Holiday Inn Johannesburg - Rosebank by IHG — Hotel in Gauteng

My recent stay at Holiday Inn Johannesburg - Rosebank was nothing short of a nightmare. From the moment I walked in, I knew I had made a terrible mistake.

Upon arrival, the front desk staff was indifferent and barely acknowledged my presence. Check-in was painfully slow, and they seemed completely unorganized. Despite my reservation being confirmed, they could not find it in their system and made me wait for over an hour to sort it out. When I finally received my room key, I had no idea that I was about to enter a horror show.

The room was filthy. Stains covered the carpet, and the bedspread looked like it had not been washed in months. The musty smell was overpowering and made me feel sick. The bathroom was even worse: mold lined the shower tiles, and there were hairs from previous guests all over the sink and floor. The towels were thin, stained, and had a foul odor.

The air conditioning unit rattled loudly and barely cooled the room, making it impossible to sleep. The noise from the street outside was constant, as the windows did nothing to block out the sound of traffic, shouting, and sirens. To add to the misery, the walls were paper-thin, and I could hear every conversation, argument, and television show from the neighboring rooms, which continued late into the night.

As if that was not bad enough, the bed was infested with bedbugs. I woke up in the middle of the night with itchy, red bites all over my body. When I complained to the front desk, they acted as if this was a normal occurrence and offered no apology or assistance, merely handing me a can of bug spray and telling me to deal with it myself.

Breakfast was a disaster. The food was cold, stale, and there were flies buzzing around the dining area. The tables were sticky, and the chairs were uncomfortable. The coffee was undrinkable, and the few items that were edible were quickly snatched up and not replenished. I could not bring myself to eat anything from there, fearing for my health.

The hotel's amenities were also a joke. The supposed "fitness center" was a tiny, poorly ventilated room with a couple of broken machines. The pool was closed for maintenance the entire time, with no prior warning, and the business center was just a desk with a non-functional computer.

To top it all off, the hotel charged me for services I did not use, such as minibar items and laundry, and when I disputed the charges, the staff was rude and dismissive, refusing to remove them from my bill. The manager was nowhere to be found, and my complaints fell on deaf ears.

My stay at Holiday Inn Johannesburg - Rosebank was a horrifying experience that I would not wish on my worst enemy. Save yourself the trouble and stay far, far away from this place. I will never return and strongly advise others to do the same.

Pros: None.

Cons: Filthy room, indifferent staff, bedbugs, noisy, ineffective air conditioning, terrible breakfast, non-functional amenities,...

Stayed at this hotel for three weeks on business based on a prior shorter trip to check out the hotel and area.

I found the hotel particularly well suited for a business traveller, with a secure underground car park below the hotel, entry from the hotel directly to a shopping mall, in a secure/safe/vibrant area for restaurants with a wide selection to choose from and a good restaurant and bar in the hotel.

Standard amenities I would look for on business were available (free WiFi, on site restaurant/bar with room service option, air con, same day laundry service, secure parking, in room mini-safe, in room mini fridge with water but only stocked as mini bar on request, otherwise free to use as a fridge for own purchased items).

Throughout the stay, the staff in all areas were excellent, responding quickly and politely to all requests and even acting on minor issues before I requested them, an example being when I accidentally pulled the curtains in my room off one of the runners. It was noticed and repaired before I got back to my room, having forgotten to report it after breakfast in my rush to the office.

Breakfast was great, with a wide selection including cooked to order eggs/omelettes. It did get very busy at peak times during week days but the self service items were kept well stocked.

Beds were comfortable and came with a choice of soft or firm pillows.

Security was a prime concern for me as a new visitor to the area and travelling with several colleagues but the location was great. There's a Gautrain station a short distance from the hotel which some of my colleagues used from the airport (noting if you use this, you have to change trains at Sandton). The car park underneath the hotel was exclusively for hotel guests and had security personnel patrolling and at the entrance. Main entrance to the hotel also had security staff present, while the mall entrance to the hotel needed your room keycard to open. The area had a lot of security staff and was vibrant, with lot's of people using the restaurants/malls in the area, perfectly safe to walk around on your own and clearly a popular area for eating out.

Laundry service worked well, with items returned same day on hanger and identifying tags placed in a way that didn't damage the clothes, which was appreciated.

WiFi service worked well most of the time and the two times I had issues connecting to the service, I spoke with the front desk and they helped me to get connected within minutes (connectivity critical when travelling on business).

Would recommend a room at the back of the hotel for light sleepers as traffic starts pretty early at the front of the hotel and is quite noisy, given it is a busy road. I'm able to sleep through anything and it didn't bother me but one of my colleagues found the traffic noise woke him up early.

Will be my choice of hotel when I return to the area...

I stay regularly at this hotel as it's conveniently located on the Rosebank Mall and has easy access onto the M1 for me to drive into the CBD for work with free/secure parking downstairs. Do not however get a room overlooking the Mall as it can get quite noisy late of a weekend evening. Easy to go out and dine elsewhere when you get tired of the room service menu, which is understandably somewhat limited probably for this very reason. You can ask for the restaurant menu also, and dine from this in your room, which is what I often do, and the food is always great.

Room design lets it down somewhat for a business traveller - yes there is WiFi in the rooms, yes there is a desk with a built-in bank of electrical chargers, but the desk faces away from the window and bizarrely has neither downlight nor desk lamp, so when working of an evening, the whole desk area is in the dark. The beds however are VERY comfortable, as are the pillows, bathrooms also very nice and have everything you need. Generally pretty clean. Plenty of TV channels to keep an English-speaker happy, incl movie and sports channels etc.

The service is really what could make this hotel excellent, but it varies so much from one day to the next it's hard to call it anything but average. The Reception staff are lovely, always very friendly, and one guy even remembers my name from one visit to the next, very impressive. On the other hand, I've found the breakfast service staff in the restaurant are always slow and never offer coffee refills unless you ask repeatedly let alone greet you with a good morning and a smile, but the cook does lovely poached eggs to order. The laundry bag and form in my room was not replaced one single time in an entire week despite me asking repeatedly for it to be done, so every morning I had to traipse down to Reception to ask for the laundry bag and list, somewhat underwhelming from Day 2 onwards.......but the lady who brings it back every evening was lovely.

There is a small well-equipped gym, 3 treadmills, 1 stair machine, coupla balls, few weights, and never seems busy either before/after work hours.

The only recognition I've had for being a PLatinum member is a free daily newspaper. Never been upgraded or had any other form of recognition. Given I've stayed here about 10 times this year it's also somewhat underwhelming as they sell the whole Priority thing in the rooms etc.

Overally, a very pleasant stay, that could be made fantastic by ironing out some of the...