The reviews show that the Kalahari Sands has changed since I was last there. It is located right downtown in Windhoek, since I was there on business I found the location to be great. It is a bit weird walking into the hotel because it is located in a shopping mall which is not what you normally expect. There is a casino in the hotel. I really liked the Kalahari Sands, I found the rooms to be very clean and the room service was great. The breakfast at the hotel's restaurant is really vast and was VERY good. Yes this hotel is a bit pricey, but everything in Namibia is a little more expensive than the rest of Africa. I would recommend this hotel to anyone travelling in and out of Windhoek.

This hotel is an OK place to start or finish your tour of Namibia, but it is definitely for passing through. It's a typical 'corporate' hotel which, once you're inside could be anywhere. Having said that it does its job pretty well, being in the town centre and OK for the airport. When we were there 2 out of 3 lifts were working, the third was in the process of being replaced and lokked like it should be finished soon, but there was no problem. Everything was fine without being outstanding. If you want a nice meal try the Zoo Gardens Restaurant in the park just down the street. The casino is not really 'in your' face' - it's there if you want it

I've been staying at the Kalahari Sands Hotel at least once a year since 2003. It used to be a good hotel. Very well located in the city centre, the Dunes restaurant offered a very good buffet and the people were very nice and efficient enough. I heard it changed management last year, and it shows. The only thing that is still good at the hotel is its location and the rooms are still clean. Apart from that it's disaster. The elevators take so long to show up that you have to include waiting time in your schedule, one of them has been out of order at least since last November. The service, specially at the restaurant and bar has become very slow and sloppy and the people are no longer as nice as they were. The whole place seems to be dedicated to please their chinese gambling costumers. You find chinese decoration items all around the place, completely out of context. Breakfast and dinner buffets are much poorer. the exotic meat grill is no longer working every night and you can wait for a long time - maybe forever - for your breakfast coffee.

...by the seemingly shiny and glitzy first impression. I have stayed here on business many times over the past 6 months and the lifts have been constantly out of service resulting in intollerable queues to access your room at all times of day. The hotel staff have hit me up for money (which I expect on the street, not inside the hotel) and prostitutes proposition in the lobby. Service is variable and indifferent. Expect to be wokrn up at all hours by loud voices and drunken, seedy clientele. Do yourself a favour and go to some of the privately run (with German efficiency and cleanliness) smaller hotels and guest houses in Windhoek and give the Sands a miss.