The Marion on Nicol

My husband decided to book us a night at the Marion as a romantic surprise. Poor man... it was anything but romantic. We arrived to check in on the Saturday evening and were told that despite booking and paying via Hotels.com, our booking had not come through and we would need to pay at the hotel and they would sort it out with Hotels.com. We paid and were shown to our room. We were also told that the restaurant and pool bar were booked out for private functions. We decided we'd take a long bubble bath and order room service. We struggled to get to our room because tables and chairs had been stacked in the passage and blocked the entire pathway. Thankfully, we had a porter with us and he helped to move the furniture. However, when we got to the room, there was no hot water. We walked back to the front desk we'd left not 10 min before. The furniture had been re-stacked in the passage and we literally had to climb over it. We were told there was a problem with the boiler and the whole hotel did not have hot water, but they were working to fix it. They could've warned us when we checked in. We went back to the room. We thought we'd get room service first instead and bath later. There was no room service menu. We phoned the front desk again. We waited 15 min for someone to being us a menu. She apologised for the wait, but said things were crazy with the functions and that it would be difficult to get people to help us that night. We couldn't get clean to go out. The TV was making a weird buzzy noise. We were so disappointed with our first impression of the how. We thought rather than be stuck in our room, we'd rather go home, take a shower and get dinner. We again climbed through all the furniture to get to reception, explained the situation and asked for a refund. We had not touched or used anything in the room. The receptionist was very helpful and understanding. She phoned her manager and he told her to refund us. He asked for our email address and said he'd be in touch about the whole mess. We have never heard from him. The following week, we checked the credit card statement and we saw we had been billed the full amount by Hotels.com before we arrived at the Marion, even though they claimed they had not received payment and made us pay again. Although they refunded us for the second payment, the first payment was actually made an CD never refunded. We spoke to Hotels.com and told them the whole saga. They said they would liaise with the Marion to try to arrange the refund. Today, more than three weeks after we paid, we got an email from Hotels.com to say the Marion is not willing to refund us. I was bitterly disappointed with the Marion, and had planned to just move on, but now I'm livid and am writing this review because I think their behaviour has been inexcusable. People who treat guests like this have no business being in the hospitality industry.

Where to start... There's good and bad. The BAD : Had a confirmed booking through Booking.com, yet they did not know who we were, but were "prepared to make a plan" - not acceptable. No welcome in the sense of - there's the bar, this is their hours, or there's the dining room, we serve breakfast from this to that, or the Wi-Fi password is XYZ ! None of that! Simply- this is your room nr ;-( The room - beautiful, BUT, no mini bar as stated, just a fridge. No tissues, one soap, 3 coffee capsules for 2 people, no air freshener in an open plan bathroom, pathetic WiFi, lovely bed & TV, and view. Had drinks at the pool, so VERY unpractical in terms of seating, access, and being able to get the attention of a waiter. Then they ran out of Castle beer, and also Black Label. Yikes! Had dinner in their restaurant - WOW! Beautiful, excellent, wonderful. Rump steak and Kingklip. Magic. We asked the bill to be added to our room, but that was unacceptable to the point that it became an issue, so we paid the bill. Next, the drinks we had at the pool surfaced, and HAD to be paid there and then. Not good! We made some noise after paying, and a very competent manager, Joshua, apologize and said all from that point on could be added to the room. Woo Hoo ! Had a good snooze, breakfast in the morning, and WOW, excellent ! Great table, great service and excellent food. Kudo's to the chef's. Checked out, no issues, but no - how was your stay, or, come back soon or drive safe. Natha! Changed our flat tyre, and Date night was over. Will we be back ? To stay - Some changes need to be made, for the restaurant - YES! PS. Booking.com / Marion - not sure who messed up, but NOT acceptable !

Was a very pleasant weekend break and we will definitely be back! Had the most amazing spa there too!

It’s was superb and classy. Will definitely gonna go back there with the voucher

It was not great and we ended up asking for a re-fund. We checked in and was not warned that the restaurant was booked for a function. After we checked in we were escorted to our room, through a congested area where all the excess furniture was store. when we got to our room, the information pack was incomplete and we had to ask for the room service menu. We ran the bath and noted that there was no warm water. I then went to reception where I then had to move a table that was blocking off the restaurant area to get to reception where I was told that they are working on the issue. We where now officially stranded in our room and could not even clean-up to go to another restaurant in the area. We decided that we would rather cancel our stay and go home where we would at least be able to bath and go out for supper. The staff was apologetic and handled the situation well, but we the communication could've been better. We were disappointed as it has spoiled what was intended to be a romantic evening out and turned out to be a disaster.

The location is very central but very close to a noisy main road. The hotel is very elegant but, in my opinion, lacks the finishing touches to be classified a 5-Star Boutique Hotel. There were no porters to assist with luggage on arrival and although a short walk to reception a porter would have been a great help. The room size is excellent and the bed was extremely comfortable, one of the best I've had at any hotel. I was disappointed with the choice of TV channels - there was only one news channel, one movie channel and the rest was sport. The wifi was very slow and I had to use my own mobile data card in the end. The bathroom was very weird, a glass encased room that has no privacy. It's situated in the passage from the main door to the room so if anyone walk in and out they will see whoever is in the bath and on the toilet. I would have sandblasted the windows to create some type of privacy at least. Some globes in the dining room were not working. It may sound petty but I believe a 5-star rating should ensure that these small issues should be taken care if immediately. The staff were efficient and friendly and the breakfast was very good. Overall I'd say that the hotel is adequate but lacks attention to detail. The rate was expensive and there are many other better hotels in this price range. If the little things were attended to it may well deserve the 5-star rating it has

Beautiful hotel. Finished with attention to detail.

This is what boutique hotels are ALL about! Nailed in every way! Customer Service was impeccable.

Great boutique hotel with excellent service - friendly and attentive. Menu is fantastic, especially desserts. The bathroom was gorgeous with a soaker tub and tub "menu." Environment is super relaxing and it feels like an oasis.

Pros: Location, Free Wifi, Spa Center, Shuttle service to Mandela Square and Gauteng Train station