Protea Hotel by Marriott Cape Town Waterfront Breakwater Lodge

This hotel is perfectly located, opposite the hop-on hop-off city bus stop and 5 minutes walk from the V&A waterfront with all its shops & restaurants. We had read about the lack of power sockets in the rooms so went prepared with a portable charger. We had also heard about the load shedding power cuts, these were mostly at night but other hotels have their own generators, this hotel does not. What we did not know is that the hotel shares its buildings with a college. As a result the breakfast service was chaotic with the dining room swarming with students and the staff unable to keep up. It was a little quieter at the weekend. We had a larger room but still with just a standard double bed and a chaise lounge which dominated the room. We also had a balcony but it was empty, absolutely no furniture provided. Having said all this, the room was clean, if a little dated and as mentioned above the location could not be better. Read less

Mixed opinions of this place. The location is the reason we chose it and we weren't disappointed by that, it felt safe to walk the 5 minutes to and from the Waterfront around even at night. The breakfast was good quality, the rooms clean, the beds comfortable (but the double rather small) and the staff friendly. There were 3 downsides - we'd chosen the family room that had 2 bedrooms with shared separate shower and WC. The space in the rooms was minimal - the only storage was a single wardrobe and no shelving, so it wasn't possible to unpack. Living out of a suitcase could have worked but not ideal apart from there wasn't even enough floor or surface space to lay a suitcase each but there wasn't, so it was rather frustrating and we all got in each others way. The second issue was the airconditioning. We had checked on booking that the hotel had its own generator and were told that it did so that the national load shedding powercuts wouldn't be an issue. However we were much more affected by this than expected. Yes our block of rooms did have a generator, so after a few seconds of blackout the lights and sockets did come back on, but the aircon wasn't included in that. The power was off for up to 6-8 hours a day. so the room got very hot, then after the first day our aircon stopped working altogether regardless of load shedding so the rooms was stuck at 24.7 degrees for days 2 and 3 and it was very difficult to sleep. We spoke to reception who said they knew there was an issue but couldn't do anything about it, not even a fan offered. Even after the engineer had visited our aircon didn't reduce things more than a degree or two. It isn't a location I'd feel comfortable sleeping with windows open especially as we were downstairs and had children in a separate room, so we had very poor nights sleep. Also, the ventilation in the shared shower room was non-existant - it was a wet-room type set up so the floor was always wet and the room steamy, and with the heat it was being used for 4 showers morning and evening and never dried out, adding to our discomfort. So if location is the priority and you aren't visiting in the hottest season it's a reasonable venue, but I'd avoid in high summer or if you want a bigger bed or space to unpack. Read less

Location is excellent! Breakfast was tops with a huge choice. Bar was very good. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Reason for my low score was due to the room size and use of space in the family units. One unit with 2 bedrooms, a toilet and a shower. The room size is so small that one feels claustrophobic and there is no space / facility to open up a small overnight suitcase without having to step over it. Bathroom does not allow for a family of 4 to hang up their towels. Water splashes all over the floor as there is no curtain. There was not enough space in the bathroom to store your dry clothes while showering. Beds were comfortable and we slept well. Room temperature good. Read less