This hotel was highly recommended to us - we have a one night stay on our way to the airport and onward travels. Hotel is beautiful as is the room but basics are missing - no shower gel etc in the shower and had to come out of the shower wet in search of products by the sink. Why put shampoo and conditioner by the sink? Also sat down to dry hair and could only see the very top of my head in the mirror! Sounds petty but as a five star hotel, these are simple requirements. Also just had a meal and had to send a cold burger back.

We spent two nights at Fairlawns Boutique Hotel. It is an impressive property, decorated beautifully with old world charm. Our room was spacious, pretty, clean and quiet. The food was good at the restaurant though service can be a little slow. One oddity with our room is that no hand soap is provided. We had to use the soap provided for showering to wash our hands, etc. The hotel provides free shuttle service to the nearby upscale Sandton Mall, which has a variety of restaurants.

Having stayed at the Fairlawns a number of times it is sad to see their standards have dropped. Firstly - only one bottle of water in the room. I was told by the manager that I have to phone housekeeping for more. Fridge door was left open so it was warm and so were the (4) cold-drinks inside it. Only two towels in the bathroom - for a 5* hotel there should be two towels per person. Room service menu was a shocker. It is a typed piece of paper folded - with only 4 or 5 items to choose from (fish and chips, a heart attack burger to name a few). And finally - no products whatsoever in the shower. Again, I was told by the manager that I should move the products from the basin to the shower and back again. Seriously not good guys.

I really liked this hotel. Next time I'm in Johannesburg I'll stay there again for sure. It's feels like a Tuscan villa. The rooms could do a little refresh, but its got a great atmosphere about it. The breakfast is fantastic and the restaurant for dinner was also very good.

We were a part of an Amawaterways group. The evening we checked in we were told we could go to an offsite restaurant and the Hotel would take care of transportation. The Front desk female person said she would make the arrangements and call us with the details. She never called and basically did not follow thru on completing the task. This showed when we got a driver that did not know where he was going and drove the car in an unsafe manner trying to figure out the location. So the Hotel provided our dinner for free. But the next morning we confirmed 2, 80 minute massages for 3:30 in the afternoon. We go to check in for the massages, complete the paperwork and change our clothes. After all of this, the attendant tells us we will get 2, 45 minute massages because they are understaffed. No one bothered to say a word about this change to our confirmed massages. We chose for my wife to get the massage she booked and I would be left out. I informed the Hotel Manager and thought there would be some level of customer service applied here, especially because he was on duty the night before. I got a less than sincere apology from the spa manager and that was it. One of two solutions were available, make someone stay after hours and complete the massage or no charge us for the massage that did happen. Neither solution was offered. Did find out that one of our traveling group got a walk-in massage at 3:00 pm that basically took up my CONFIRMED time slot. Also, you might want to review your work out room. Several machines/stations don’t work very well!