As you can tell from the other reviews 12 Decades has its ups and downs. The professional website belies the backpacker lodge management - whilst the rooms are very cool, from my 2 stays to date the hotel is under-resourced both in financial and personnel terms. From the rather silly parking set-up where you have to park on the street... More

Deplorable and unreliable.We had two rooms reservations confirmed via e-mail two months in advance and our accommodation was provided to different customers. It is a situation I do not recommend anybody to go through.

My Wife and I decided to spend the weekend at the hotel in order to take advantage of the vibey Maboneng Precinct. A very unique experience. We were there for two nights so we asked to sleep in a different room each night .The first night we slept in the "Who is Hebert Dlomo " (1936-1946) room. Very beautiful design.... More

I enjoyed a lovely stay here for almost a week in July 2011. The neighborhood nearby may look a bit scary for those who aren't used to inner city life, but as a middle aged single woman I felt safe walking around to the neighborhood shops. I was greatly rewarded by choosing to stay at 12 Decades. The hotel shares... More

My husband and I spent a night at this cleverly conceptualised inner-city hotel a few weeks ago. It's different to anywhere else we've stayed, except possibly Daddy Long Legs on Long Street in Cape Town, in that it's small, simple, uniquely designed (with 12 different rooms, each intelligently themed to match a decade in South Africa's history) and able to... More

Interesting hotel in a formerly (well still currently) rundown part of Johannesburg located in the Maboneng development area, part of which is the Arts on Main facility. Each of the 12 rooms is decorated in a specific style to represent the decade. So in effect you are staying in a piece of art, quite a cute concept and certainly very... More

Like the famous Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, every room in this hotel features a local creative mind. Similarly, too, this hotel is part of a programmatic rehabilitation of a rundown, post-industrial/post-manufacturing zone of the city center, deserted after the end of apartheid as white-owned businesses and affluent consumers decamped to the northern suburbs and created a "new" city in Rosebank/Sandton.... More

As a concept for an inner-city hotel in a business revitalisation zone, the 12 Decades is great. Each room has a unique interior decor, representing one of the 12 decades of Johannesburg's history. Fascinating, innovative and beautiful. However, pretty decor does not compensate for having to climb seven floors of stairs because the elevator doesn't work, the loudly echoing interior... More