Protea Hotel Gaborone Masa Square — Hotel in South-East District

I agree with other reviewers that the Marriott brand should distance itself from this particular establishment.

1. The main hotel building was overbooked and they put us in the neighbouring building (Masa Suites). This building was far inferior. Shabby hallways, AC in our room was not working (during a heat wave that gripped the entire country), one window handle was broken and the window couldn't be closed and best of all: a nightclub just below our room played super loud music way past midnight. It was impossible to sleep. The receptionist tried to sell this to us as a "free upgrade" and told us not to worry, the music will stop at 11pm. Of course this is not a new problem, other reviewers pointed the same problem out in the past. The hotel could choose to be transparent about it, apologise, offer ear buds, complimentary breakfast and fix the broken window. Instead you have to argue with them. We had to call twice to complain about the noise. They eventually admitted that they had overbooked so couldn't move us to a different room. After making a fuss, they offered the breakfast for free after we demanded this as at least some sort of compensation.

2. Thinking of a morning swim in the hotel pool? Think again. We went to the pool at 9:30am and the entire area was completely filthy, full of trash from last night and the pool water was also disgusting with plastic floating inside. Why not clean up immediately after the party or early morning?

3. We asked for the complimentary airport transfer after the checkout. Their van accommodates maybe 10 seats. At least 17 people with as many giant suitcases were waiting for the same airport transfer at noon. When we asked them how they want to fit so many people plus luggage in their one van, they seemed startled at the realization that indeed this will not work and could not offer any answer how to handle this situation. We opted to pay for our own taxi to the airport and not risk being late for our own international flight and fighting with 17 other people for a seat on the van. Possible solution: keep a count of the people who want to use your airport transfer service and start the shuttle runs earlier if necessary, so you can do multiple runs and still bring everyone to the airport in time?

All in all, the experience was more akin to a completely average non-branded 3 star hotel. Sad that this place gets to put the Marriott brand name up and gets to charge Marriott prices. Stay in the Hilton instead. It's next door, we also spent a night there, paid less for our room and everything was in line with brand...

I've stayed here twice now. It's definitely not up to Marriot standards, but it's ok overall. There's numerous maintenance issues- like one of the elevators being broken for the entire 8 days I was there. The TV in my room either had the lowest possible volume or the highest possible volume- no in between. There was an ironing board but no iron.

The hot water issue is definitely a problem. The shower in the morning fluctuated between freezing cold and burning hot. I tried to take a shower in the afternoon twice after using the gym, and there was never any hot water even after running the shower for 10 minutes.

My other gripe was there were zero USB chargers anywhere in the room. Next to the bed had an outlet if you unplugged one of the lamps. It was the England-style outlet; I had an adapter for South Africa and for Europe. The hotel did not have any adapters to borrow, and the stores at the mall only sold South Africa adapters. I finally found an electronics store and had to pay 1000 pula for an adpater that worked.

Breakfast was excellent. Gym was very basic- just a few treadmills and bikes and a set of weights, but adequate. All of the staff were incredibly friendly.

It is a short walk to several restaurants, a mall, and a grocery store. The free shuttle to/from the airport was very nice to have as well.

The rooms are nice, but the bed is quite hard and not particularly comfortable. There were large gaps on the window seals that let in a lot of outside air as well as noise, so I had to crank the heat up to account for the cold air leaking in.

I would rank this hotel higher, but the uncomfortable bed, loud outdoor noise, and issues with the hot water made my stay less...

The Masa Square Hotel is located at Plot 54353, New CBD corner Khama Crescent & Western Bypass, Gaborone, Botswana. The hotel is really beautiful as you can access nearly everything you need to make your experience wonderful.

There is a cinema centre at the back of the hotel, just a 2 minutes walk into the next complex and you are in the movie centre. There are shopping complex around the area. There are several banking halls for easy and fast financial transactions if you need to make any.

I was here visiting Botswana for the first time of my life and it was really worth the experience. The meal at the hotel was really lovely and coffee and tea always available till you get tired yourself. Due to my presence at the conference hall where I needed to make presentations and attend sessions, I was not able to make use of the hotel like the gym, the pool and others. The room was fantastic and worth any international standard.

Though, there are very few people on the street here unlike in Accra and Lagos or Abuja. Every day to me here is like a National Holiday due to the number of few people on the Street. I will recommend this hotel for any tourist and guess wanted to have a honeymoon or conferences. Its central and a different experience for members and friends who are tired of visiting South Africa, though the country share boarders with South...