. For some reason they have a separate stand-alone tub and shower. This leaves very little room to even walk in there. There is no vanity space to put down any kind of toilet kit. They should have just gone for a combination shower and tub and open up more space for the bathroom. I had a bar of soap that honestly looked like it was used. I want to imagine it wasn't, and that it just sat in a tub of water till the cardboard got waterlogged and the bar of soap shrink to half its size.... The shower contains one container of a combination shampoo and conditioner and body wash. I can't imagine how this meets Marriott standards. I thought I was going to have housekeeping each day but I did not, so on the second day I had to go hunt down a housekeeper late in the day to get some additional instant coffees and a clean towel. There were cobwebs on the crown molding. My sink was extremely slow to drain. I will say the bed was comfortable though. I was happy to learn that there was a fitness center but when I went down to it I was shocked to realize it had no treadmill! How do you have a fitness center and no treadmill? So the bottom line is I was actually disappointed in the hotel itself, but the location is fabulous and the restaurant attached to it is fabulous so I'm really on the fence as to whether I would stay there...