There wasn’t a lot of international brand choice for our one night stay in the capital city Windhoek, Namibia. It was down to a tired looking Protea Hotel by Marriott or this locally glamorous Hilton Windhoek property. Aiming for some comfortable accommodation, we ended up booking with the Hilton and didn’t look back.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates. This trip was redeemed through American Airlines AAdvantage & Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: The Hilton Windhoek, Namibia

“The Hilton Windhoek provided a comfortable place to rest up for the night and can be relied upon to meet leisure or business needs; along with a locally famous roof top lounge”

Booking The Hilton Windhoek:

We booked in here as it looked much nicer than the Protea hotels in town. While I was driving around town looking for a car wash, I drove by the Protea property and it was appeared so run down, we surely had made the right choice. The Hilton hotel is in a 4 year old building, built to African standards. This means that the fit and finish is a little worse for wear. Since we had no real affiliation to Hilton Honors these days, I booked using Rocket Miles On Line Travel Agency at the same rate as offered on the Hilton website, and earned 3,500 Aeroplan Miles for the one night stay.

The Hilton Windhoek was easy to find. It was located very close to the Windhoek Central Business District and conveniently located to the city, the highway and access to the airport the next day.

Arriving to the Hilton Windhoek:

We parked out in the front loading zone while we checked in. We had a glamour arrival to a nicely attired lobby that had a little bit of contemporary African charm to it. The lobby had double floor high ceilings which made for an impressive arrival. The ceiling had lots of faux crystal along with coloured lights, which added to a sparkly but slightly odd arrival consistent with a theme night at a high school graduation.

At the front desk, we had a very polite, patient (slowwww) and professional check in. We were initially assigned room #502. We headed up to the room and started to set up shop in there.

The Room: A King Guest Room

We were aiming to have a quick turn around having driven all day from Walvis Bay with the goal of heading out for an immediate dinner. When it came time to go for dinner, I gave the door of #502 a tug and was a bit shocked to see that it could push open without even using the key. The door wasn’t seating properly in the frame, meaning that anyone could come along, push on the door from the locked position, and open it from the closed position.

I went back down to the front desk and asked for another room. I was immediately given #417, another king bed. I went and started to move in there, but when I got there, it was full of past smoke smell. I didn’t bother to see if it was a smoking room, but instead returned to the front desk and re-explained the circumstances. We ended up in a third room #405. Although it appeared to have been smoked in, it had that fragrant smell of cover up. It was nearing 8 PM by this time, and we still hadn’t eaten dinner, and still had to break down and re-distribute the weight in our bags to comply with our economy class air tickets, so we stuck with the room behind door #3.

The bathroom had an expected one sink vanity, along with a separate tub and shower combination. It was more than adequate for a one night stay.

Aside from the slight room odour, the room was nicely appointed and consistent with a major chain hotel in any African Capital City. The room had all finishings and all expected amenities.

Food and Beverage:

Sky Bar Roof Top Casual Dining

We ended up going straight up to the Sky Bar roof top bar on the ninth floor. It was a completely outdoor affair with a bar outside in the open night air. We had some basic western food as a late dinner along with a gin and tonic and a Savanna Cider. Drinks were reasonable and it was an entertaining spot that the whole hotel happened to be through. It was another neat way to close the chapter on our Namibia driving adventure.

My Thoughts on the Hilton Windhoek:

The Hilton Windhoek wasn’t a bad place to stay while in town. We didn’t get to stay along, but stayed long enough to get a feel of the place. It was conveniently located on the highway to and from the airport, had a secure underground and had a reasonable restaurant that was outdoors on the roof tops. The rooms were typically African meaning that they had a unique personality that bordered on oddly décored and had their niggles with them. The rates were reasonable and it looked nice compared to the Protea hotels, if only from the outside. I would easily stay here again.

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If you’ve stayed at the Hilton Windhoek, is it your choice over the Marriott Protea brands ?

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