This is a business hotel through and through and unless you’re attending an event in one of the many conference rooms or you have a meeting in downtown Bloemfontein, there’s not much reason to stay. Rooms are clean and pleasant enough, furnished with fridges (no minibars, so BYOB), flat screen TVs and bathrooms that could probably do with an update.

The hotel’s amenities are largely business-based but aside from the meeting rooms, there’s a buffet-style restaurant and a fairly atmospheric bar. Each guest gets 500Mb worth of fast, free Wi-Fi per day and there’s a decent selection of TV channels, if you need some entertainment while you catch up on your emails in the evening.

Location-wise, this is far from Bloem’s best option. During the day, there are a few things to see close by (assuming you’re not stuck in meetings all day), with the National Museum and some interesting architecture within walking distance of the hotel. In the evenings you’re going to want to drive either to the Second Avenue area or the Loch Logan Waterfront for a range of eating options.

If you haven’t got a car, there are a couple of fast food restaurants in the mall adjoining the hotel, or the hotel’s Courtroom Restaurant (everything has a legal-sounding name here as Bloemfontein is the country’s judicial capital).

Staff at the hotel are friendly without managing to be too competent – hotel information is provided only if requested and room mix-ups seem to not be entirely rare. When you check in, try to get a room as far from the lift as possible – the laminated floors are echoey and with guests returning to their rooms after late business drinks or getting up early for the next round of seminars, being opposite the lift can be rather tiresome.