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Melrose Arch Hotel review

10 August 2007. You get what you pay for - or do you? There is an implicit understanding that if you pay less and stay at the Holiday Inn Garden Court (corner of Maude & West in Sandton), the service you'll get there wont be up to the standard of a more upmarket hotel like the Melrose Arch Hotel (in Melrose, Johannesburg). On the other hand, it's quite difficult to forgive poor service at the Melrose Arch Hotel, since this is exactly what you're paying extra for. I decided to compare these 2 iconic South African accommodation options:

 
Holiday Inn Garden Court
Corner Maude & West, Sandton
Melrose Arch Hotel

Parking

Park in garage under hotel (take a lift up to the hotel).

Valet parking

Rooms

Compact room.
Tiny bath
Flat-screen TV
View nothing to write home about
Functional

Spacious room.
Large bath
Flat-screen TV
View nothing to write home about
Nail was sticking out of the floor board which I hurt my foot on.

Room extras

Free tea, coffee & rusks.

Free sweets, oranges, sparkling & still water, tea, coffee, hot chocolates and biscuits.
Food & drinks in bar fridge at astronomical prices.

Internet access

Wireless internet available in rooms, strong signal.
R80 for 24 hour use.

Weak wireless internet signal in rooms.
R95 for 60 minutes. (when we requested the advertised 24 hour vouchers we were informed these have been discontinued).

They also advertise free internet if you plug in the cable in your rooms, but this wasn't working.

DSTV

Select DSTV channels available.

All DSTV channels available.

Babies

Babies allowed everywhere.

No babies allowed in the lounge/tea area.

Room service

Expensive
Small range of options on the menu
Some tasty, some not

Very expensive
Wider range of options on the menu
Some tasty, some not

Staff competence

Friendly, but one staff member didn't understand what I meant when I asked for a copy of the "Business Day".

Staff are all literate. Friendly doorman with a sharp sense of humour. There was a long response time to attend to problems. Didn't offer an acceptable solution to the internet problems, only when pressed agreed to go to her manager to discuss.

If it wasn't for their shocking internet services, I'd prefer the Melrose Arch Hotel - but that's not the only area the Arch should work on if it wants guests to keep paying top dollar to stay there. My tips for the Melrose Arch Hotel are as follows:

  • Don't advertise free internet if it's not working.

  • Don't advertise 24-hour internet vouchers if these don't exist.

  • Don't advertise "Best rates guaranteed" on your exhorbitantly priced internet vouchers

  • Don't charge clients for wireless internet if your advertised free internet is not working.

  • Before they make a booking, make make it clear to potential guests with babies that the little ones wont be allowed in the tea areas.

  • Hammer in the nails on the floor- boards - soft feet standing on nails is not pleasant.

  • Improve your response times to queries, and don't say that there'll be a response very soon and then come back hours later to say that in fact there wont be any response.

Melrose Arch Hotel is pricey

To get an idea of the cost of staying at the Melrose Arch Hotel consider the following:

  • Valet Parking (R55)

  • Three non-alcoholic drinks at teatime (R100, including R10 tip)

  • Room service dinner for two (R280, including R20 tip)

  • Breakfast (R180, including R20 tip)

The pepper grinder

This article cannot end without mentioning Melrose Arch Hotel's pepper grinder. A button is pressed on the top of the grinder, and it shines a torchlight onto your food whilst working the wonders of its battery powered grinding.

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