One of the rooms at the new Fire and Ice Hotel in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg.
Protea Hotels has launched its popular concept Fire & Ice Hotel at The Piazza, Melrose Arch. The hotel opened on March 15, and brings the new trend in hotels to one of Johannesburg’s most stylish and rapidly growing business, shopping and residential districts.
The Protea Hotel Fire & Ice will join the luxury African Pride Melrose Arch Hotel on Melrose Square, which is also operated by Protea under its luxury brand.
It’s a decision that’s already paying off, with both hotels booked solid for the much-anticipated Fifa 2010 World Cup in June, says Nicholas Stopforth of the Melrose Arch Investment Company.
Joe Segers, general manager of the African Pride Melrose Arch Hotel, says one of the most appealing factors to its visitors is the walkable precinct, where visitors can meet, eat, work, work-out, and relax all within a short, safe walking distance from where they are staying.
“Our seasoned foreign travellers expect an exceptional level of service inside our hotel, but also appreciate the safe, vibrant and stylish surrounds offered at Melrose Arch, and we enjoy a high number of return visits from our guests,” says Segers.
The new Protea Hotel Fire & Ice, with 197 rooms, is in the heart of The Piazza, Melrose Arch’s recent R2 billion expansion with 75 000 m2 of new retail, hotel and office space, including a flagship 7 000 m2 Edgars store.
“This expansion is just one of the factors driving an increase in demand for hotel rooms,” says Stopforth.
Melrose Arch is approximately 60% developed and further office, retail and residential space are on the cards for future phases of this mixed-used precinct.
The new hotel will have two conference rooms, six meetings rooms and a business centre to meet the needs of the business travellers that make up a large segment of Melrose Arch’s visitors.
Like the first Protea Hotel Fire & Ice opened in Tamboerskloof, Cape Town last year, the concept was widely praised for its fresh new take on urban chic, says Stopforth.
