Johannesburg - It’s a hotel that puts the Italian Renaissance into Sandton in the way that Montecasino does for Tuscany in Fourways, and Emperors does for Julius and all the Caesars in Kempton Park.
Vaulted glass ceilings provide a six storey atrium for the Michelangelo’s 242 rooms, that – in turn – front onto the Nelson Mandela Square, around the foot of which are all the restaurants that have given the square its character over the years. Nestled behind this are the exclusive boutique shops .
It’s not a total stretch of the imagination to wonder whether the whole concept might not have been designed as a typically ersatz Joburg homage to Venice’s St Mark’s Square. The hotel makes full use of its locale – the dining area looking out onto the square, with a number of access points for guests and visitors alike.
The architecture is complemented by the fittings; over-the-top, plush furniture, thick carpets, rich colours, bronze sculptures, with the Legacy Group’s reclining lions in pride of place on all the public floors. The rooms share the same eye to detail, with the suites fronting onto the square designed as split -level units, with the bathroom and bedroom two steps above the lounge and TV, guarded by columns on either side.
The group placed its stamp firmly upon Sandton City and its environs, through its office towers, apartment blocks and upmarket hotels, all within a square mile.
The Michelangelo’s appeal is largely enhanced by its proximity to Sandton Square, and through it, to Sandton City. There is no need to eat in the hotel, for the simple reason that there is a world of choice around the square and beyond, all within a couple of minutes’ walk, led by Pappas, the Greek family restaurant, whose covered balcony sits just behind Mandela’s head. Access to the hotel is either from the road itself, through the parking garage, or just up the escalators from the shopping centre.
Apart from the private residents’ lounges, there is a small spa at the other end of the atrium, just off a beautiful circular indoor pool. The size of the spa is more than compensated for by the ministrations of the staff, who provide some of the best massages in the city.
Afterwards, patrons can relax in the tiny unisex steam and sauna section, swim in the pool or go up-stairs into the open, to revitalise themselves in the portable mini jacuzzi.
“Location, location, location!” scream the estate agents, and The Michelangelo, with its proximity to Sandton City, the various corporate headquarters situated nearby and the Gautrain station, has an almost unfair advantage for visiting business people.
The “Mic” as reception staff call it, is more northern suburb Joburg than the northern suburbs themselves, but as Cogsworth noted in Disney’s 1991 version of Beauty and The Beast; “if it’s not Baroque, don’t fix it!”
Saturday Star