Protea Hotel Balalaika Sandton

Hotel was great. About $50 metered taxi from airport, $60 for return to airport. They let us stay until 4 pm at no extra charge! Dean in the restaurant was a dear, friendly and accommodating. Pools & gardens were lovely. Shopping next door mostly gone as hotel is expanding into that area. Food was fantastic.

I booked this hotel online because it was close to a meeting I had scheduled. There were several much more expensive hotels nearby, but I opted for this one. I was very impressed with this boutique-like hotel. It reminded me o fhte Four Seasons in Santa Barbara. Lush gardens and pools, a very pleasant staff, excellent restaurant on site, 5 minute walking distance to Sandton City (shopping and office complex) and 10 minutes to the Gautrain Station (which can be got to direct from the airport for 120ZAR. I have another meeting in a few months in the same place, I will definitely rebook here and highly recommend this hotel to anyone.

Good hotel - very far from airport. Available shuttle is not free. Good restaurants nearby. Blueprint of hotel very confusing! Power strip use shut down power; phone access not working, but repaired quickly. Staff very helpful and pleasant.

It feels good quality, with comfortable rooms, excellent breakfasts, and helpful staff, although a little tired in places (e.g. the carpets in the corridors are very worn). There's only one bedside cabinet; on the other side is a desk - and that's where the hairdrier is located, as far away from the bathroom as it can get. It's a good choice of hotel for accessibility from the airport - it's an easy walk from the Gautrain. The hotel opens into a shopping centre with a small Pick n Pay supermarket, a pharmacy and a range of eating places. Not all the shopping centre units are occupied, but there are some good restaurants and also a quick burger place. And to complete your shopping, just outside is a small market of the ubiquitous craft stalls.

The hotel is very nice and secure, but nobody told me that I would pay $150 USD round trip for the airport shuttle to the hotel. Look for a cheaper alternative closer to the JNB airport!

I traveled alone to South Africa and my stay was good because the hotel staff helped me a lot to choose where I should go and how.

Great location and beautiful, ornate lobby, restaurant, and other main areas. The outdoor grounds are also gorgeous. The rooms, however, are just fine. Nothing wrong with them, just a little modest and dated. The bathrooms do seem to have been renovated recently and are very modern and well-appointed. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The hotel a 10-minute walk or 3-minute drive (free shuttle!) from the Gautrain Sandton station. It is conveniently attached to a shopping center with a car rental company, a supermarket, and a number of other retail/service shops (luggage, spa, clothing, etc.).

Friendly and helpful staff and great hotel - will be staying there more often.

The hotel is well-located and the staff quite professional friendly. However, as others have mentioned in reviews, there is a musty/mold smell when one enters the area of the room. In our room, 1302, it was clear why: the nicely done bathroom has tile floors. Water from the shower splashes over the top glass and gets on the floor. But the floor has a slight slope that carries the water to the carpet, which, of course, can never get dry. Also, this is one of those designer bathrooms created by a designer who clearly never had to shave or put on makeup at the sink: the only light is directly overhead and above the sink. Why can't these people figure out that a little light from both sides goes a long way. Finally, the hotel advertises WiFi. Well, not in this room. The signal simply isn't strong enough to get through concrete block walls. Rooms like this need to be hardwired.

This is a functional hotel. I've stayed there before, but many years ago. Since then it has grown a lot, and some of the rooms are a fair walk from reception. Parking next door under the shopping centre works well. Easy walk to Sandton City shopping mall,and all its restaurants, although I ate at the restaurant next to the Balalaika, which I found was very good. Also it was easy for me to find routes out of the city to my planned tourist destinations.