Hotels, Cars & Planes
4 July 2007. It's strange how 2 hotels in the same chain of hotels can offer such dramatically different levels of service. Holiday Inn's Garden Court hotel in Hatfield (Pretoria/Tshwane) is filled with friendly hellos and good food, whilst Holiday Inn's Garden Court hotel in Sandton (corner of Katherine and Rivonia street), Johannesburg, offers tasteless food and no hotspots in the rooms (except room 227!). At the Hatfield hotel they even phoned me after my meal to ask whether I enjoyed it! The Southern Sun group would do well to offer a better package to those who regularly use its internet hotspots. For instance, ACSA offers an awesome year-long package for those using the hotspots at its airports which is excellent value for money.
Breakfast at Melrose Arch Hotel
Melrose Arch hotel offers a tasty breakfast. Whilst the items on the menu I was interested (i.e. vegeterian) are all similar to those offered by Southern Sun's Holiday Inn, they come with interesting extras - for instance you can add a wider assortment of dried fruits, seeds and nuts to your breakfast cereal. The Protea Hotel chain phoned me a while back and asked whether I'd like to get a Prokard - along with this free Prokard came a free night at the Melrose Arch. I accepted Protea's deal and every year I enjoy a free night at the Melrose Arch hotel, which is a cut above the usual South African accommodation choices.
Melrose Arch's hotspot
What's a bit annoying with Melrose Arch's hotspot is that you cannot buy their vouchers online, you have to order them from a staff member. Given the fact that the Melrose Arch hotel offers such superior service in other spheres, I expect more from them.
Avis's Polo 1.4 testdrive
The silver Polo 1.4 I hired at Avis car rental in Johannesburg Airport did a solid job, but I got a little confused with the windscreen wipers. I drove half-way through Pretoria before I figured out how to turn the back windscreen wiper off (it involves pulling and pushing the control towards yourself).
Boarding Gate D2
What was most welcome about my British Airways flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town was that it was at boarding gate D2 - this is right at the entrance, so very little walking required (my Doctor might disagree that this is a good thing!). I had changed the time of my flight, and this required me to go through to the British Airways ticket office - no queue :)
Security at Johannesburg Airport (OR Tambo)
I put both my laptops through in the same tray - this wouldn't be allowed in the USA, but the security guards at OR Tambo are quite laid back. Security at South African Airports wont be up to that of the USA until OR Tambo puts in some improvement.
Boarded on time
The BA flight boarded right on time, and without too much effort I was third in the queue to board. The food, a vegeterian wrap, was not as good as the meal offered on the flight up from Cape Town (but still much better than what SAA usually offers).
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