The hotel opened on Monday 15th March and brings the sizzling new trend in hotels to one of Johannesburg's most stylish and rapidly growing business, shopping and residential districts.
 
The Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! will join the luxe African Pride Melrose Arch Hotel, which is also operated by Protea under their luxury brand and located on Melrose Square, to broaden the offering of both accommodation and restaurants to visitors, travellers, residents and office staff alike.
 
"With this first-hand experience, Protea Hotels is uniquely positioned to understand the significant demand for hotel accommodation at Melrose Arch and take advantage of new opportunities," says Nicholas Stopforth of the Melrose Arch Investment Company.
 
It's a decision that's already paying off, with both hotels booked solid for the much-anticipated Fifa 2010 World Cup in June.

Joe Segers, General Manager of the African Pride Melrose Arch Hotel notes that one of the most appealing factors to its visitors is the walkable precinct, where visitors are able to meet, eat, work, work-out, and relax all within a short, safe walking distance from where they are staying.

“Our seasoned international travellers expect an exceptional level of service inside our hotel, but also appreciate the safe, vibrant and stylish surrounds offered at Melrose Arch. Our location is part of our unique differential and it is also responsible for the fact that we enjoy an extremely high number of return visits from our guests,” says Segers.
 
The new Protea Hotel Fire & Ice!, with 197 rooms, is located in the heart of The Piazza, Melrose Arch's recent R2 billion expansion that brought 75,000sqm of new retail, hotel and office space on-stream, including a flagship 7,000sqm Edgars store.
 
"This expansion is just one of the factors driving an increase in demand for hotel rooms," says Stopforth.

Melrose Arch’s extraordinary new-urban offering -- with shops, restaurants, coffee shops, banks, hotels and gyms as well as apartments and penthouses all in a safe, fully-fledged pedestrianised precinct– underpins the appeal of Melrose Arch as a vibrant, modern precinct, especially in the case of hosting international business and leisure travellers.

Melrose Arch is approximately 60% developed with further office, retail and residential space on the cards for future phases of this vibrant mixed-used precinct, further adding to the appeal.

The new hotel will feature 2 conference rooms, 6 meetings rooms and a business centre to meet the needs of the business travellers that make up a large segment of Melrose Arch's visitors.
 
Like the first Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! opened in Cape Town's scenic Tamboerskloof last year, the concept was widely praised for its fresh new take on urban chic. The soon-to-open Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! at Melrose Arch promises cutting-edge style that is a natural fit for the node's cosmopolitan and vibrant atmosphere of African internationalism.
 
"The launch of the new Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! at Melrose Arch speaks to the success of Melrose Arch as a location," adds Stopforth.
 
"The vibe, the security, the architecture and the mix of vibrant uses all contribute to the appeal of a busy and distinctive node that continues to evolve and develop in line with demand."