The striking decor is the first thing that grabs you when you enter the Protea Hatfield (aside from the marshmallow snacks and ice water that greet you at reception), which is ironically rather plain on the outside. It’s sort of a funky Art Deco-meets-Gothic blend of patterns, textures and colors. Purple-hued flower prints line the walls, while silver metal end caps cover the wall joints and white doors are capped by transom windows with patterned frosted glass. Antiquey silver framed mirrors pop up everywhere, from the elevators, to the headboards in the rooms, to the counters in the bathrooms. At night, the foyer area adjacent to the elevator on our floor was lit only by some sort of neon LCD light, giving it a groovy lava-lamp glow, which shifted our focus onto the view of Hatfield from the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Once we looked beyond the intriguing décor, we found several innovative features in the rooms. The bathroom doors are not hinged but rather frosted glass sliders, and the bathrooms have huge tubs instead of showers. And rather than a traditional kettle and instant coffee packets, there is a French press in each room. The flexible book lights make it easy to read even if your partner is trying to sleep. The rooms are decent sized, with a giant easy chair, a work desk, and a wall-mounted a/c unit that is operated by remote control. The flat-screen TVs are easy to operate, and offer a decent selection of channels.

The staff were friendly and helpful overall, and quickly sorted out one of the minor glitches we experienced during our stay – there was only one towel in our room when we arrived, despite having booked a room for two. They were not able to figure out why I had such trouble with the free wi-fi, but luckily I did not have much work to do.

There’s no gym on site, but if you want to work out you get a discount at the nearby Virgin Active fitness club. There is a restaurant on site which I heard is very good, but I didn’t get a chance to eat there. I went out instead — the hotel is just half a block from a number of restaurants on Burnett Street. The location really can’t be beat, especially if you have business at the University of Pretoria – it’s directly adjacent to the campus, and the Hatfield Gautrain station is less than 1 km (1/2 mile) away.