{"id":873694,"date":"2026-09-24T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=873694"},"modified":"2026-09-24T11:29:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T09:29:04","slug":"the-best-hotel-room-in-south-africa-costs-r86000-a-night-this-is-what-you-get-for-the-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/873694\/the-best-hotel-room-in-south-africa-costs-r86000-a-night-this-is-what-you-get-for-the-price\/","title":{"rendered":"The best hotel room in South Africa costs R86,000 a night – this is what you get for the price"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Nelson Mandela Platinum Suite at the Saxon Hotel was recently voted as the best hotel suite in both the country and the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accolade came from the World Travel Awards, which highlighted several South African accommodations as outstanding on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nelson Mandela Presidential Suite is one of the offerings at the Saxon Hotel in Sandhurst, which was named the leading boutique hotel in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hotel is a five-star luxury accommodation, spread across ten acres of gardens to ensure a private and peaceful experience for guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saxon has 53 rooms, with the presidential suite being its flagship for luxury. The suite is approximately 400 square metres and can accommodate two to four people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room is named for its history as the venue where Nelson Mandela wrote his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other rooms at the Saxon Hotel, the Nelson Mandela Suite has no price listed on its website, but third-party booking agencies list it at least R86,200 per night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the suite’s amenities include a 24-hour butler service, complimentary meals and drinks, and a bottle of French champagne on arrival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A VIP airport transfer service is also included with a presidential suite booking for international visitors staying at the hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room itself comes with a king-sized bed, a fully equipped butler’s kitchen, high-speed Wi-Fi, and a fully stocked minibar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amenities are spread across two bedrooms, a dedicated workstation, a lounge area, and an entrance via a glass-enclosed elevator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suite’s balcony looks out over the Saxon Hotel’s gardens, providing privacy from the surrounding city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Nelson Mandela Platinum Suite is defined by African d\u00e9cor and a sense of history, having been the room where Nelson Mandela edited his autobiography,” Saxon describes on its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staying in the Nelson Mandela Presidential Suite also gives guests access to the hotel’s spa, which offers several features, including hydrotherapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signature spa packages cost R3,500, while other services from the spa can cost up to R6,000 per person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saxon Hotel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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While the presidential suite is the Saxon Hotel’s most expensive and affluent offering, the hotel offers several other luxury rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cheapest rooms offered by the hotel are approximately R13,000 per night, with these suites still offering king-sized beds and marble-designed walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These rooms are, however, smaller and do not offer some of the luxury amenities of the Nelson Mandela Suite, such as complimentary French Champagne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hotel itself also has several restaurants for guests and day visitors, ranging from a piano lounge to more casual outdoor dining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qunu is one of the Saxon’s most prestigious restaurants and has been awarded a star by EatOut and two plates in the Jenny Handley Gourmet Guide 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restaurant is overseen by Chef Scott Dressel and offers three-course meals, gourmet tasting menus, and wine pairings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saxon describes the restaurant on its website, saying “every dish is a masterpiece, meticulously crafted from the finest ingredients to create an extraordinary gastronomic experience.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hotel itself was founded in 2000, before which it was a residential property owned by billionaire Douw Steyn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steyn then converted the property into a boutique hotel, which has since expanded to include its several restaurants, a spa, and 53 rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steyn founded BGL Insurance, an insurance company based in the UK which currently serves millions of clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was highly regarded for his contributions to both the business world and philanthropy, and was known as a good friend of Mandela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos of the Nelson Mandela Presidential Suite<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Photos of the Saxon Hotel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Nelson Mandela Presidential Suite in the Saxon Hotel was voted the leading hotel room in Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":873730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2103054354039095580","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2214960612657671","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17993966982013767","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[21178,1491,26399,21175],"class_list":["post-873694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-douw-steyn","tag-nelson-mandela","tag-qunu","tag-saxon-hotel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873694"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873946,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873694\/revisions\/873946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}