Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa *****

What do Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa say about themselves? “Fairlawns is an award-winning boutique hotel. Elegant enough to host European royalty relaxed enough for one visitor to comment “a home away from home, only better”. We strive to match the beauty of our surroundings with personalized service and a ‘can-do’ attitude.” Well let me tell you it real!!

I have seldom been to a hotel with such a good service and delivering such a high quality. Now I must say I rather like smaller family style hotels versus the large chain 300 room giant, but in the end it is all about how the overall experience was when staying at a hotel right?

I stayed multiple time at the hotel and I must say that John and Anna Thacker, who own the place, have done an excellent creating a fantastic place and experience. They pay great care to detail, quality, service and atmosphere. Every room is different. All very spacey with varying themes. When you are there, you know why this is not possible on a larger scale.

An eye for detail

The Fairlawns Boutique Hotel offers a warm and homely ambience. Situated in Morningside Manor, Fairlawns boasts highly exclusive suites for an affordable price.

Each suite consists of main bedroom with en-suite bathroom including Jacuzzi bath. A lounge with fireplace and a large working desk, modem ports, internet access and fax machine. All rooms are fully air-conditioned. If you leave your shoes in your room, they are polished when you come back at the end of the day!

Customer experience like no other

The Thackers also understand customer service and experience like no other. When we arrived for the second time at the hotel, after lunch enjoying to relax at the pool, we ordered a bottle white wine. When the waiter came, he said it was offered by someone.... it was a "welcome back to Fairlawn" present from John Thacker.

Thelema wine

Dining is a great experience. The quality is suburb, the service great. The restaurant is situated slightly higher, overlooking the hotel grounds. The elegant Colonial style bar is a great place to relax with a cold drink. The African bush style design combined with dark wood make you enjoy while you select a bottle of chilled Thelema Chardonnay, one of the best local wines I have found. The Fairlawns wine cellar is directly connected to the bar and the chef is more than happy to show you around. The bar was awarded with 1 diamond award (only 5 ever awarded in South Africa) with the best wine list!

Full English breakfast is included in the rate and may be taken anywhere, anytime. If you want a table in the middle of the grounds, next to the swimming pool or under a tree to enjoy your breakfast or lunch? No problem, just ask.

There is no cut-off time for in-house guests, and they may request breakfast by the pool, on the terrace. The elegant Colonial style bar is a great place to relax with a cold drink.

Five Plus

Update: since I've visited Fairlawns a few times, it has been modernized, new features have been added and all rooms got an upgrade. I've added multiple older pictures I've made myself and new pictures after the overhaul (from the Fairlawns website). If there would be a rating it would be 5 Plus! Whenever in SA, I will return for sure.

SANDTON, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA