Travelling to Sandton for business a couple of times per year, I normally stay at the Intercontinental hotel in Sandton. This time, I decided to give the DaVinci hotel a try. And I was absolutely pleased with what I found.
The DaVinci hotel is a very nice hotel, with a good experience from start to finish. I contacted the hotel to arrange a transfer from the airport and was picked up by a friendly driver driving a BMW 3 series. Very convenient way to travel from the airport to the hotel. On arrival bellboys took care of my luggage, while I checked in. As the rest of the staff, also the front desk employees were very friendly and helpful.
My room was a very spacious one with flatscreen tv and open bathroom with bath, seperate shower and toilet. Wifi is free, but not very fast and reliable.
The (24/7) gym is quite small, but has everything you need to do a proper workout. Because of changes in my travel plans I stayed only 1 night instead of the 2 I booked, and was expecting at least some charge for the second night (checking out at 7 p.m.), but only got charged for 1 night. Great service to build good relationships with guests! I'll definitely come agian!

Am writing this from the DaVinci. Is well situation in Sandton, connected to a very nice mall. Ate dinner at the restaurant last night and it was great. Hotel has a modern look to it crossed with a bit of 1970's decor. Nice sized room and great bathroom, with separate large bathtub and big shower. Free Wifi is excellent. Room was pretty hot but eventually cooled down. People were nice. Hotel is a bit sterile but would possibly stay here again.

Stayed here for two nights as part of a tour. The hotel is quite new and very modern, with good size rooms, comfortable beds and large bathrooms. The location is also very good, adjacent to a large mall and Nelson Mandela Square.

Breakfast was fine, with plenty of choices of food. It is served in the Maximillien restaurant which is also open for lunch and dinner.

We had dinner in the Maximillien restaurant on only one occasion - and it was very average indeed. I tried a risotto with prawns which was virtually tasteless and my dinner partner ordered salmon, but left most of it on the plate as it was not fresh and tasted off.

That issue aside, we later found out that some of our group returned to their rooms that night to find that they were unable to open the in-room safes as the combinations had been changed. Once they were able to get into the safes, it was found that money had been removed. It seems that only a small amount ($140) was taken from one and $40 from another - two other couples didn't know about the others and some days later, said that they too had problems with the safes and simply put it down to mixing the combinations up.

The matter was reported to the hotel management and it was going to be investigated. At the time of leaving Africa, no reply had been received from the hotel. Given the number of CCTV cameras in the hotel and electronic door card readers, it would not take to much of a serious "investigation" to identify those responsible.

I can only suggest that if you use the in-room safes and leave any cash in them, count your money before you leave the room and when you get back.

We were put up at the Da Vinci hotel earlier this month upon our arrival in Joburg, and looked forward to our stay at a highly rated TripAdvisor accommodation. True, the building interior architecture and design is very appealing. And, true, the staff is courteous and efficient. The breakfast well organized, and the ability to sit al fresco on the restaurant patio makes one's morning. But, the room to which we were assigned is poorly designed and not of a five star rating caliber, leaving much to be desired.

Our suite consisted of a sitting area in which a wall mounted, flat screen TV is placed over a small desk. This transitions to the sleeping area where a king-sized bed is placed opposite another, larger flat screen TV above a dresser. Adjacent to the sleeping area is the bathroom which consists of a full-sized lounging tub, single sink and mirror, wardrobe with supplied robes and slippers, and separate glassed-in toilet and shower areas. The problems we encountered follow.

We could not locate or find a hair dryer for my wife to use. Upon returning from dinner, we asked the consigliere where it would be in the room. After sending a text message, he accompanied us to our room where he said that the hair dryer would be next to the bed. In Africa, everything is hard wired to prevent theft. He opened up the bed stand only to be surprised NOT to find the hair dryer. He then opened every drawer to find it, repeating what we had done, until he opened the desk drawer in the sitting area. There was the hair dryer, in front of the TV, and without a mirror in front of which it could be used.

The other problem we encountered was that when we changed a TV channel on the flatscreen in the sleeping area, the signal was transmitted to the flatscreen in the sitting area. That TV turned on to a music station. We would have to get out of bed, walk to the sitting area and close the TV after we had decided on a channel to watch in the bedroom. But, every time we wanted to find another channel, the remote's signal operated the sitting area TV. A bit of an inconvenience, but certainly not what one expects of a 5-star hotel.

The last bit of frustration we experienced was with the front desk. An agency had booked our room and the billing was to have gone to them. Upon our arrival, though, the desk clerk insisted that this billing arrangement wasn't the case, and required that we debit a credit card for the evening's rate at the time of check in. This mixup was settled the next morning when a representative from the agency accompanied us to the hotel to assure the front desk that the evening's cost would be covered.