Part of the Protea Hotels, the Pelican Bay Hotel overlooks the lagoon in Walvis Bay. It's a rather large hotel but is conveniently located – close to the yacht club and only 2 minutes from town. 'The Raft' restaurant, which is generally excellent, is also within walking distance.
The hotel has two restaurants, a cocktail bar, five conference venues and four banquet rooms – plus a lovely garden with a few palm trees. (The hotel has its own a large car park with 24-hour security.)
The entrance hall at the Pelican Bay Hotel is quite impressive, with big glass windows and fountains in front of the open-plan reception area. From there, stairs on either side lead up to rooms – which are mostly on the first floor.
All of the Pelican Bay Hotel's 48 en-suite rooms and 2 suites are well equipped and furnished with air-con, 8 channel television, electronic safes, direct-dial phones, tea/coffee stations, mini-bars, hairdryer. Each also has a work desk with a networking port for computers; the hotel offers a free internet service (and a desk near reception with a computer that's available for general use). Note that the walls between the rooms are relatively thin – so you can often hear your neighbours.
Each also has an en-suite bathroom with a flush toilet, a bath with a shower above it, and complementary toiletries, including shampoo, body wash, tissues, body-lotion. Most of the rooms have a balcony with great views of the lagoon; last time we visited we awoke in the morning to see pelicans and flamingoes all over the lagoon.
Pelican Bay Hotel can book activities for guests, and there's a shuttle service for nominal fee. Reception can organize hairdryers, wake-up calls, and the re-stocking of the mini bar.
The Pelican Bay is a good hotel, although when we last stayed here the house-keeping staff was active, and quite noisy, from about 07:00 – so lie-ins were less than peaceful.
In general, the hotel's staff we not overtly friendly on our last visit, although when we made specific requests they were helpful and responsive.
Lodge overview
Lodge type: Town
No. of bedrooms: 50 rooms
Season: Open Year Round
Central facilities: The 'Neptune Coffee Shop' is open throughout the day, until midnight, for coffee, tea, cake and light snacks – it's directly behind the reception. Having said that, the hotel is over the road from the 'Mola Mola Coffee Shop' – which is a popular meeting-place in this relatively quiet town.
The main 'Aquarius Restaurant' has a separate entrance – annoyingly outside the building! Slow music is played throughout the day, but can often be quite loud.
Directions: On the edge of Walvis Bay town, facing the lagoon
Accessible by: Self-drive or Fly-and-Transfer
Food & drink
Usual board basis: B&B
Food quality:Breakfast at the Pelican Bay Hotel is served in the 'Aquarius Restaurant' between 06:30 and 10:00 and consists of a large buffet offering cereals, fruits, yoghurt, breads, cheese, cold meats and hot options. Don't be surprised if you find curried minced meat as part of breakfast!
Dinner is also served there from 18:30 till 22:30 and is usually buffet. When we stayed here this included a carvery, seafood dishes, salads and deserts.
Dining style: Inidividual Tables
Dining locations: Indoor Dining
Room service: There is a limited room service – and you can eat in your room from the a la carte menu.
Drinks included: No drinks are included.
Children
Attitude towards children: Children are welcome at the hotel.
Age restrictions: None
Activities: There are no special activities for children.
Equipment: Cots and highchairs can be provided by reception on request.
Generally recommended for children: Yes
Notes: None
Central communications
Power supply: Mains Electricity
Communications: There are direct-dial phones in all of the rooms, and the hotel has good mobile reception. Free internet access (very slow!) is also available at reception.
TV & radio: Each room has a satellite TV but no radio.
Health & safety
Malarial area: No
Medical care: The nearest hospital is the Welwitchia Hospital, a few minutes' drive through Walvis Bay town.
Dangerous animals: Low Risk
Security measures: They have a full-time armed security guard.
Fire safety: There are no fire extinguishers in the rooms – instead they seem to have fire equipment available from a few specific places in the hotel.
Extras
Disabled access: In Place
Laundry facilities: Laundry facilities are available and are charged per item. Clothes are normally returned the same day, provided you've given it to housekeeper before 09:00.
Money: The Pelican Bay Hotel offers a currency exchange, although use this with care: we found the rate charged was substantially different from the prevailing bank rate.
Accepted payment: Visa and Mastercard are accepted.
Windy on the Bay
Another hotel that can be found at any resort but in this case the rooms are slightly more interesting with views over the bay. Food and restaurant service were good but reception staff appeared to re...
