Protea Dares Courtyard Review

Paul‘s Hotel Review for the
Protea Hotel by Marriott Dar es Salaam Courtyard
Protea Hotels by Marriott

General Impression: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿

Details:
Duration of stay: 1 night
Check-in / Check-out:
Check-in Process: 🐑🐑
Check-out Process: 🐑🐑🐑🌿
Concierge Service: N/A
Staff @ Front Desk: 🐑🐑🐑
Bonvoy recognition:
At Check-in: 🐑
In General: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Room / Bathroom:
Bed, quality of sleep: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Bathroom, Shower: 🐑🐑🐑
Room Atmosphere: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Cleanliness: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Food & Beverage:
Breakfast: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Bar: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Restaurant: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Lounge: N/A
Staff: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Paul‘s Mix:
Pool, Spa: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Hotel Location: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Mojito Rating 😜: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
General Customer Care: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Staff attitude, interaction and responsiveness:🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Social media interaction: 🐑
—-
🐑 = bad, a lot of work needs to be done
🐑🐑 =not good, you will be busy with corrections
🐑🐑🐑 = good & normal, nothing special
🐑🐑🐑🐑 = high level, but the icing on the cake is missing
🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑 = topnotch, leave me here!
🌿= Half a Point/sheep
—-
The hotel is located only a few minutes from the sea in a quiet and pleasant neighborhood of Dar es Salaam.
The international Airport is around a +/- 45 minutes drive away depending on the traffic.
The check in wasn't good at all. The agent was rather unfriendly, snappish and unprofessional.
When we arrived, there was a simple hello and that was it. I handed over the passports for check-in and... mute
She handed me over the check in form to fill it out which is usually filled out already thanks to the Bonvoy Profile they get whilst booking.
So I asked her if the hotel is an offline one (does exist, no direct access to Bonvoy profile) and she said no... Mute
I then asked her if she has not all the information in my booking.... Mute.... So I filled out the form. First time in years by the way 🙂
No Marriott Bonvoy recognition from the agent at check-in at all. Nothing. Apparently Bonvoy is inexistent to her.
And now the big wow....
When we got to the room, we got like a beautiful junior suite with small living room, bedroom and full bath (shower & tub).
There was a huge welcome plate with sweets and fruits on the table as well as a bottle of wine and a welcome card for Ambassador Elites. So actually all benefits received and even topped in these times.
That made me think again what just had happen at checkin.
Nothing at the check-in from the agent but the room prepared even above standards. So they would have had all the info and it was simply not the check-in agents day.

Check out was good and the agent was friendly and helpful. Much better as at check-in.

The hotel looks like an old colonial style building with an amazing courtyard. Maintenance as well as house keeping are doing a great job. The property looks good, fresh and well maintained.
Lots of wood everywhere with colorful accents are used throughout the entire hotel and rooms.
The courtyard has a little pool with sunchairs, a patio under trees and green and it seems a beautiful little oasis hidden in this sometimes hectic city.
The room was at the first floor of the hotel. The junior suite is a two room suite. One room with a nice little living room and the other room with the bed and bathroom. Both rooms are in colonial style and beautiful colorful accents are used for decoration as well as ancient decorative objects.
The suite felt super comfortable and homey.
The bathroom itself wasn't the most modern anymore but still in very good shape and timeless.
The shower was simply amazing. I haven't seen such a strong water pressure in a hotel for a long time.
Housekeeping and cleaning staff is fantastic and does a great job. The cleanliness was top notch. I have felt a 100% secure in this current situation staying at this property.
They even did a turn down service!
The bar and restaurant is situated in the lobby as well as a small terrace overlooking the patio and you can also use take some drinks and food under the trees in the courtyard.
The staff is super friendly, hearty and efficient. They are absolutely top notch.
We had dinner and a few drinks at the bar and restaurant. The food was delicious and super tasty. The cuisine offers local Tanzanian dishes, Indian as well as western plates.
Breakfast is served at the same restaurant and it is served as a buffet. The choice and quality of food is very good and completely sufficient. Staff actively offers other hot dishes such as omelets etc.
For a covid time it was great.
The staff at breakfast is good but not as wow as the other F&B staff.
As a Protea Hotel by Marriott the property has no lounge.
All COVID safety measures perfectly implemented. Everyone wearing a mask and hand sanitizing stations throughout the entire hotel.
The hotel isn't active on social media. Only a few posts on Facebook but only little interaction with followers and content creators. No Instagram profile.
All in all a fantastic stay at this hotel.
The property is beautiful and you feel like in a save haven. It is in very good shape and feels nice and homey.
The biggest asset of this Protea is their staff. Despite from the check in experience they are simply amazing.
We haven't met a single person which is not going the extra mile. Everyone does their job with passion and pride and is delivering a top notch customer service.
We enjoyed our 1 night staycation and we could definitely recommend this hotel.
Notes:
- Paul the Sheep does not get any benefits from the Hotels/Airlines etc.
- Paul will always pay for the services in order to be able to rate freely and truly about the experiences.
-If you are interested in more details, please send us a private message and I will be happy to share more information and pictures.