Protea Hotel Dorpshuis & Spa Stellenbosch — Hotel in Stellenbosch Local Municipality

I would like to start by saying that I am a Platinum level Bonvoy member, and have visited six different Protea hotels, on our last two trips to Africa - four in SA. While the Protea chain is not at the top level of the Bonvoy chain, prior to this visit, we have enjoyed our visits to all of the properties. The property in Stellenbosch has both positive and negative aspects. The positives are they have very friendly staff, the property is well taken care of, the beds are comfortable and the pool area is a nice spot to relax. On the negative side, this hotel does not treat their tier members with the same level of recognition as other Protea properties that we have visited or that of any other Bonvoy properties that we have visited around the globe. That is the reason for this review. I think this must be an oversight from the management at this hotel. All of the Protea hotels prior to our visit to this location met or exceeded our expectations. This one did not! We asked about breakfast upon arrival, and we were advised that nothing was offered as we had booked the room on points. After check in, I logged into Bonvoy and opened the Bonvoy website to confirm what should have been offered. I approached the desk to query this and was then advised that that is not what I asked when checking in. I then pointed out that this is what is to be offered, and if it is not, then the member is to be compensated. I did not want the compensation, just the breakfast. I was then handed a card giving us a continental breakfast for the duration of our stay. I then pointed out that the website says breakfast, not a continental breakfast. They were firm on their offering, and that was what we had every morning. No bottled water in the room - another first in Africa, and a guaranteed late check out of 4 pm was met with rejection, due to the fact that the hotel was fully booked the evening of our departure. I again showed the staff the benefits of platinum and they then allowed us to stay until 2 pm. It is unfortunate to see this in a Bonvoy property, but in our experience, it is unique. I would not recommend this property, until management addresses these issues, and I hope that they do. I would wait for...

And if you can’t, I think you should reconfigure your trip to stay in a different town. ||Full disclosure: we only stayed here one night and liked that it was closer to restaurants than the other Marriott Protea, but we were very happy to not have to stay a second night. This should sum it up for us: they give out free sherry in the lobby (which was delicious), but I still joke that it was the only way that they can help people make it through the night.||This may come across a bit harsh, but hear me out here...|-“Not a modern hotel” was called out in a previous review - I would say this is old and hasn’t been updated since the 80’s or 90’s. We got “upgraded” to a two-level room, and I’m pretty sure that we stayed in a barn. (The bathroom upstairs didn’t have a ceiling or door, the one downstairs had a shower that didn’t drain.) The bed wasn’t too bad, but I definitely did not sleep well.|-There is not a gym. The closest one is in the mall 10-15 minutes away, and you have to pay a guest fee.|-The neighborhood isn’t great, so they’ve got security and a gate at all times. (This is a plus on this review.) However, this is walking distance to the downtown area, as long as you’re not too squeamish. (We felt perfectly safe, but who knows.)|-Breakfast is not included - as a Titanium Elite, you can get the Continental breakfast instead of your welcome points, but then you need to pay an up charge to get anything warm. (The restaurant looked nice, but we did not eat there.)|-As noted in other reviews, the “pool” is not great and calling it a “spa” seems a bit of a stretch.|-We changed our plans about a month out and cancelled our old reservation, but for some reason they reinstated our reservation for a different day. When we arrived, they debated us for the first day on whether or not we actually cancelled it. They ended up taking it off after we showed them the cancellation confirmation multiple times, but not before they made it seem like it...

This may come across a bit harsh, but hear me out here... -“Not a modern hotel” was called out in a previous review - I would say this is old and hasn’t been updated since the 80’s or 90’s. We got “upgraded” to a two-level room, and I’m pretty sure that we stayed in a barn. (The bathroom upstairs didn’t have a ceiling or door, the one downstairs had a shower that didn’t drain.) The bed wasn’t too bad, but I definitely did not sleep well. -There is not a gym. The closest one is in the mall 10-15 minutes away, and you have to pay a guest fee. -The neighborhood isn’t great, so they’ve got security and a gate at all times. (This is a plus on this review.) However, this is walking distance to the downtown area, as long as you’re not too squeamish. (We felt perfectly safe, but who knows.) -Breakfast is not included - as a Titanium Elite, you can get the Continental breakfast instead of your welcome points, but then you need to pay an up charge to get anything warm. (The restaurant looked nice, but we did not eat there.) -As noted in other reviews, the “pool” is not great and calling it a “spa” seems a bit of a stretch. -We changed our plans about a month out and cancelled our old reservation, but for some reason they reinstated our reservation for a different day. When we arrived, they debated us for the first day on whether or not we actually cancelled it. They ended up taking it off after we showed them the cancellation confirmation multiple times, but not before they made it seem like it was our fault.

Full disclosure: we only stayed there one night and liked that it was closer to restaurants than the other Marriott Protea, but we were very happy to not have to stay a second night. This should sum it up for us: they give out free sherry in the lobby (which was delicious), but I still joke that it was the only way that they can help people make it...