This was a great hotel for a one night stay after an 18 hour flight from DC. We had an early next day flight to Cape town so wanted a hotel near the airport that offered a place to have dinner . Check in went smoothly, the room was large and modern. We enjoyed having the Emperors palace complex of restaurants and arcade - this gave us something to do so we could stay up a few hours and then go to bed and get our selves in sync with Africa time. We found out we might not be able to take large luggage on a flight to Kruger so the hotel allowed us to leave our bags for six days and then when we returned to Johannesburg after a few days in Cape Town and Kruger, we reclaimed the bags at no charge except for the tip we wanted to give to the porter. We did not get to try the breakfast since we had an early shuttle to catch but the hotel offered to make us a breakfast to go (but we forgot to pick up the take out breakfast!)

We (teenage son and Dad) stayed at the Metcourt Laurel on 3 different nights during our tour of southern Africa, primarily because of its proximity to the airport. For instance, we had arrived from Perth in the evening and had a transfer arranged to Sun City for the next morning, or had returned from Kruger to Jo'burg and were flying out to Vic Falls the next morning - solution - stay at the Metcourt Laurel.

There is a convenient free shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel (about 10 minutes away), and the free shuttles leave from the hotel back to the airport once every 20 - 30 minutes. That sort of convenience puts the Metcourt Laurel pretty high on the recommendation scale.

It's comfortable accommodation, if a little sterile (think standard chain hotel), which is fine - clean, reliable, etc. Wireless internet was only available around the reception area. Breakfast was fairly standard (buffet bacon & eggs with the usual trimmings), but with some extras (particularly Asian) in the cold buffet.

Reception was friendly enough, though on 2 occasions I had trouble with the bill (the three nights were paid for by the travel agent in advance, but while reception had the booking, they had no record of payment for the last 2 nights). They also arranged a tour of Johannesburg (car and tour guide) at short notice, to kill time while we waited for the afternoon flight.

The bonus was the hotel being part of the huge Emperor's Palace complex. There's a casino (naturally), an entertainment centre for kids called Chariots (amusement arcade machines, etc, plus an indoor roller coaster and a huge plane suspended from the ceiling), shops, fast food joints and restaurants. We had a couple of meals there which were excellent. Try a mixed grill of warthog, springbok, kudu and ostrich with a Cape wine at Tribes, or a fabulous seafood dinner with a Windhoek beer at Ocean Basket. The main restaurant area is set up like a slice of Italy - complete with alfresco dining, a courtyard fountain and a copy of the Statue of David. It's all inside, but the ceiling is painted like the sky and is really quite effective.

I'd stay here again as a comfortable stop-over near the airport, and would look forward to dinner somewhere in the Emporer's Court complex.

My wife and I stayed at the Metcourt for 1 night recently as our connecting flight was only the next day. The hotel is more than adequate and is probably a 3 1/2 star rather than a 3 star (which is what it advertises itself as). Rooms are large and clean, restaurants are plentiful in the casino complex and there is always the opportunity to make a brief casino stop! The free shuttle to and from the airport is regular and very convenient. Most importantly, security is tight and so one can feel safe despite the relatively high crime rate in Johannesburg.

Not sure where to start... had problems booking online which resulted in getting charged twice for the room, although one of the bookings evidently never showed up in their system, so had to dispute the charge with my credit card (and this was before we even got there). That said the people were nice that I spoke with, although I spent a lot of time (and money) calling from Europe in order to get the issue sorted. One of the reasons we picked the hotel was that it was reasonably priced, close to the airport, and had a shuttle (we were only there overnight between flights and arriving late). I was assured ahead of time that the shuttle was regular and no need to make special arrangements, even with our arrival time (KLM from Amsterdam). Upon arriving, however, we were only allowed to get into the shuttle as a 'favor' because there happened to be a group that was using the shuttle, and so the driver said we were lucky-- that in addition to the fact that while we were waiting around some guys were trying to 'help us' with our bags and hassled us for money when the shuttle finally was sorted (that whole airport shuttle pickup area is a bit sketchy at night-- probably safe, but just too many people trying to 'help' you who have nothing to do with the airport or the hotels). The hotel itself was fine although a bit weird. They upgraded our room at no cost, and the suite of rooms we ended up in was huge, although the windows all looked onto interior hallways, which was odd. The staff were friendly, though, and the shuttle to the airport the next day was easy and straight-forward. Overall not sure what to say, as normally when I go to Joberg I stay in town where the hotels have been pretty straight-forward, and the other option near the airport was a bit too pricey (the Intercon) although it is smack dab in front of the airport, which is nice.