What’s it Like?
It has a great location, with quality facilities and some of the warmest service you’ll find in a business hotel. The hotel reception is configured in typical Holiday Inn style – wide open spaces, beautiful chandeliers and a giant TV screen, showing 24-hour news. The reception area is perfect for one-on-one meetings and the hotel also offers tight security. A nice touch is the indoor swimming pool and there is also a heated outdoor pool and fitness centre.
Where is it?
The hotel is located adjacent to the Village Walk Shopping Centre and close to the head offices of some of South Africa’s most important corporate businesses, including the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro Bank and Nedbank. Nearby is the Sandton Convention Centre and Sandton City, one of the largest shopping centres in the southern hemisphere, and Nelson Mandela Square, which offers a diverse range of restaurants, shops and nightlife. There’s a Gautrain station just a few minutes’ walk away, which provides easy connection to OR Tambo International Airport – a 15 minute train ride away.
Room Facilities
The hotel has 301 rooms, made up of 279 Standard Rooms, eight Superior Rooms, seven Deluxe Rooms and seven Executive Rooms. All rooms are equipped with a plasma TV screen (24 channels) and a choice of ADSL or wireless Internet connectivity. Other features include 24-hour room service, air-conditioning, laptop-sized safes, executive work desk and chair, international adapter plug points, tea/coffee-making facilities, mini fridge (stocked on request) and hairdryer.
Standard Queen Rooms – a maximum of two guests, with queen-size bed and either a walk-in shower or a bath and shower combo.
Standard Twin Rooms – a maximum of two guests, with two separate twin beds and a walk-in shower or a bath and shower combo.
Superior Rooms – a maximum of four guests (two adults and two children), with king-size bed, as well as a sofa bed, an in-room lounge area, and an en-suite bath and shower combo with a double basin.
Deluxe Rooms – a maximum of two guests, with king-size bed, an in-room lounge area, separate en-suite walk-in shower and bath with a double basin.
Executive Rooms are large corner rooms, each with a king-size bed, separate en-suite walk-in shower and bath with a double basin and bidet. They accommodate a maximum of two guests.
Restaurants & Bars
Lettuce & Lime is located on the ground floor and serves breakfast and dinner. A unique feature of the restaurant is the individual LCD TV channels at selected tables. Breakfast is served from 06h30 to 10h30, Monday to Friday and 07h00 to 11h00 on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Breakfast is an extensive buffet. Lunch is served from 12h00 to 14h30. Dinner is served from 18h00 to 23h00. Lettuce & Lime offers an a’la carte menu. Skye Bar is on the roof of the hotel and offers panoramic views of Johannesburg. It’s where sundowner cocktails can be enjoyed. There is also an inside section where plush upholstery begs guests to recline in comfort. The Chairman is located on the ground floor and is an 18-hour coffee bar serving a variety of refreshments and snacks.
Business & Meeting Facilities
The hotel has three boardrooms seating a maximum of 16 delegates and three conference rooms seating a maximum of 70 delegates. Each conference room is equipped with full audiovisual functionality and the cost of a data projector is included in the day package rate. On the same floor as the six rooms is a business centre that provides access to full workstations, a printer, fax machine, and efficient staff. All necessary emergency facilities are available, including three 900kva generators that obviate the problems of power outages. Two levels of ample parking are provided underground. Delegates are provided with access key cards for security and exclusivity and the hotel offers light meal and cocktail catering.
Verdict
The Holiday Inn Sandton, Rivonia Road ticks all the boxes, in terms of comfort, convenience, service and business offering.
Contact
Address: 123, Rivonia Road, Sandton, Johannesburg
Tel: +27 11 28200, hisandton.co.za
Tope Ogbeni-Awe