African Pride Melrose Arch

Melrose Arch is the name of one of Johannesburg’s newly hip districts, a planned and gated community right smack in the middle of the city — an oddity, perhaps, to those of us used to a less orderly sort of gentrification, but actually rather sensible, given the degree of disorder in Johannesburg’s recent history.

The hotel of the same name is rather like the neighborhood — the Melrose Arch is a design-heavy hotel in the tradition of New York’s or London’s marquee boutiques, and like the gated district it calls home, what it lacks in spontaneity and surprise it makes up for with a certain sparkling efficiency.

The familiar monochrome palette is livened by a few dashes of color, like the foyer floor that changes color, cycling through the spectrum beneath your feet, and the glossy minimalism of the place is broken up by the occasional baroque flourish. Rooms are stylish and comfortable, each with a flat-screen television built into a paneled-wood wall, and a deep standalone tub visible from the bed, but for a not entirely opaque curtain.

In fact any modern hotel’s bathroom layout says a lot about its clientele, and as a rule if the bath or shower is semi-exposed, then you’re not dealing with a straight business crowd. Guests here are more likely hanging out in the hotel’s bar and restaurant (or those of the surrounding Melrose Arch district) than making use of the 24-hour business center and the conference facilities.